Health and Safety at Work: Labour Security as a Primary Challenge for Human Security

Abstract

The matter of accidents at work and occupational diseases falls within the aims of various EU and international rules. This is part of a more general interest of the International community, as well as of the European Union’s legislator and judge, for safety and health in the workplace. At this regard, the present paper aims at analyzing the capacity for the implementation and development of an occupational safety and health management approach at the international and European Union’s level. The analysis is conducted through the examination of the international and European legal framework governing the matter, as well as through the investigation of the most recent and relevant case law on accidents at work and occupational diseases. From this research an effort emerges, at the European and international level, to ensure safety and health standards. However, such efforts are inadequate with respect to a constantly changing labor market, characterized by less and less stable employment relationships, new working patterns and an ageing workforce. Neither are all the people concerned by those changes adequately covered by the existing health, safety and insurance legislation, as well as the increasing number of temporary workers and workers with atypical contracts.