Hairdressing social partners bring better OSH protection to workers across Europe
Representatives of European social partners in the hairdressing sector and EU-OSHA’s Healthy Workplaces official campaign partners UNI Europa and Coiffure EU, continue their commitment to promoting sustainable working conditions in a sector with a high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
Workers in the hairdressing sector are 10 times more likely to develop skin conditions and 5 times more likely to develop musculoskeletal diseases such as arthritis and tendinitis than the average worker. Also, 20% of hairdressers develop work-related asthma and they are regularly exposed to chemicals that research suggests can potentially cause cancer.
The hairdressing social partners have been very active in campaigning for bringing better OSH protection to the sector. In 2012, they negotiated an initial European framework agreement, which was concluded in 2016 with the European Framework Agreement on the protection of occupational health and safety in the hairdressing sector.
In January 2018, an Action Plan was agreed to support its implementation, resulting in the adoption of a Joint Statement on the autonomous implementation of the hairdressing social partner agreement in the hairdressing sector in December 2019. Under this statement, the social partners are committed to implement the agreed activities and to trigger tools to achieve the goals set out in the Agreement.
These include improving the protection of the skin and respiratory tract, ergonomic workplaces and accident prevention and health and safety at work. The agreed Action Plan is currently being implemented with the support of EU-OSHA, DG EMPL, DG GROW, CEN, and other relevant bodies.
See EU-OSHA’s support to the Agreement
Know more about the Healthy Workplaces Lighten the Load campaign