The document discusses improving occupational health and well-being in a service economy. It notes that the nature of occupational hazards is changing with innovations, new risks like violence and addiction, and changing work patterns. Conducting specialized research is needed to understand these changes and identify effective prevention measures. It also discusses how work produces goods/services as well as individual and social well-being, and that working conditions must enable health and quality service relationships. The conditions for carrying out work are also conditions for the quality of service provided.

1. Workshop 1 How to improve occupational health and wellbeing in a service economy
Just like work itself, work-related health matters are undergoing major changes, as indicated
by the European Commission in its Communication, ‘Improving quality and productivity at
work: a Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work’:
‘The nature of occupational hazards is changing in tandem with the acceleration in
innovation, the emergence of new risk factors (violence at work, including sexual and moral
harassment, and addictions) and the transformation of work patterns (working life is
becoming more fragmented). These changes mean that a better understanding of the
problem must be acquired by conducting specialised research in order to identify effective
prevention measures.’
Work not only ‘produces’ goods and services, it also ‘produces’ good health, social integrity
for individuals, and so on. For this to happen, the working conditions must be conducive.
Issues concerning health at work are neither separate from nor at odds with the economic
challenges (as the research shows, autonomy, greater intellectual demands, etc. are
associated with the highest levels of job satisfaction).
In addition, in a service economy, being engaged in work generates awareness of
conventions, societal changes, and new needs which can be a source of innovation – if the
organisation of work permits – and opportunity for change which will facilitate adjustments to
the service relationship. From this point of view, the conditions for carrying out work are also
the conditions for the service provided to users. And, by extension, the conditions underlying
the performance of the organisation, whether public or private.
What are the conditions for carrying out work which best enable health to be maintained and
a quality service relationship to be provided?
Sandrine Caroly
(See abstract in the French participant file)
Sandrine Caroly is a lecturer-researcher in the PACTE laboratory at the University of
Grenoble. Her initial research work investigated health-related problems in the service
sector, ‘burn out’ among social workers, job changes at La Poste, MSD prevention among
carers, professional relations in the funeral services sector, and stress among police officers.
The relationship between individual and collective regulations in crisis situations was the
subject of her thesis in ergonomics at the EPHE in Paris. Her current research topics are the
relationship between health and group work, the development of skills with experience, and
integrating prevention into the production process. She lectures in design ergonomics at
engineering colleges.
Philippe Douillet
The development of work situations implying a service relation introduces a major change in
the work content. What is the impact of this change on workers involvement conditions, and
consequently, on health issues? Even if quot;classical riskquot; have not completely disappeared
from the workplace, problems related to quot;psychosocial risksquot; are growing sharply. In the
ANACT network, the increasing demand from private and public companies in the service
sector has lead to question the growing quot;tensionsquot; due to more and more contradictory
situations. For instance, the standardisation of service frequently challenge the need for
quality experienced by workers in the service relation. By setting up the quot;psychosocial riskquot;
issue at this level, actors in the company open a way to solutions in terms of prevention that
are not limited to the individual support of workers. They give themselves means to build up
the conditions for a good quality work, and a sustainable performance for the organisation.

2. Philippe Douillet, post-graduate in social law and ergonomics, project manager at the Health
and Work department, ANACT, coordinator of the project quot;Preventing stress and
psychosocial risksquot;, co-writer of the book « Prévenir le stress et les RPS », éd. ANACT
Nicole Guignon
Psychosocial risks factors at work
A quantitative approach based on the SUMER survey
(See abstract in the French participant file)
Nicole Guignon is currently in charge of the health/work centre at the department for working
conditions and health of the Ministry for Labour, Social Relations, the Family and Solidarity.
Her chief work over the last six years has been with the SUMER survey and the latter’s
implementation, in collaboration with a team of doctors, labour inspectors and statisticians.
Her work concerned, in particular, senior citizens, carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic
substances, exposure to biological agents and psychosocial risks.
Olivier Gronier, Sales and Customer Relations Director, EDF
(See abstract and bio in the French participant file)
Irene Houtman
The world of work is changing in Europe. There is an increase in service work. How the
quality of work will look in the future will depend on how it is portrayed at present. Do these
changes involve a decrease in physical loads and an increase in psychosocial risks,
including violence and harassment? In this presentation, I will look into this question and the
assumptions that go along with it on the basis of empirical data. I will take into account the
fact that ‘service work’ is a quite diverse category, and ‘quality of work’ is a broad concept.
Conclusions regarding this question are quite varied, and reveal a variety of aspects
indicating that ‘quality of work’ may be relevant. I will also show that the increase in service
work is not solely responsible for the increase in violence and harassment to be found
across Europe.
Irene Houtman is working at TNO Work and Employment since 1990. Until then Irene worked
at the Free University of Amsterdam and obtained her PhD with her thesis on 'Stress and
Coping in Student Teachers'. Since 1995, she is a senior researcher at TNO Work &
Employment, and in 2002 she was awarded a senior research fellowship at TNO. Irene is
involved in a large variety of projects within the area of 'work, stress and health'. These
projects range from small to quite large scale national projects. Irene also participates in
several international projects, where she is acting as the national correspondent for the
Netherlands (e.g. in the EWCO, for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living
and Working Conditions), or as a partner representing the Netherlands in the EU (5th FP, 6th
FP, etc).
Claudia Narocki, ISTAS
Elke Schneider
Title: Changing world of work. Observations of EU-OSHA’s risk observatory
Working life in Europe is changing at an ever-increasing speed.
General trends include an increase in the number of small businesses, changes in
management methods, increased use of contractors and temporary staff, changes in working
hours and increased ability to work away from a fixed workplace or from home. For example,
in response to globalisation and economic pressures companies have looked for greater

3. flexibility to respond rapidly to peak production demands and seasonal variations whilst
controlling labour costs. Their approach has included introducing new working practices such
as ‘just-in-time’ production and casual labour such as temporary work and fixed-term
contracts.
The European Community strategies for Safety and Health at Work 2002–06 and 2007-
2012): The Community strategy 2002–06 (3) called on the European Agency for Safety and
Health at Work to ‘set up a risk observatory’ to ‘anticipate new and emerging risks”. In this
way, emerging risks in the workplace can be identified early and appropriate action can be
taken.
Issues covered by the Agency’s new European risk observatory include:
• changes in the composition of the workforce, with a higher percentage of older and female
workers ;
• changes in employment sectors;
• use of new technologies;
•.changes in work organisation.
All these issues can have implications for occupational safety and health. They can affect the
type and nature of risks present in the workplace and they can affect how risks need to be
managed.
Elke Schneider is working as a project manager for health and safety related information at
the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, where she has been involved in major
campaigns, the Agency’s project on statistical information, OSH in figures, and in setting up
the Agency’s risk observatory.
Elke Schneider has a degree in technical chemistry/ biochemistry and a doctorate of
technical sciences from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria.
Before joining the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work in 2002, Elke Schneider
worked for more than ten years for the central authority of the Austrian Labour Inspection
within the Ministry of Economics and Labour, last as deputy head of unit for European and
International Affairs.