Studies and research The studies and research activities of Prevent primarily relate to the collection of all relevant and current knowledge on occupational risks and the prevention of industrial accidents and work-related health problems in Belgium and abroad. By converting this knowledge into practice, Prevent is working on the improvement of occupational safety and health in a scientifically founded way.
The studies and research activities are geared to answering questions such as:
- How are working conditions and the social, economic and cultural contexts developing?
- What are the trends?
- What are the new and emerging risks?
- Are there scientifically founded safety strategies (good practices) to control risks?
For these research activities, Prevent works closely with other institutes and organisations in Belgium and abroad. In 2009 Prevent did research projects for, among others: the European Commission, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the Federal Public Department of Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, the Department of Labour and Social Economics of the Flemish Government.
Detecting and evaluating good practices
Prevent detects and evaluates good practices in occupational safety and health for the Topic Centre Occupational Safety and Health. TCOSH is a consortium of European institutes that conducts projects for the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. It involves collecting good health and safety practices from the EU member states, conducting literature studies on specific subjects, bringing together national policy options, keeping the website http://osha.europa.eu up to date.
The Topic Centre OSH is divided into two pillars: the European Risk Observatory covers quantitative research projects, and under the Work Environment pillar qualitative research is done. Prevent is one of the main partners in the Topic Centre OSH. In 2009 Prevent worked on many quantitative and qualitative research projects. The projects for the European Risk Observatory were done by the Monitoring Centre. The research department of Prevent took on the following Work Environment projects:
- Good practices in risk evaluation
- Risk prevention for drivers of road vehicles for passenger transport.
- Good practices in health and safety promotion for young employees.
- Data collection relating to the promotion of health in the workplace.
- Promoting mental health in the healthcare sector.
- Good practices for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders in the agricultural sector
Ageing at Work
At the end of 2007, Prevent started the Ageing at Work project, together with some European partners and with the financial support of the ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ programme of the European Commission. The basis of Ageing at Work is that an age-awareness policy must be coupled with attention to the health, well-being and workability of all employees. A suitable health and well-being policy can help guarantee the sustainable deployability of employees.
ELWHP
Prevent conducted a European Leonardo project together with a Romanian partner organisation with the aim of developing a training course on Workplace Health Promotion for Romanian occupational physicians. A course book was developed and the training was supported by an e-learning tool. Prevent provided the modules on Mental Health Promotion and Work Organisation.
Benefits of Occupational Safety and Health
Prevent is leading a two year study into the costs and benefits of health and safety at work. The study has been given the name benOSH: Benefits of Occupational Safety and Health. It is being done for the Directorate-General Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission. During the project case studies are being done in different companies in which the costs of industrial accidents and cases of work-related diseases are calculated. The project will run until August 2010.
Economic Dimension of Occupational Safety and Health
The Ecosh project, short for Economic Dimension of Occupational Safety and Health, attempts to bring together knowledge on the economic impact of health and safety. Knowledge was exchanged and new insights developed in three workshops. Prevent prepared the first workshop in Helsinki. The subject of this workshop was: The Impact of OSH and OSH Interventions on Company Performance. The results of each workshop were published in an article in a scientific journal. The project started under the 7th framework programme of the European Commission and ended at the end of 2009.
Health in Restructuring
In 2008 Prevent took part in the European Hires project (Health in Restructuring), a project that is part of the European Commission's Progress programme, in which the link between health and restructuring was investigated. The project resulted in a publication in scientific literature and tools and instruments on ‘health and restructuring’. In 2009 there was a sequel to Hires: Hires Plus. The purpose of this project was to develop the recommendations of the Hires project into firm policy recommendations on a national level.
Move Europe
Prevent is the Belgian national contact centre for the European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP). In 2009 it conducted two campaigns for the ENWHP: the two year campaign Move Europe ended at the end of March with 5 companies being rewarded with the Certificate of Good Practice. The sequel campaign, "Move Europe. Work. In tune with life.", was launched on November 26th.
DM@Work
Since 2004 Prevent has been playing an active role in Disability Management by introducing the methodology into Belgium. With the new DM@Work project, supported by the European Social Fund, Prevent wants to further develop the methodology relating to reintegration policy on a company level. Between April 2009 and October 2010 a systematic approach to retention and reintegration will be set up for four sectors: the hospital and healthcare sector, the construction sector, the (petro)chemical sector and the public sector.
Proportional labour participation and diversity
"Sustainable employment of people with an occupational handicap - What policy do companies conduct?", is a study for the Department of Work and Social Economics of the Flemish Government. It investigates the way in which companies approach the sustainable employment of people with a disability in practice, in order to make recommendations to employers on the basis of these findings. ACT-Désiron and UCBO-Ugent helped Prevent conduct the study with regard to its content.
Musculoskeletal disorders and labour market participation
Prevent helped write the Belgian version of the Fit for Work report: Musculoskeletal disorders and labour market participation, a project managed by The Work Foundation. Prevent also helped with the presentation of the European report on 30 September in Brussels.
For more information contact lieven.eeckelaert@prevent.be.
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