Work-related determinants of health of European working populations

Introduction The WHO-Euro has paid much attention to social determinants of health and identified a complex set of factors including, physical and social environment, education, social status, and conditions of work, which may affect health. Striking inequities in health have had an impact on the design of WHO-Euro Health 2020 strategy for improvement of health of populations and occupational health as well.  

Methods The Dublin Foundation, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and WHO-Euro have carried out numerous Region-wide surveys on occupational health and safety, and on impact of working conditions on health and work ability.

Results Exposures to hazards at work, work loads and safety vary widely between occupations, enterprises and within and between the countries. The 250 million workforce of 27 EU countries is very heterogeneous as measured with health parameters and the 150 million workers of the non-EU European countries even more. The maximum differences in life expectancy among the 890 million people of the WHO European Region are 20 years for men and 12 years for women. Substantial part of this difference is related to poor health status of men at working age. According to the Bilbao Agency estimates, some 167,000 fatalities are attributed to work annually. More than half, 57% of these are cancers, 23% cardiovascular disorders, 6% respiratory disorders and 4% accidents. Wide variation between occupations in life expectancy, work ability and work life expectancy is recognized. Several high-risk groups such as asbestos workers can be recognized.  

Discussion The inequity in health causes substantial economic losses, amounting to 4-5.9% of GDPs, i.e. to about half of the total health budget of countries. The occupational injuries and work-related diseases are in principle preventable. Through effective prevention, substantial amounts of financial resources could be saved for other uses in health and social programmes.