Sustainable networking in OSH

Paolo Sacco

ICS Maugeri, President of the European Platform for Occupational Hygiene (EPOH), Italy

The European Platform for Occupational Hygiene (EPOH) is a non-profit organisation founded by nine European associations of occupational hygiene professionals. Like IOHA, the International Occupational Hygiene Association, EPOH aims to improve, promote and develop the professional practice of occupational hygiene (OH). However, this commitment is developed in Europe, where specific regulations strongly influence the practice of occupational hygiene.
The figures of occupational diseases and accidents throughout Europe clearly point to inadequate management of occupational health and safety: The need for competent OH professionals is quite obvious. While legislation and international standards require competent advice in managing OH, what this competence entails is not defined, not even in the European context.
EPOH attaches priority importance to the objective of contributing to training, qualification and certification systems in the field of occupational hygiene in Europe. The EPOH is currently discussing how to fill this gap in order to involve other OSH stakeholders, including institutional and regulatory bodies.
Although HO training programs and requirements vary widely across EU countries, various advances, initiatives, and good practices provide a good starting point for creating a more homogeneous framework.

Here are some examples:

• In the UK, standards of competence and training for OH are set by the Faculty of Occupational Hygiene, part of the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS).
• The Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA) offers an international training scheme and qualifications framework, providing training materials in several languages. IOHA recognizes national occupational hygiene certification schemes through its National Accreditation Recognition (NAR) Committee.
• Outcome of an EU project for promoting OH in Eastern Europe, the OSHNET school, in connection with the Dokuz Eylul University of Izmir, offers courses for industrial hygiene professionals, in collaboration with two associations members of EPOH (AIDII and NvvA).
• An important standardisation effort was made by UNI, via the publication of UNI 11711:2018, which defines the requirements of knowledge, skills and competencies for the industrial hygienist’s profession.

Aware of this progress, EPOH plans to conduct a detailed analysis of the OH training and certification systems in place in each member country with the goal of reaching a minimum consensus. A special workshop, discussion documents and meetings with stakeholders are planned.

Author:
Paolo Sacco, ICS Maugeri, President of the European Platform for Occupational Hygiene (EPOH), Italy

Gyula Szabó

FEES executive board member, Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary

The collaboration of the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES) and ENETOSH started in the frame of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work's campaign for Healthy Workplaces.
In recent years, the two organizations jointly promoted the role of educational institutions in preventing work-related musculoskeletal diseases. In addition to the fact that the time spent in schools must not lead to health issues for students or teachers, e.g. by extended uncomfortable body position or carrying objects that are too heavy, they also have a responsibility to teach the correct sitting and standing posture, the accurate walking movements, and the right way of lifting weights.
The ergonomists in various educational institutions create, teach and apply ergonomics to ensure that educational institutions meet the requirements of healthy, safe, efficient and satisfying design. In the fit-to-human-use environment, we want to plant the need for good design into the students' values and provide all the skills and knowledge to create such environment, products or services during their work.

Ergonomics is usually taught as an independent subject or part of various professional topics. A crucial element is the practical application of ergonomics skills and knowledge when the student gains direct experience while independently solving an ergonomic problem.
The knowledge and methods of ergonomics and human factors encompasses all human characteristics, abilities and limitations, from the structure and size of the human body to cognitive and emotional functions, without forgetting the ability to work together, the resilience of the group in the event of incidents, etc. We must master methods to study human characteristics and behaviour and apply a human-centred system approach.
Ergonomics often appears in the context of furniture, machines, medical devices design, related to manual material handling, and in the creation of computer workplaces. A less well-known but equally important field of application is preventing human error and planning services. The software application field created "user experience" terminology, a recent synonym for ergonomics and human factors.

Author:
Gyula Szabó, FEES executive board member, Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary