Education : evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER).
Date: 2022-12-31
Institutions: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
Subjects: Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, case study, digitisation, education, home working, musculoskeletal disorder, occupational psychology, occupational safety, report

Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work 

ISSN: 1831-9343 

Education – evidence from the 
European Survey of Enterprises 
on New and Emerging Risks 
(ESENER) 

Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Authors: Andrew Howard, Radoslaw Antczak (Oxford Research), Karen Albertsen (Team Arbejdsliv) 

Project management: Ioannis Anyfantis, Xabier Irastorza (EU-OSHA). 

This report was commissioned by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA). Its 
contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do 
not necessarily reflect the views of EU-OSHA. 

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ISBN: 978-92-9479-784-1 

Doi: 10.2802/04069 

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© European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, 2022 

Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Table of Contents 

List of figures and tables ...................................................................................................................... 5 

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................. 4 

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4 

Key findings ......................................................................................................................................... 4 

1 

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 6 

1.1 

1.2 

1.3 

Key features of the study on the education sector and ESENER ........................................... 6 

Overview of ESENER .............................................................................................................. 6 

Key features............................................................................................................................. 7 

2  Conceptual framework .................................................................................................................. 8 

2.1 

2.2 

2.3 

Key aims and research questions ........................................................................................... 8 

Study methodology .................................................................................................................. 9 

ESENER 2019 and the education sector subset................................................................... 10 

3 

Literature review – work environment in the education sector .............................................. 11 

3.1 

3.2 

Introduction and search strategy ........................................................................................... 11 

Psychosocial factors .............................................................................................................. 12 

3.2.1 

3.2.2 

3.2.3 

3.2.4 

3.2.5 

3.2.6 

3.2.7 

3.2.8 

Demands at work ........................................................................................................... 13 

Work organisation and job content ................................................................................ 14 

Interpersonal relations and leadership .......................................................................... 16 

Work–individual interference ......................................................................................... 16 

Social capital .................................................................................................................. 17 

Offensive behaviour ....................................................................................................... 17 

Health and wellbeing ..................................................................................................... 18 

OSH management and training ..................................................................................... 20 

3.3 

3.4 

3.5 

Ergonomic factors .................................................................................................................. 20 

Unsafe noise levels ............................................................................................................... 21 

Other risks ............................................................................................................................. 21 

4  OSH risk factors .......................................................................................................................... 23 

4.1 

4.2 

4.3 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 23 

Summary of ESENER 2019 findings – OSH risk factors ...................................................... 23 

Health and safety risks in European educational establishments ......................................... 25 

5  OSH management and risk assessment in the education sector .......................................... 29 

5.1 

5.2 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 29 

Summary of ESENER 2019 findings ..................................................................................... 29 

5.2.1 

5.2.2 

Risk assessment............................................................................................................ 34 

Management of employee health .................................................................................. 40 

5.3 

OSH commitment .................................................................................................................. 43 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

5.4 

Sources of OSH advice ......................................................................................................... 45 

5.5  Multivariate analysis of ESENER results ............................................................................... 48 

5.5.1 

OSH management ......................................................................................................... 48 

5.5.2 
manage than other risks ................................................................................................................ 51 

Main factors influencing the perception that psychosocial risks are more difficult to 

5.6 

Composite indicators ............................................................................................................. 53 

6  OSH management of psychosocial and digitalisation risks in the education sector .......... 56 

6.1 

6.2 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 56 

Summary of ESENER 2019 findings ..................................................................................... 56 

6.3  Measures taken for psychosocial risk management ............................................................. 60 

6.4 

6.5 

Psychosocial risk management (composite indicator) .......................................................... 66 

Digitalisation risks .................................................................................................................. 67 

6.6  Multivariate analysis of ESENER results ............................................................................... 70 

6.6.1 

6.6.2 

6.6.3 

6.6.4 

Presence of psychosocial risks ..................................................................................... 70 

The use of various measures for psychosocial risks ..................................................... 73 

Reasons making psychosocial risks difficult to manage ............................................... 75 

Impact of digitalisation risks on OSH ............................................................................. 78 

7  Drivers and barriers to OSH risk management in the education sector ................................ 80 

7.1 

7.2 

7.3 

7.4 

7.5 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 80 

Summary of ESENER 2019 findings ..................................................................................... 80 

Drivers of OSH management ................................................................................................ 82 

Barriers to OSH management ............................................................................................... 83 

Barriers to psychosocial risk management ............................................................................ 84 

7.5.1 

Multivariate analysis of ESENER results ....................................................................... 85 

8  OSH employee representation in the education sector .......................................................... 87 

8.1 

8.2 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 87 

Summary of ESENER 2019 findings ..................................................................................... 87 

8.3  Methods of employee representation in the education sector ............................................... 89 

8.4  Methods of employee training and involvement .................................................................... 90 

8.5  Multivariate analysis of ESENER results ............................................................................... 94 

8.5.1 

Composite indicator (OSH employee representation) ................................................... 95 

9  Conclusions and policy pointers ............................................................................................... 97 

9.1 

9.2 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 97 

Conclusions and policy pointers ............................................................................................ 97 

10  References ................................................................................................................................. 103 

1. Annex - Data processing and analysis ........................................................................................ 109 

2. Composite indicator analysis ...................................................................................................... 110 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

3. Country reports ............................................................................................................................. 111 

3.1 Denmark .................................................................................................................................... 111 

3.2 Germany .................................................................................................................................... 113 

3.3 France........................................................................................................................................ 115 

3.4 Ireland ........................................................................................................................................ 118 

3.5 Italy ............................................................................................................................................ 121 

List of figures and tables 

Figure 1: Risk factors (excluding psychosocial risks) in educational establishments (% educational 

establishments in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019 and 2014),  ................................................. 26 

Figure 2: Reported presence of psychosocial risk factors in educational establishments (% educational 
establishments in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019 and 2014) ................................................... 27 

Figure 3: Reported presence of risk factors (excluding psychosocial risks) in educational 

establishments, by size (% educational establishments in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019),  .. 28 

Figure 4: Reported presence of psychosocial risk factors in educational establishments, by size (% 

educational establishments in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019) ............................................... 28 

Figure 5: Educational establishments that regularly carry out workplace risk assessments (% 

educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014) ........................ 35 

Figure 6: Workplace risk assessments carried out regularly (% establishments by sector ESENER 

2019 and 2014) ...................................................................................................................... 36 

Figure 7: Risk assessment covering workplaces outside the establishment (% educational 

establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019) ........................................................... 37 

Figure 8: Items routinely evaluated in workplace risk assessments (% educational establishments for 

ESENER 2019 and 2014) ...................................................................................................... 38 

Figure 9: Provision of risk assessments in written form (% educational establishments by Member 

State for ESENER 2019 and 2014) ....................................................................................... 39 

Figure 10: Summary of results for key questions on risk assessments by establishment size (% 

educational establishments by establishment size for ESENER 2019) ............................... 39 

Figure 11: Regular medical examinations performed to monitor employee health (% educational 

establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014) ......................................... 40 

Figure 12: Establishments that keep a record of employees’ absences due to sickness (% educational 
establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019) ......................................................... 41 

Figure 13: Establishments with a procedure to support employees returning to work after a long-term 
sickness absence (% educational establishment by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 
2014) .................................................................................................................................... 42 

Figure 14: Measures to promote sustainable working lives by reducing MSDs (% educational 

establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014) ...................................................................... 43 

Figure 15: Establishments with documents in place that explain responsibilities or procedures on 

health and safety (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 
2014) .................................................................................................................................... 44 

Figure 16: Establishments where respondents have received training on how to manage health and 

safety (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014) .................................. 45 

Figure 17: Establishments where external OSH services were used within the previous three years (% 
educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014) .................................................. 46 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Figure 18: How respondents rate external OSH services (% educational establishments for ESENER 

2019 and 2014) .................................................................................................................... 47 

Figure 19: Establishments that were visited by labour inspectorates within the previous three years (% 
educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014) .................................................. 48 

Figure 20: Probability (odds ratio) of OSH management practices in education vs other economic 

sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 
higher probability than in education) .................................................................................... 51 

Figure 21: Probability (odds ratio) of respondents’ perception that psychosocial risks are more difficult 

in education vs other sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability 
than in education; >1 higher probability than in education) ................................................. 53 

Figure 22: Risk assessment .................................................................................................................. 54 

Figure 23: OSH commitment ................................................................................................................. 55 

Figure 24: Establishments that have an action plan in place to prevent work-related stress (% 

educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)...................... 61 

Figure 25: Establishments that have procedures in place to prevent cases of bullying or harassment 

(% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014) ................ 62 

Figure 26: Establishments that have procedures in place to deal with possible cases of threats, abuse 

or assaults by external persons (% educational establishments by Member State for 
ESENER 2019 and 2014) .................................................................................................... 63 

Figure 27: How easy or difficult it is for educational establishments to address psychosocial risks 

compared to other risks (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 
and 2014) ............................................................................................................................. 64 

Figure 28: Establishments that have sufficient information to include psychosocial risks in risk 

assessments (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 
2014) .................................................................................................................................... 65 

Figure 29: Establishments where employees have played a role in the design and set-up of measures 
to address psychosocial risks (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014)
 ............................................................................................................................................. 66 

Figure 30: Psychosocial risk management ............................................................................................ 67 

Figure 31: Used digital technologies (% educational establishments by establishment size for 

ESENER 2019) .................................................................................................................... 68 

Figure 32: Establishments where the possible OSH impacts of the use of digital technologies have 

been discussed (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019) ...... 69 

Figure 33: The impacts that have been discussed (% educational establishments by establishment 

size for ESENER 2019) ....................................................................................................... 70 

Figure 34: Probability (odds ratio) of the presence of psychosocial risks in education vs other sectors 

(1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 higher 
probability than in education) ............................................................................................... 72 

Figure 35: Probability (odds ratio) of applying measures for psychosocial risks in education vs other 
sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 
higher probability than in education) .................................................................................... 75 

Figure 36: Probability (odds ratio) of reasons making addressing psychosocial risks difficult in 

education vs other sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than 
in education; >1 higher probability than in education) ......................................................... 78 

Figure 37: Probability (odds ratio) of discussing possible impacts of digital technology in education vs 
other sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; 
>1 higher probability than in education) ............................................................................... 79 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Figure 38: Reasons for addressing health and safety (% educational establishments for ESENER 

2019) .................................................................................................................................... 83 

Figure 39: Difficulties addressing health and safety risks in educational establishments ..................... 84 

Figure 40: Probability (odds ratio) of reasons and barriers addressing health and safety in education 

vs other sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in 
education; >1 higher probability than in education) ............................................................. 86 

Figure 41: Forms of employee representation (% educational establishments for ESENER 2014 and 

2019) .................................................................................................................................... 89 

Figure 42: How health and safety representatives are appointed (% educational establishments by 

Member State for ESENER 2014 and 2019) ....................................................................... 90 

Figure 43: Establishments that have conducted an employee survey including questions on work-

related stress in the last three years (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019) .. 91 

Figure 44: Establishments where employees have been involved in identifying possible causes for 

work-related stress (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019) ............................. 92 

Figure 45: Establishments where employees have played a role in the design and set-up of measures 
to address psychosocial risks (% educational establishments for ESENER 2014 and 2019)
 ............................................................................................................................................. 93 

Figure 46: Probability (odds ratio) of the presence of a health and safety representative in education 

vs other economic activities (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability 
than in education; >1 higher probability than in education) ................................................. 95 

Figure 47: Worker participation ............................................................................................................. 96 

Table 1: Key research questions ............................................................................................................. 8 

Table 2: Search strategy ....................................................................................................................... 11 

Table 3: Probability of OSH management activities in the establishment (in %) after accounting for 

contextual variables ................................................................................................................. 50 

Table 4: Probability of the presence of a psychosocial risk in the establishment (in %) after accounting 
for contextual variables ............................................................................................................ 71 

Table 5: Probability of applying the measure for psychosocial risks in the establishment (in %) after 

accounting for contextual variables .......................................................................................... 73 

Table 6: Probability of the perceived reasons that make addressing psychosocial risks difficult (in %) 

after accounting for contextual variables ................................................................................. 76 

Table 7: Probability of the presence of barriers to addressing health and safety in the establishment (in 
%) after accounting for contextual variables ............................................................................ 85 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Executive Summary 
Introduction  
This  report  provides  a  comparative  analysis  of  the  European  Survey  of  Enterprises  on  New  and 
Emerging Risks (ESENER) findings for the education sector in several key areas of occupational safety 
and  health  (OSH)  management,  including  psychosocial  risks,  drivers  and  barriers  for  OSH 
management,  as  well  as  the  involvement  of  workers.  In  doing  so,  the  study  compared  the  ESENER 
results  between  2014  and  2019  for  the  education  sector,  compared  the  education  sector  to  other 
sectors,  and  assessed  new  topics  covered  by  ESENER  2019  such  as  digitalisation  and  OSH,  the 
perceived quality of external preventive services and the monitoring of sickness absences, while also 
considering  the  implications  of  the  changing  work  environment  since  the  onset  of  the  COVID-19 
pandemic.  

The responses from the education sector to ESENER shed light on the extent of actions and measures 
adopted to secure a safe work environment. To a certain extent, these can be considered in the context 
of  the  EU  Framework  Directive  89/391/EEC  on  health  and  safety  and  supporting  national  or  sector 
specific legislation that aims to encourage the introduction of measures to improve OSH.1 However, the 
results should be considered as providing insight into the drivers and barriers of OSH management in 
the education sector rather than providing certainty around the level of legal compliance.  

In addressing the research questions, the study used several analysis methods to identify the main OSH 
trends, including bivariate analysis of the ESENER results, literature review, and case study research 
on  OSH  risks  and  practices  at  different  levels  of  the  education  sector  in  five  countries.  In  addition, 
regression analyses using the ESENER dataset were used to test questions exploring the factors likely 
to promote good OSH management in educational establishments.  

After distilling the main findings, a series of education sector-specific policy pointers were formulated for 
possible follow-up by Member States and relevant stakeholders.  

The  research  findings  suggest  that  there  is  need  for  a  stronger  OSH  management  response  in  the 
education sector. This suggestion is based on several findings that are outlined below and include issues 
such  as  identifiable  gaps  in  the  OSH  management  response  between  and  within  countries,  the 
significant musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and psychosocial risks on the sector, the transformation 
of teaching due to digitalisation and the ongoing impact of COVID-19. 

Key findings 
The key findings are as follows: 



Through ESENER, the education sector recognised that significant OSH risks are endemic to
their working environment, especially psychosocial risks, such as having to deal with difficult
pupils and parents, or time pressure, and MSD risks, including prolonged sitting, repetitive hand
or arm movements, as well as other risk factors, such as loud noise and so on.

 However,  the  results  show  that  there  are  gaps  in  the  level  of  risk  awareness  between
establishments and countries, with a major share of educational establishments unaware of the
risks that are recognised by experts and leading representatives as common to the sector.

•



Yet, some of the gaps in the level of risk awareness can be partly explained by differences in
the  severity  of  risks  across  the  sector;  for  example,  establishments  may  or  may  not  have
specialised teaching units that use machinery or chemicals and so on, and tertiary education is
much less exposed to difficult pupils.

The  onset  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  has  intensified  the  level  of  risks,  especially  those
associated with digitalisation and MSDs. Among other things, this includes online teaching that
demands  stronger  efforts  in  ensuring  that  pupils  are  attentive  and  productive,  adding  to
workplace  stress.  Pressure  has  also  been  put  on  management  by  parents  unsatisfied  with
decisions around school closures and other measures.

1 Directive 89/391/EEC - Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage 
improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. Council of the European Union. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A31989L0391 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A31989L0391 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

 Good efforts have been made to perform regular risk assessments, with 77% of establishments
reporting to do so — this positions the education sector just above the EU sectoral average for
this practice.



Yet,  there  seems  to  be  some  gaps  in  the  focus  and  scope  of  risk  assessments.  There  is  a
greater focus on safety and chemical risks, even though establishments acknowledge that the
main risks are psychosocial and MSD risks. Moreover, digital tools, home working and persons
not on the payroll are not frequently covered by establishments that use these working methods.
While  ESENER  was  completed  in  2019,  it  seems  that  the  OSH  management  system  in
educational establishments was not well positioned for the transformation of the teaching sector
under COVID-19.

 When  compared  to  other  sectors,  the  education  sector  has  performed  well  in  encouraging
employee health through measures such as healthy nutrition, sport activities, back exercises
and so on. Yet, use of measures to support sustainable working lives by lowering MSD-type
risks are on the decline, which does not seem to align well with the main risks facing the sector.

 While more than half of establishments have procedures to support employees to return to work
after long-term sickness absences, these seem to be on the decline in countries that were less
likely  to  adopt  them  —  again,  the  potential  stresses  and  consequences  of  teaching  under
COVID-19 do not seem to be managed upfront.



EU social partners stressed the sectoral problems of the limited supply of teachers and poor
staff retention that are partly due to poor perceptions of the working environment. This suggests
that there are broader strategic reasons for investing in OSH management — that is, as a way
to make the sector more attractive to new and existing staff.

• Regression analyses were used to identify the factors that may ‘predict’ the introduction of good
OSH management practices in establishments. In doing so, the analyses used several models
to test the relationship between dependent variables  (e.g. such as regular completion of risk
assessments) and independent variables (e.g. such as the size of establishments). Helpfully,
the  models  provided  some  clues  on  the  approaches  that  may  increase  the  likelihood  of  the
introduction of OSH management practices in educational establishments, for example:

 Data analysis indicate that companies regularly conducting a workplace risk assessment are
usually those that have appointed OSH representatives and have undergone inspections.

 Data analysis indicate that companies addressing digitalisation risks are usually those that have
appointed OSH representatives and OSH is regularly discussed at top management level. A
psychologist or occupational health doctor can assist in the identification of psychosocial risks.



The  analysis  also  revealed  that  the  inclusion  of  supervisor–employee  relationships  in  risk
assessments is related to the introduction of measures to manage psychosocial risks such as
increasing  decision  authority,  training  on  conflict  resolution,  confidential  counselling  and
measures to reorganise work.

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

1  Introduction 
1.1  Key features of the study on the education sector and ESENER 
This study is part of a series of European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) research 
assignments that is using  evidence from the European Survey  of  Enterprises on New  and  Emerging 
Risks (ESENER) and other complementary sources to explore sectoral occupational safety and health 
(OSH) trends and practices in depth (EU-OSHA, 2022a).  

For this report, the education sector has been investigated in-depth, which according to 2021 figures 
from Eurostat2 provides employment to 7% of the EU workforce and is central to forming a skilled and 
productive workforce and the advancement of society generally.  

The  research  had  a  specific  focus  on  several  key  OSH  risks  facing  the  education  sector,  such  as 
musculoskeletal  disorders  (MSDs),  psychosocial  risks,  risks  due  to  digitalisation  and  the  recent 
transformation to homeworking due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

As  explained  in  Chapter  2  on  the  conceptual  framework,  the  study  was  guided  by  multiple  research 
questions  in  the  areas  of  risk  awareness,  OSH  management  and  risk  assessment,  including 
psychosocial  and  digitalisation  risk  management,  barriers  and  drivers  to  OSH  management,  and 
employee representation and OSH.  

The study used several data analysis methods to determine the main OSH trends, including bivariate 
analysis of the ESENER results, and a literature review. The project also included case study research 
on OSH risks and practices in five countries, namely Denmark, Germany, Ireland, France and Italy, that 
included desk research and interviews with national stakeholders to explore the main risks and OSH 
management practices used at different levels of the education sector.  

Moreover,  using  logistic  regression,  the  study  addressed  several  research  questions  exploring  the 
factors likely to promote good OSH management in establishments. This analysis used the evidence 
from the ESENER 2019 dataset relating to the education sector, including both responses to specific 
OSH-related questions and other contextual information on educational establishments such as their 
country location and size.  

The main findings were used to develop education sector-specific policy pointers that may be helpful for 
review by Member States, which are indicated at the end of the report. 

1.2  Overview of ESENER 
ESENER is  a large-scale,  multinational survey of public and  private establishments. ESENER  which 
has been implemented in 2009, 2014 and 2019.3  

ESENER plays a key role in the monitoring of OSH in Europe. By collecting feedback from the ‘person 
who knows best about OSH’ in establishments, ESENER provides unique insights into how health and 
safety  is  actually  managed  in  the  workplace.  In  particular,  ESENER  fills  an  information  gap  on  the 
presence of health and safety risk factors and the methods and steps taken in managing them.  

Although extensive EU legislation to improve OSH has been introduced since the 1980s, including the 
Framework  Directive  89/391/EEC  and  other  supporting  directives,  the  implementation  of  these 
provisions  differs  among  Member  States,  although  in  some  cases  this  can  be  accounted  for  due  to 
differences in their adoption, for example, by sector and establishment size. While ESENER does not 
provide  information  on  the  extent  of  legal  compliance  per  se,  it  provides  a  good  indication  of  the 
necessary actions taken to fulfil OSH obligations and support the development of safety cultures.  

Moreover,  ESENER  2019  is  well  placed  to  provide  longitudinal  monitoring  of  OSH  management  in 
Europe though comparisons with the prior wave, ESENER 2014.4 This is possible due to the consistency 
of the approaches used by these waves, including:  



using a largely uniform set of survey questions;

2 https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=lfsa_egan2&lang=en  
3 ESENER Methodology: https://visualisation.osha.europa.eu/esener/en/about-tool  
4 There are some key differences in the approach taken by the first wave, ESENER 2009. While the occupational safety and 
health (OSH) themes covered were similar, the questions used were worded differently. Two survey interviews were conducted 
in ESENER 2009: one with the highest-ranking person responsible for OSH; the other with an employee representative for 
OSH. Establishments with 10 or more employees were interviewed. NACE sectors B-S were covered.  

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 






interviewing a single respondent per establishment — that is, ‘the person who knows best about
OSH’;
sampling establishments with five or more employees; and
coverage of a common set of sectors, NACE Rev. 2 sectors, A to S. All activity sectors except
for private households (NACE T) and extraterritorial organisations (NACE U).

1.3  Key features 
The remainder of this report is organised as follows: 

• Chapter  2:  Conceptual  framework  sets  out  the  study  approach,  the  main  areas  of
investigation and some key features of ESENER data connected to the education sector.
• Chapters 3: Literature review provides an overview of the work environment in the education
sector  and  of  the  previously  documented  main  OSH  risks  in  the  education  sector,  including
psychosocial risks such as work organisation and job content, ergonomic factors, noise and so
on.

• Chapter 4: Health and safety risks in the education sector sheds light on the type and extent
of risks facing at least some staff in educational establishments, including safety, ergonomic,
chemical and psychosocial risks.

• Chapter 5: OSH management and risk assessment in the education sector examines the
education sector’s approach in conducting risk assessments, the level of commitment towards
OSH, the approach to monitoring OSH, the methods taken for the management of employee
health and the uptake of OSH advice.

• Chapter  6:  Psychosocial  risks  and  digitalisation  explores  the  education  sector’s
prioritisation of the management of psychosocial risks, whether measures have been adopted
to manage such risks, the digitalisation trends in the workplace and their consideration in an
OSH management context.

• Chapter 7: Drivers and barriers to OSH risk management in the education sector focuses
on the aspects that may encourage or discourage educational establishments from fulfilling their
OSH duties.

• Chapter  8:  OSH  employee  representation  in  the  education  sector  explores  the  role  of
employee involvement in OSH management in the education sector and how it is implemented
in practice.

• Chapter 9: Conclusions and policy pointers provides an overview of the main findings and
some  pointers  on  areas  of  OSH  policy  and  management  that  if  strengthened  would  help  to
realise better results in the education sector.

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

2  Conceptual framework  
2.1  Key aims and research questions 
The specific aims of this study were as follows: 

•

•

•

use  ESENER  data  to  provide  a  comparative  analysis  of  the  2019  and  2014  findings  for  the
education sector;
compare the education sector with other sectors concerning the adoption of OSH management
practices; and
conduct both bivariate and multivariate analysis of the ESENER results, in the areas of: 1) OSH
management,  2)  psychosocial  risks  and  digitalisation,  3)  drivers  and  barriers,  and  4)  worker
participation.

In line with the study aims, and to make best use of ESENER data on the education sector, several 
research questions were developed, as indicated in Table 1. 

Table 1: Key research questions 

Policy area 

Risk assessment 
and OSH 
management in the 
education sector 

Psychosocial risks 
and their 
management 

Key questions 

1. What are the main recognised physical risks in the education sector? What

measures have been introduced to reduce physical risks?

2. What is the rate of completion of education sector workplace risk assessment?
Who carries out the assessments? What are the main drivers and obstacles to
completing risk assessments? What items and persons are included in risks
assessments?

3. What types of internal and external resources, information and services are used

to support OSH management in the education sector?

4. Do educational establishments have access to the necessary support and

information to manage OSH-related risks?

5. What is the rate of visits conducted by the labour inspectorate in the education

sector? Do inspections predict good compliance on other OSH management
performance measures?

6. What methods are adopted to promote good OSH management by employees in

the education sector?

7. What is the rate of reported workplace accidents in the education sector? Is the

rate of absenteeism changing over time? Are procedures used to manage the
return of long-term absentees?

8. What is the level of management commitment towards OSH in the education

sector?

9. How prevalent is the use of training on OSH issues for staff in the education

sector at different levels?

1. What are the main recognised psychosocial risks in the education sector?
2. Are relevant procedures established to address psychosocial risks in the

education sector?

3. What measures have been adopted in the education sector to address

psychosocial risks?

4. To what extent are risk assessments and action plans being used to address

psychosocial risks in the education sector?

5. What is the prevalence in the education sector of evaluation of working
schedules and routines to manage work-related stress and so on?

6. Are psychosocial risks easier or harder to manage than physical risks in the

education sector?

Digitalisation and 
OSH management 

1. What digital technologies are used by the education sector?
2. What is the frequency of use of digital technologies in the education sector that

may result in OSH risks?

3. Are the OSH-related impacts of such technologies discussed in the education

sector? If so, which impacts are mainly discussed?

Drivers and barriers 
to OSH risk 
management 

1. What are the main drivers for OSH management in the education sector?
2. What are the main barriers to OSH management in educational establishments?

Do legislation and paperwork remain as key difficulties? 

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Policy area 

Key questions 

Employee 
representation 

1. What are the formal types of employee representation in the education sector?
2. Are employees in the education sector involved in the development of workplace

risk assessments?

3. Are employees in the education sector involved in the design and set-up of

4.

measures addressing physical and psychosocial risks?
Is there a link between employee representation and whether the possible
impacts of the use of technologies on health and safety of employees are
discussed in educational establishments?

Research questions 

Key questions 

Regression 
questions 

1. What conditions (external, internal) are associated with the completion of risk

assessments?

2. What conditions are associated with coverage of remote workplaces in risk

assessments?

3. What conditions, internal establishment or external factors, are associated with

the involvement of employees in the design of measures following a risk
assessment?

4. What conditions are associated with the managerial commitment to OSH?
5. How the inclusion of supervisor–employee relationships and organisational

aspects into risk assessment as well as the existence of an action plan to
prevent work-related stress is associated with the lack of reporting on
psychosocial risks?

6. What factors are associated with the introduction of measures to address

psychosocial risks?

7. Which are the main factors that are associated with the perception that
psychosocial risks are more difficult to manage than other risks?
Is the use of particular digital technologies (and types) associated with the type
of OSH impacts that are discussed in meetings?

8.

9. What conditions are associated with the perception that the complexity of

legislation is a main barrier in addressing health and safety?

10. What conditions are associated with the perception that legislation is a driver of

compliance?

11. What conditions (related to employee or to employer) are associated with the

adoption of an employee health and safety representative?

2.2  Study methodology 
The methodology comprised two main strands of qualitative and quantitative research. 

The results of these strands were brought together in summary analyses that introduce each chapter 
and highlight the main approach and gaps around how OSH is managed in the education sector. These 
summary analyses were used to develop the conclusions and policy pointers section and are indicated 
at the end of this report.  

The quantitative research included bivariate and multivariate analyses of the ESENER 2014 and 2019 
data corresponding to the education sector (see chapters below)  

The  bivariate  analysis  used  country  and  organisation  size  data  from  the  ESENER  2014  and  2019 
surveys to provide an analysis of change over time for each of the key ESENER questions for the EU-
27, by country and also by organisation size. The ESENER questions cover several key areas of OSH 
policy and management, including:  

risk assessment practices;

traditional and emerging health and safety risks in the establishment;

1.
2. day-to-day OSH management: OSH expertise and general policy;
3.
4. drivers and barriers to OSH management;
5. psychosocial risks and digitalisation; and
6. employer participation in OSH issues.

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In addition, several composite indicators were developed using ESENER 2019  data to communicate 
policy area progress in the areas mentioned above. The composite indicators rank the performance of 
the education sector internationally against other countries, and nationally against other sectors. The 
methodology for the composite indicators is included in the Annex.  

Regression  models  were  developed  using  the  information  from  ESENER  to  explore  the  relevant 
research  questions  indicated  above.  The  idea  was  to  learn  what  key  establishment  characteristics 
‘predict’ the adoption of good OSH management practices in the education sector. We also considered 
if the ‘context’ played a role in determining the outcomes explored — that is, the size of establishment, 
the sector and country. The regression results are reflected upon in Chapters 5 to 8.  

The qualitative research involved a literature review (Chapter3) and country case research. To get a 
good overview of the main OSH trends, the literature review focused on reviewing the results of meta-
reviews or large-scale statistical analyses of OSH risks facing the education sector. The country case 
research focused on several countries (Denmark, Germany, Ireland, France and Italy) and involved 15 
in-depth interviews with representatives from different levels of the education sector. The idea was to 
build  on  the  themes  covered  by  ESENER  around  the  main  risks,  the  approach  and  challenges  in 
managing  OSH,  and  also  specific  issues  related  to  OSH  that  have  emerged  since  the  COVID-19 
pandemic began (see the Annex for the main conclusions of the countries’ case studies).  

The study also interviewed two EU industry organisations, the European Trade Union Committee for 
Education (ETUCE) and the European Federation of Education Employers, to explore their views on the 
study results and obtain advice on the most pressing concerns facing the sector and its transformation 
to online learning since the start of the pandemic.  

2.3  ESENER 2019 and the education sector subset 
ESENER  2019  gathered  data  from  45,420  establishments  employing  at  least  five  people  across  all 
activity sectors from the EU-27, Iceland, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and the United 
Kingdom (EU-OSHA, 2022a).  

For this study, results from the education sector were analysed that included 3,540 responses across 
33 European countries. In some cases, the number of education establishment responses per country 
was  too  small  to  be  considered  as  statistically  representative.  Therefore,  while  most  countries  were 
analysed independently, seven countries were grouped together into a category called ‘Other’. 5 

Similarly,  given  the  size  of  the  sample,  the  analysis  of  responses  according  to  the  size  of  the 
establishments  was  modified  with  the  comparison  of  the  results  between  two  categories,  larger 
establishments and smaller establishments.  

The  smaller  establishments  category  included  the  subgroups  of  small  organisations  with  10  to  49 
employees and micro-organisations with 5 to 9 employees.6 

The  larger  establishments  category  included  two  subgroups,  aligned  with  the  EU  SME  definition  for 
enterprise size categories, that is, large organisations with 250 or more employees and medium-sized 
organisations with 50 to 249 employees. 

The ESENER survey covered establishments of all educational levels but due to the NACE classification 
level used, further information  was not collected on the specific level of the establishments (such as 
primary  schools,  high  schools,  universities,  etc.).  Therefore,  only  aggregated  survey  results  for  the 
education sector are presented. Further information on data processing is included in the Annex. 

5 The countries included in the ‘Other’ category include: Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and North 
Macedonia.  

6 These subgroups correspond to the EU’s definition for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises: https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32003H0361  

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3  Literature  review  –  work  environment  in  the  education 

sector 

3.1  Introduction and search strategy 
This review gives a brief introduction to a broad topic: the work environment in the education sector in 
Europe. As the review covers a broad field of topics, the approach used for the review was a traditional 
narrative literature review approach. Emphasis is on the OSH risk factors that are most salient to the 
education  sector,  although  some  lesser  factors  have  been  considered  that  may  be  present  in  some 
establishments. 

We used multiple sources to search for articles in this review. Firstly, we used Scopus for a structured 
search based on Boolean operators. We designed a search string with three different lines of synonyms: 
one with various search terms for our target population (teachers and university professors), one with 
various search terms for OSH-related topics, and finally one to only search for reviews or similar studies. 
In Table 2 you will find the two lines of synonyms. We chose to search the whole texts for the first two 
and only search for review-related terms in abstracts, keywords or titles. This search resulted in 187 
hits, of which nine sources were included in the review. 

Table 2: Search strategy 

Target group identifiers 

OSH-related search topics 

Review 

Teacher* OR education* OR 
professor* OR schoolteacher* 

Review OR meta-analysis OR 
meta analysis OR literature 
study OR literature-study 

Safety OR “health and 
safety” OR health OR 
“occupational health and 
safety” OR “occupational 
safety and health” OR risk 
OR “work environment” OR 
“working environment” OR 
OSH OR OHS OR “working 
conditions” OR ergonomics* 
OR MSD OR 
“musculoskeletal disorders” 
OR “Sustainable work” OR 
Psychosocial OR Psycho-
social OR “Mental health” 
OR COVID-19 OR Corona 

To  make  sure  that  we  included  as  many  relevant  sources  as  possible,  we  also  made  a  so-called 
snowball search on top of the structured approach for the search. To do this, we used Google Scholar 
to find articles that were cited or were citing especially poignant reviews or studies. This snowball search 
resulted in the identification of approximately 600 titles as potentially relevant. We ended up including 
55 of these in the final review. The primary search was limited to the years from 2013 to 2021, however, 
some relevant references from earlier studies were included as well. The review contains references to 
descriptive  studies  as  well  as  studies  of  cross-sectional  and  prospective  associations.  We  mainly 
included  reviews  or  meta-studies.  However,  for  some  topics,  and  in  the  case  of  COVID-19,  we  also 
included  single  studies  because  no  reviews  existed  at  the  time  of  searching  because  of  the  topic’s 
novelty.  

Based  on  the  selected  studies,  psychosocial  issues  were  identified  as  the  most  prevalent  and  most 
studied risk factors in the education sector. Further, ergonomic issues and exposure to noise were found 
to  be  relevant  risk  factors  in  the  education  sector.  Accordingly,  we  have  summarised  the  findings  in 
terms of risk categories such as: 1) psychosocial factors, 2) ergonomic factors, 3) noise, and 4) other 
risk factors.  Each  section  describes  the  risk factors and  consequences  for  health  and  wellbeing  and 
possible prevention steps. 

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3.2  Psychosocial factors 
To frame the approach to examining psychosocial risk factors, we undertook some prior research on 
how such reviews have been conducted previously. 

Psychosocial  factors  cover  a  range  of  different  aspects  describing  characteristics  of  the  work 
environment — either the job, the organisation of work, the social relationships at work, or the interplay 
between  work  and  individuals.  Many  of  the  psychosocial  factors  may  act  as  either  risk  factors  or 
resources that limit OSH risks. For example, high levels of influence (or autonomy) at  work may, for 
example, be a resource, while low influence may simultaneously be a risk factor. Likewise, high levels 
of social support can be a resource while low levels of social support can be a risk factor. 

A recent meta-review summarised results from reviews covering 16 different dimensions of exposures 
in  the  psychosocial  work  environment  and  38  different  health  and  wellbeing  outcomes  studied 
(Niedhammer et al., 2021). The authors summarise that ‘associations were mainly significant between 
psychosocial  work  exposures  and  cardiovascular  diseases  (CHD  and  stroke)  and  mental  disorders, 
particularly  depression,  based  on  the  highest  quality  reviews’  (p. 499).  The  associations  varied 
according to the studied exposure-outcome. The importance of effective management of psychosocial 
risks  as well as drivers and barriers have  been  examined in  the past, based on ESENER data (EU-
OSHA, 2018a; EU-OSHA, 2022b). 

Psychosocial work environment 
There  may  be  different  ways  to  describe  and  categorise  the  many  different  psychosocial  work 
environmental  factors.  Different  tools  for  measurement  of  the  psychosocial  work  environment  are 
available internationally. One of the questionnaire tools that has shown to be very robust and useful for 
occupational  risk  assessment  and  research  in  a  range  of  different  settings  is  the  COPSOQ 
questionnaire.  It  has  been  translated  into  18  different  languages  and  used  in  at  least  40  countries 
worldwide. The COPSOQ was originally developed and tested in a first version in 1997 (Pejtersen et al., 
2010), and is now available in a third version (Burr et al., 2019) developed by an international group of 
researchers. Within the approach taken by the researchers behind the questionnaire, the psychosocial 
work environmental factors can be categorised into six overall groups:  

1. demands at work, covering dimensions such as quantitative, work pace, emotional demands

and demands for hiding of emotions;

2. work organisation and job content, covering dimensions such as influence and possibilities for

3.

development at work;
interpersonal relationships and leadership, covering dimensions such as social support, quality
of leadership and role conflicts;

4. work–individual interference, covering aspects such as work–life conflict, job-satisfaction and

commitment;

5. social capital, referring to the organisational culture, particularly the level of trust, justice and

inclusiveness within the whole organisation; and

6. offensive behaviours, covering issues of threats, violence and bullying.

Further,  to  cover  possible  individual  consequences  of  the  work  environment,  they  include  a  seventh 
dimension of: 

7. health and wellbeing, covering, among others, burnout, stress and sleeping problems.

We have followed this categorisation in the presentation of the results concerning psychosocial issues 
in the education sector.  

Studies have found that the psychosocial work environment does not only vary with occupation but also 
to  a  large  extent  from  organisation  to  organisation  (Berthelsen  et  al.,  2017).  However,  only  few 
quantitative studies take possible differences at the organisational level into account. Thus, the review 
is primarily  based on  large epidemiological studies, reviews  and meta-analyses, describing the  work 
environment and possible consequences for health and wellbeing for the average individual employee 
in different parts of the education sector. 

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3.2.1  Demands at work  
Demands at work may take different forms. Demands may be related to the amount of work, the tempo 
of work, the cognitive demands, the emotional demands required to work with other people, or whether 
employees hide or manage their emotions to perform the job.  

In the  education sector, demands will often  be different per task: preparation, teaching, feedback on 
pupils’/students’  work,  administration,  internal  meetings,  and  meetings  with,  for  example,  pupils  and 
parents. Together, these often result in significant time pressure, and because preparation and feedback 
on pupils’/students’ work can be completed outside of normal work hours, overtime work can become 
quite routine. 

Furthermore, different demands may be contradictory, for example, as described in the German case 
study: teachers are expected to maintain a high standard of teaching quality even if the number of pupils 
increases  or  if  the  cultural  background  of  the  children  changes,  thus  demanding  additional  effort  to 
obtain the same results.  

Inclusion and education of pupils or students with special needs or with different cultural backgrounds 
are tasks that are often emotionally  demanding (identified in the cases, for example, from France or 
Italy).  The  term  ‘emotional  demands’  refers  to  the  management  of  difficult  emotions  experienced  by 
pupils/students and parents, and also to the management of one’s own emotions that are not suitable, 
for example, for a teaching situation or for the pedagogical goals or tasks. However, emotional demands 
are more associated with working with children at primary and secondary levels and less so in higher 
education.  

In  the  literature  research,  demands  have  often  been  measured  in  combination  with  autonomy  and 
combined in a measure of job demands/control or job strain. Demands concerning the amount of work 
and tempo of work have been intensively studied and found to be associated with a range of different 
health outcomes, and in recent years emotional demands have also gained more attention as a predictor 
of poor health outcomes (Niedhammer et al., 2021). 

Quantitative demands and tempo 
The sixth wave of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), 2015, included data from 43,850 
workers in 35 European countries. Data from this study suggest that the education sector compared to 
other sectors is characterised by below-average levels of work intensity (quantitative demands, pace 
determinants,  and  interdependency  and  emotional  demands)  (Eurofound  et  al.,  2017).  However,  the 
sector scores at the high end on handling angry clients (i.e. pupils/parents) and emotionally disturbing 
situations (Eurofound et al., 2017), showing the underlying psychosocial risks present  in educational 
establishments.  

The  Danish  National  Working  Environment  Survey  (DANES,  2018)  comprises  data  from  a 
representative  sample  of  35,000  wage  earners  divided  into  33  different  occupational  sectors,  one  of 
them covering 3,520 employees from the education sector and another covering 864 employees from 
universities and research. According to this database, the education sector scores the highest on the 
issue of not having enough time to perform work tasks. The university and research sector score as the 
fourth highest on this dimension. However, the two sectors are not among the top 10 on the question of 
tempo in performing work tasks.  

These results are parallel to the findings from the Eurofound study of living and working conditions under 
COVID-19. This study finds that the education sector is the highest-scoring sector on the issue of not 
having enough time to get the job done (Eurofound et al., 2020).  

A  Swedish  study  from  2019  on  478  elementary  teachers  found  that  work  pace  is  high  in  the  sector, 
particularly among female teachers. Further, it was reported that teachers have good general health but 
experience high stress, high emotional demands, low influence at work and a poor psychosocial safety 
climate, and that both female and male teachers experience good development possibilities and high 
work engagement (Boström et al., 2019). 

Regardless of the level compared to other sectors, time pressure has shown to be a negative predictor 
for teachers’ wellbeing in a sample of 760 Norwegian teachers (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2018). In a Swedish 
study among 2,732 teachers in 205 school units, high job strain at the individual level was associated 
with higher levels of perceived stress and depressed mood (Ramberg et al., 2021). 

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Emotional demands  
Emotional demands (or emotional labour) is well known and recognised as a working condition in the 
education sector (Eurofound et al., 2020), but the implications for health and wellbeing among teachers 
are not so straight forward (Wang et al., 2019). Results from a review on the topic suggest that there is 
an intertwining of structural- and interactional-level expectations for emotional labour among teachers, 
and that this intertwining fosters close and complicated relationships with teacher burnout (Bodenheimer 
& Shuster, 2020). 

A meta-analytic review of the associations between teachers’ emotional labour strategies (i.e. surface 
acting,  deep  acting  and  the  expression  of  naturally  felt  emotions)  and  other  relevant  constructs  was 
based on 85 empirical articles and 86 independent samples, with the experiences of 33,248 teachers 
represented in the articles reviewed. The study found that surface acting was positively related to the 
individual and interpersonal components of burnout and negatively related to teaching satisfaction. Deep 
acting was not significantly related to the individual or interpersonal components of burnout, but it was 
positively  related  to  teaching  satisfaction  and  the  efficacy  component  of  burnout.  The  expression  of 
naturally felt emotions  was negatively related to  teachers’ burnout and reduced teaching satisfaction 
(Yin et al., 2019). 

A large study (N=26,410) from Denmark with a representative sample found both perceived and content-
related emotional demands at work predictive of long-time sickness absence, also after adjustment for 
baseline  depressive  symptoms,  supporting  an  interpretation  that  high  emotional  demands  may  be 
hazardous to employees’ health (Framke et al., 2019). 

Another prospective cohort study from Denmark examining data from 1,521,352 employed individuals 
found high emotional demands associated with increased risk of long-term sickness absence compared 
with low emotional demands, after adjusting for age, sex, cohabitation, migration background, income 
and four possible effect modifiers. The association between high emotional demands and risk of long-
term sickness absence was stronger when individuals experienced limited prospects for professional 
development and workplace conflicts. No synergy was observed for influence and physical demands at 
work.  The  results  suggest  that  in  emotionally  demanding  occupations,  increasing  possibilities  for 
professional  development  and  reducing  work-related  role  conflicts  might  reduce  long-term  sickness 
absence (Framke et al., 2021). 

Yin et al. (2019) showed a moderating relationship between so-called emotional intelligence and burnout 
syndrome caused  by  emotional labour.  As such,  it  was recommended to train teachers in mastering 
their emotional resources and in recognising and mastering their own emotional responses to emotional 
job  demands.  Another  study  (reported  in  section  3.2.7)  found  that  teachers’  levels  of  emotional 
intelligence  significantly  moderated 
from 
colleagues/supervisors and intentions to quit (Mérida-López et al., 2020). Whether training in emotional 
mastering is the right way to go in order to prevent burnout and retention can be discussed and explored 
in future studies.  

indirect  paths  between  perceived  support 

the 

3.2.2  Work organisation and job content 
This  dimension  is  about  the  organisation  of  work  and  the  specific  job  content,  the  possibilities  for 
influence,  degrees  of  freedom,  possibilities  for  development  and  variation  within  the  work,  and  the 
experience of meaningfulness associated with work.  

Traditionally, teaching has been associated with a high degree of influence over own work, due to the 
possibilities for the employee to organise and plan own tasks. However, among others, demands for 
more collaboration have pushed towards more coordination and complexity in the organisation of work, 
and may also have affected the experience of influence over own work. Often, jobs in the education 
sector  have  also  been  characterised  by  a  high  degree  of  meaningfulness  because  the  core  task  of 
education, learning and shaping of the next generation is often experienced as meaningful. 

However, data from a recent Eurofound study found that around 70% of the employees in the education 
sector reported their perceived feeling of doing a useful job, suggesting that less than a third had lost 
some meaning in this work. Still, the education sector was the fourth highest-ranking sector, following 
agriculture, construction and health (Eurofound et al., 2020). 7  

7 This study did not use the NACE statistical classification framework for sectors.  

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Impact of changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic 
Furthermore, major changes in the organisation of work in the education sector have taken place since 
the COVID-19 pandemic began. Among other things, this change has increased the level of digitalisation 
in  the  education  sector  as  well  as  ‘blended  education’  —  this  latter  term  is  used  to  describe  the 
combination  of  online  and  offline  education  and  hybrid  learning.  Some  of  these  changes  were 
accelerated by the pandemic but may very well be continued and amplified in the years to come as they 
can improve the efficiency of teaching and lower costs. 

The demand for digitalised solutions has also called for new competences, such as enhancement of 
communication  skills  necessary  for  teaching.  Many  teachers  have  experienced  both  positive  and 
negative effects associated with digitalisation, such as being able to share information but, on the other 
hand, difficulties around controlling classes.  

Furthermore,  digitalisation  has  been  associated  with  higher  levels  of  administrative  tasks  as  well  as 
tendencies  towards  a  higher  level  of  ‘border-lessness’  causing  work  life  conflicts8  and  feelings  of 
isolation (Eurofound et al., 2020). Furthermore, there is a risk that many teachers will not be aware of 
the  problems  associated  with  privacy  and  protection  of  data  associated  with  the  use  of  artificial 
intelligence (AI) systems and platforms in general (EU-OSHA, 2022).9 It  is likely that the increase  in 
digitalisation  since  COVID-19  has  impacted  staff  at  primary  and  secondary  education  levels  more 
heavily than at higher levels of education because relational work and social interaction may be more 
intimately associated with the learning process for the younger pupils (as identified in the case study 
from Italy). 

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected staff but also to a considerable degree the leaders in 
educational  establishments,  due  to  parents’  concerns  around  the  health  and  education  of  their 
children.10 

Studies  from  Denmark  (Nabe-Nielsen  et  al.,  2021)  and  Germany  (Klapproth  et  al.,  2020)  show  how 
COVID-19 affected teachers. In their paper from 2020, Nabe-Nielsen et al. (2020) examine public school 
teachers’  emotional  reactions  to  being  frontline  workers  during  the  COVID-19  pandemic.  The  data 
comes  from  a  cross-sectional  study  of  2,665  randomly  sampled  Danish  public  school  teachers,  who 
were  surveyed  after  the  first  COVID-19  wave  in  May  2020.  The  study  shows  that  the  prevalence  of 
emotional reactions was quite high among teachers. Teachers aged 50 or older reported higher levels 
of  worry  about  going  to  work  or  about  getting  infected  than  their  younger  colleagues.  These  results 
correspond to the results of similar studies of people employed in eldercare. Likewise, the prevalence 
of worries about transmitting the disease to students and pupils were also comparable to results from 
childcare workers. Knowledge about testing procedures and trust in colleagues’ actions regarding safety 
and preventive measures are both related to lower levels of worry, whereas lack of access to personal 
protective equipment (masks, sanitiser, etc.) or exposure to infected individuals are related to higher 
levels of worry. 

The study by Klapproth et al. (2020) examines the stress experienced by 380 German teachers related 
to online teaching  during the lockdown, and the strategies they employed to master it. The teachers 
from  higher  education  (grammar  school)  experienced  significantly  more  stress  than  teachers  from 
special education teaching and primary school.  

Autonomy/influence 
Evidence from the sixth wave of the European Working Conditions Survey suggests that the education 
sector  compared  with  other  sectors  is  characterised  by  above-average  level  of  skills  and  discretion 
(decision  latitude,  organisational  participation,  training  and  cognitive  dimension)  (Eurofound  et  al., 
2017). 

This  is  in  accordance  with  results  from  DANES  (2018)  that  show  the  university  and  research  sector 
among the five highest sectors on the issues of influence on how work tasks are solved and when they 
are solved. The remainder of the education sector scores just above the average on influence on how 
work tasks are solved and below average on when they are solved.  

8 Information from interviews with key EU social partners. 
9 EU-OSHA – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Advanced robotics, artificial intelligence and the automation of 
tasks: definitions, uses, policies and strategies and occupational safety and health, 2022. Available at: 
https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2022-04/Advanced%20robotics_AI_based%20systems.pdf  
10 Information from interviews with key EU social partners.  

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A Swedish study from 2019 among 478 elementary teachers found that female teachers reported lower 
influence than male teachers. Female teachers also reported higher emotional demands and a higher 
work pace than male teachers (Boström et al., 2019). 

3.2.3  Interpersonal relations and leadership 
Interpersonal relations and leadership refer to the internal relations within the organisation. This covers 
factors  such  as  role  clarity,  role  conflicts,  reward,  quality  of  leadership,  and  social  support  from 
colleagues and supervisors.  

These are all aspects that may differ a lot from workplace to workplace, and sometimes even for different 
employees at the same workplace. This means that aggregated measures across different workplaces 
may cover huge variation, with some worksites scoring very high on these issues and other worksites 
obtaining much lower scores (Berthelsen et al., 2017).  

Some  general  tendencies,  however,  may  be  related  to  the  job.  For  example,  social  support  and 
collaboration among colleagues in the education sector may be limited because the main part of the 
work is performed by the teacher working alone with the pupils/students.  

This seems to be confirmed to some degree by the results from the sixth wave of the European Working 
Conditions Survey showing that the education sector in comparison to other sectors has a moderately 
strong social environment, for example, in terms of social support, management quality and adverse 
social behaviour (Eurofound et al., 2017).  

In accordance with these results, data from the Danish National Working Environment Survey (DANES, 
2018)  show  that  the  education  sector  obtained  average  scores  on  the  level  of  collaboration  and 
recognition from colleagues but significantly lower than the average level on help among colleagues to 
obtain the best possible results. The sector of universities and research does not differ significantly from 
the  average  level  but  scores  among  the  lowest  sectors  on  recognition  from  colleagues.  Further,  the 
education sector scores significantly below the national average with regard to quality of management 
(12-item scale), while the university and research sector does not differ from the national average on 
quality of management.  

Among  employees  in  higher  education,  other  studies  have  found  significantly  higher  levels  of  stress 
relating to work relationships, control, resources and communication, and significantly lower levels of 
commitment both from and to their organisation (Tytherleigh et al., 2005).  

Quality of leadership has been found to affect stress and wellbeing among employees (Skakon et al., 
2010). Although more research is still needed in this field (Nielsen & Taris, 2019), a large meta-review 
of studies concluded that the positive and negative behaviours enacted by leaders and the relationships 
they develop with subordinates were significant determinants of stress outcomes in staff (Harms et al., 
2017). 

Experience of imbalance between effort and reward as well as low reward by itself has in a lot of studies 
been found to be associated with negative health outcomes (Niedhammer et al., 2021). 

Interestingly, a performance rating practice (mentioned in the German case study), entailing pupils or 
students rating their teacher’s teaching performance, can for example have a high and sometimes very 
negative impact on the teacher’s experience of reward — clearly, this is a case example but shows that 
the use of such tools can produce quite different outcomes for staff depending on the context. 

3.2.4  Work–individual interference 
Work–family  conflict  is  known  to  be  prevalent  among  knowledge  workers  with  blurred  boundaries 
between  work  and  private  life  (Albertsen  et  al.,  2010a),  among  highly  educated  workers  and  among 
workers with low education, and in precarious work with variable shifts (Schieman & Glavin, 2011). This 
may be the situation for many of the employees in the education sector. Furthermore, education is also 
a highly gendered profession with female teachers making up a high share of the workforce. And often, 
female workers bear the highest toll of family responsibility. 11  

11 Information from interviews with key EU social partners. 

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Data from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey (Eurofound et al., 2017) show that the group 
of  ‘Professionals’  score  above  average  on  worrying  about  work  while  at  home  compared  to  other 
occupations, but the group scored below average on being too tired for housework and on having no 
time  for  family  because  of  their  job.  This  statistic  may  not  reveal,  however,  large  differences  in  the 
education  sector  and  between  countries.  According  to  data  from  the  Danish  National  Working 
Environment Survey (DANES, 2018), the education sector is the highest-scoring sector on work–family 
conflicts (time- and energy-related conflicts). Both the education sector and the university and research 
sector obtained high scores with regard to time-related conflicts. However, energy-related conflicts are 
not common within the university and research sector, while the education sector is the highest-scoring 
sector on this dimension.  

A systematic review on the work–life balance among higher education teachers included findings from 
53 articles. Results suggest that gender inequality, stress level at work and the absence of a healthy 
workplace  impact  on  the  work–life  balance  and  consequently  on  the  wellbeing  of  higher  education 
teachers (Franco et al., 2021). 

Work–life  imbalance  has  been  associated  with,  among  other  issues,  sleep  problems  and  use  of 
psychotropics (Niedhammer et al., 2021). 

3.2.5  Social capital 
A study from Finland among 2,310 comprehensive school teachers found that receiving collegial support 
and  acknowledgement,  combined  with  a  positive  professional  climate  and  ability  to  solve  problems 
constructively, can function as inhibitors of both teacher-targeted bullying and exhaustion. The study 
further showed exhaustion and bullying to be significant determinants of teacher turnover (Pyhältö et al., 
2015). 

Multiple  studies  have  found  social  capital  to  be  positively  associated  with  health  and  wellbeing  both 
within  and  outside  of  the  education  sector.  Among  other  things,  a  large  review  of  145  studies  found 
social capital associated with better measures of physical health (Rodgers et al., 2019). Higher social 
capital at the workplace level has also been associated with, among others, less depression (Kouvonen 
et al., 2008), less use of psychotropic medication (Jensen, 2020), less stress (Egushi et al., 2018) and 
lower sickness absence (Rugulies et al., 2016). 

Within the education sector, studies have found the level of social capital to be associated with students’ 
achievement.  A  comparative  study  between  states  in  the  US  showed  a  very  close  and  very  robust 
correlation between the level of social capital in each state and the quality of the educational institutions 
(grades, test scores, drop-out rates, etc.) (Putnam, 2001). Another large study compared the strength 
of professional communities among teachers in 24 US schools. Other studies have shown that social 
capital among teachers is  associated  with higher student  achievement (Leana  & Pil,  2006), and that 
professional  capital  promotes  schools’  ability  to  create  equality  through  education  (Chapman  et  al., 
2016; Sanders et al., 2018).  

A  longitudinal  study  across  three  waves  comprised  data  from  2,084  Australian  and  829  Irish  school 
principals, across six and two time points, respectively. Results indicated that principals who reported 
higher levels of either internal or external social capital also reported higher levels of wellbeing. More 
specifically, support from colleagues outside the school and supervisor support (external social capital) 
and collaboration and trust in management (internal social capital) predicted the level of wellbeing over 
time (Beausaert et al., 2021). 

3.2.6  Offensive behaviour 
The  level  of  workplace  violence  in  the  education  sector  is  above  average  when  compared  to  other 
sectors.  This  includes  both  physical  violence  and  psychological  violence  (bullying,  harassment, 
mobbing,  etc.),  and  in  terms  of  violence  from  both  colleagues  and  non-colleagues  (Danau,  2021; 
ETUCE, 2009; Eurofound et al., 2017; Gervais, 2013).  

Data from the Danish National Working Environment Survey (DANES, 2018) show that the education 
sector score as the second highest sector on physical violence (with 15% reporting episodes of threats 
at work within the last year) and the fourth highest in terms of the risk of threats (16%). With regard to 
bullying,  results  from  this  study  show  a  significantly  lower  level  than  the  national  average  (with  10% 
reporting episodes). However, the university and research sector is much lower on violence, threats and 
bullying. Yet, there may be large difference between different countries on this issue. A study from the 

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US among 2,998 kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) teachers from 48 states revealed that 80% of 
teachers reported at least one victimisation, and of these teachers, 94% reported being victimised by 
students. Nearly three-quarters of all teachers were harassed at least once, more than half experienced 
cases involving damages to property, and 44% reported physical attacks (McMahon et al., 2014). 

Studies have found a strong, positive relationship between workplace bullying and teachers’ stress and 
depression  (Dangleben,  2019)  and  between  workplace  violence  and  symptoms  of  depression  and 
anxiety, burnout, psychological distress and sleep disturbance (Rudkjoebing et al., 2020). Related to 
this, a study from Finland among 2,310 comprehensive school teachers found exhaustion and bullying 
to be significant determinants of teacher turnover (Pyhältö et al., 2015). 

A  review  from  2021  (Chirico  et  al.,  2021)  furthermore  shows  that  the  various  forms  of  bullying, 
harassment and violence prevalent in the education sector are related to various symptoms of burnout 
syndrome.  The  review  shows  that  teachers  from  all  levels  and  grades  (kindergarten,  primary  and 
secondary  school)  experience  violence,  and  that  the  perpetrators  can  be  students,  parents  or 
colleagues.  

Examples  from  the  country  cases  (for  example,  the  cases  from  France  and  Ireland  included  in  the 
Annex)  show  that  offensive  behaviour  may  not  only  concern  pupils  or  students  but  often  involves 
managers, colleagues or other employees. 

Increased digitalisation has led to increased risk for offensive online behaviours directed at fellow pupils 
and teachers, in the forms of (cyber) bullying, harassment and negative statements, for example, on 
social media. For example, teachers may be encouraged to join social media to communicate school 
activities but may find themselves subject to significant pressure from one or more parents. 12 

A specific problem associated with violence and other offensive behaviours is the phenomenon of under-
reporting, particularly when working with younger children with special needs. Offensive behaviour may 
be interpreted as a pedagogical failure, or there may be a culture of blaming the victims. However, it 
may also have to do with a lack of available reporting systems in education institutions, or with lack of 
knowledge or procedures to help solve the problems should they arise.13  

3.2.7  Health and wellbeing  
Health and sickness absence 
Results  from  the  Danish  National  Working  Environment  Survey  (DANES,  2018)  showed  that  the 
education sector obtained average scores for the level of self-rated health, mental health, work-related 
diseases  and  pain.  However,  the  sector  scored  significantly  above  the  national  average  level  on 
symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety. Similarly, the university and research sector ranked as an 
average sector on measures of mental health, depression and anxiety, but it is significantly above the 
national  average  on  stress  and  on  self-rated  health  and  below  the  national  average  on  work-related 
diseases and pain. Thus, both sectors are challenged by stress, and the education sector in addition by 
symptoms of depression and anxiety. 

The  Eurofound  survey  of  living  and  working  conditions  under  COVID-19  found  that  27%  of  the 
employees in the education sector reported feeling emotionally drained by work (Eurofound et al., 2020). 
The sector scored just below the health, commerce and hospitality sectors. Furthermore, 15% of the 
employees in the education sector reported feeling isolated while working (Eurofound et al., 2020).  

A German study based on a selective review of the literature (Niedhammer et al., 2021) and data derived 
from  the  German  statutory  health  insurance  scheme  found  that  German  teachers,  compared  to  the 
general population, had a  more healthy lifestyle and  a lower frequency of cardiovascular risk factors 
(except  hypertension).  However,  according  to 
teachers’  own  reporting,  musculoskeletal  and 
cardiovascular diseases are the most frequently reported health issues. According to wider literature, 
mental and psychosomatic diseases are more common in teachers than in non-teachers, as are non-
specific complaints such as exhaustion, fatigue, headache and tension. The number of teachers taking 
early retirement because of illness has declined, and the main reasons for early retirement are mental 
and psychosomatic illnesses, which together account for 32-50% of cases (Scheuch et al., 2015). Mental 

12 Information from an interview with a key EU social partner.  
13 Ibid. 

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disorders are also confirmed as the main medical cause of illness-related retirement in the education 
professions by Habers and Achterberg (2012).  

Furthermore,  Maguire  and  O’Connell  (2007)  also  reported  mental  health  as  the  biggest  single  factor 
(46%) for teachers seeking early retirement on ill-health grounds.  

Burnout 
Burnout is well known to be prevalent in the human services sector (Maslach, 1999), and reviews point 
to the findings of high risk of burnout syndrome among secondary school teachers (García-Carmona 
et al.,  2019)  and  among  university  teaching  staff  (Watts  &  Robertson,  2011).  In  their  review,  Chirico 
et al. (2021) found 13 studies that all explored the relationship between burnout syndrome and various 
forms  of  physical  and  psychological  violence  in  the  education  sector.  One  study  established  that 
depersonalisation is a significant predictor of experienced workplace bullying, while two others found 
positive  relationships  between  workplace  violence  and  symptoms  of  emotional  exhaustion.  The  10 
remaining  studies  all  showed  significant  correlations  between  various  forms  of  physical  and 
psychological violence and symptoms of burnout syndrome (Chirico et al., 2021). 

A recent, large meta-analytic study (Madigan & Kim, 2021) examined the relationship between burnout 
and teachers’ intentions to quit. They found that each of the three dimensions of burnout (exhaustion, 
depersonalisation and reduced accomplishment) showed significant positive relationships with teachers’ 
intentions to quit, and further they found evidence that the strength of these relationships had increased 
over time. Job satisfaction showed a significant negative relationship with teachers’ intentions to quit, 
but the authors concluded that burnout may confer a greater risk than what job satisfaction can offer in 
protecting from that risk (Madigan & Kim, 2021). 

In a review by Watts et al. (2011), it is reported that university professors experience burnout syndrome 
comparable to other human services professions such as teaching, medicine and other professions with 
higher  risks  of  burnout  syndrome.  The  review  also  shows  that  age  and  gender  are  two  moderating 
factors, as younger professors are more likely to experience burnout, and that male employees score 
significantly higher on the symptom of depersonalisation and females score higher on the symptom of 
emotional exhaustiveness.  

Protective individual and collective resources 
A study from Spain among 1,297 teaching professionals working at preschool, primary and secondary 
schools demonstrated that work engagement entirely mediated the relationship between social support 
from  colleagues/supervisors  and  intentions  to  quit.  Work  engagement  was  measured  using  a  scale 
encompassing  three  items  about  individual  perception  of  vigour,  dedication  and  absorption. 
Furthermore, the findings showed that teachers’ levels of emotional intelligence significantly moderated 
the  indirect  paths  between  perceived  support  from  colleagues/supervisors  and  intentions  to  quit. 
Teachers  with  the  lowest  levels  of  work  engagement  reported  low  support  from  colleagues  or 
supervisors, together with low emotional intelligence. Similarly, highest intentions to quit was reported 
by those teachers reporting low work engagement and low emotional intelligence (Mérida-López et al., 
2020).  

Working time and form of employment 
Results from the sixth  wave of the European Working Conditions Survey suggest that the education 
sector is an average sector when compared with other sectors on measures concerning working time 
quality  (duration,  atypical  working  time,  working  time  arrangements  and  flexibility).  However,  a  high 
share of employees in the education sector are working part-time (23%) (Eurofound et al., 2017). 

Working time may, however, be difficult to compare between countries since differences exist around 
the counting of working hours. In some countries, all tasks (including preparation tasks) are included in 
the reporting of working time (e.g. Finland), while in other countries (e.g. Italy) only teaching hours are 
counted as working time.14  

Yet, generally, there may be large differences between the formal weekly hours and the hours actually 
worked  in  the  sector.  Because  many  teachers  experience  significant  time  pressure,  preparation, 
marking and research will often be postponed to evenings or weekends, and often as invisible overwork. 
According to the EU social partners interviewed, work–life balance will often also suffer given the limited 
available  time  and  energy  for  private  life.  In  jobs  with  an  emphasis  on  performance,  employee  self-

14 According to interviews with key EU social partners. 

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esteem may be highly dependent on how well the job expectations are met, and accordingly stress and 
burnout may easily  occur  under the conditions of high time pressure  and overwork (Albertsen et  al., 
2010b).  

Furthermore, the sector is characterised by many employees with short-term contracts and precarious 
employment. Previous research suggests that the education sector has the second highest number of 
precarious workers (15%) (Jain & Hassard, 2014). Precarious employment seems to be common not 
only at the higher educational levels but also within early childhood education.15  

3.2.8  OSH management and training  
The OSH-related challenges faced by education professionals including psychosocial and other risks 
could be mitigated through stronger employee awareness and involvement in the design of measures. 
Previous research has examined worker representation on occupational safety and health (OSH) in the 
European Union (EU), also in the context of psychosocial risks (EU-OSHA-2017).  

The conditions for doing so seem quite positive. Data from Eurofound (2017) show a high degree of 
direct employee participation in the education sector and in general a positive attitude towards employee 
involvement. Establishments involving employee representatives and/or employees in joint decisions on 
major changes employ more than half of the sector’s employees (56% compared to EU-28 53%).  

However,  there  are  huge  differences  between  establishments.  Interestingly,  in  the  group  of 
establishments  with  the  most  trustful  relationships,  95%  of  the  establishments  involved  employee 
representatives in joint decisions on major changes, while no establishments did so in the group with 
the  most  conflictual  relationships.  As  one  would  expect,  positive  work  cultures  and  employee 
involvement are related.  

The  Danish  National  Working  Environment  Survey  (DANES,  2018)  asked  about  the  involvement  of 
employees in decisions influencing their work environment. Compared to other sectors, the education 
sector obtained an average score, while employees within universities and research scored significantly 
above  the  average  level.  The  same  results  were  obtained  with  regard  to  the  prioritisation  of  work 
environment issues. 

Furthermore, training can contribute to knowledge building and skills development as well as a more 
positive attitude towards OSH issues. Effective training can be a first step towards the development of 
a  safety  climate  and  culture  of  wellness  and  safety  in  the  workplace.  Such  preparation  can  prevent 
occupational injuries (Feszterová, 2015). For example, previous studies indicate that training chemistry 
teachers in OSH-related issues may help prevent a wide range of different psychosocial and ergonomic 
risks.  

3.3  Ergonomic factors 
Prior research indicates that while some ergonomic risks are less severe in the education sector, there 
may be others that are widespread and not fully accounted for.  

Data from the sixth wave of the European Working Conditions Survey suggest that the education sector 
compared  with  other  sectors  has  a  relatively  good  physical  environment  (posture-related,  ambient 
(vibration, noise, temperature), biological and chemical) (Eurofound et al., 2017).  

Yet, the Danish National Working Environment Survey (DANES, 2018) shows that the education sector 
is among the sectors where most employees are walking or standing at least one-quarter of the working 
time (95%). And the university and research sector is among the sectors where most employees are 
sitting at least three-quarters of the working time (73%).  

Several  studies  have  found  a  high  prevalence  of  MSDs  among  teachers  (Erick  &  Smith,  2011). 
Particularly  MSD-related  problems  concerning  shoulder  movements  are  prevalent  among  teachers, 
ranging from 15% to 83% between different countries (Nyawose & Naidoo, 2019). Similarly, an analysis 
of a sample of 4,500 teachers showed that the teaching profession, especially for persons over 40, and 
those with a 40-hour or more working week, is associated with a higher occurrence of MSDs (Cardosa, 
2009).  

15 According to interviews with key EU social partners. 

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Erick and Smith (2011) documented that teachers are especially prone to MSDs in the shoulders, upper 
limbs and upper back. The review shows furthermore that teachers of students with physical disabilities 
are more likely to suffer from MSDs.  

A key problem concerns the lack of use of relevant equipment to address MSDs. A review of health 
issues for teachers noted that around half had experienced health challenges connected to computer 
use but had not done anything to address them (Lai, 2006).  Similarly, a study of 42 teachers in one 
school reported widespread musculoskeletal pain in at least one body part in the past year, although 
staff knew or had done little to improve their ergonomic conditions (Kraemer et al., 2021).  

In general, MSDs may be under-reported in the education sector as well since their existence has been 
clearly documented in other comparable sectors (Oranye & Bennett, 2018). And it is likely that many 
classrooms lack fundamental ergonomic equipment, such as height-adjustable desks, to allow for the 
demands of teaching. Studies have suggested that factors such as older age, female gender, previous 
injury, high job demands, low job satisfaction, low social support, length of employment and time spent 
writing on the blackboard are associated risk factors for MSDs in shoulders (Nyawose & Naidoo, 2019). 
These findings are corroborated with those identified by Erick and Smith (2011) in their review.  

Moreover,  MSD  symptoms  among  teachers  have  been  shown  to  be  significantly  associated  with 
psychosocial factors and depression (Ng et al., 2019).  

3.4  Unsafe noise levels 
A key risk facing teachers is unsafe noise levels. Using a combination of sound measurement tests and 
survey-based research, one study found that the average indoor noise exposure over an 8-hour period 
in  some  schools  exceeds  the  levels  safety  recommended  by  the World  Health  Organisation  (Yassin 
et al., 2016). 

Similarly,  studies  on  the  impact  of  open-plan  classrooms  over  the  past  40  years  have  shown  that 
intrusive noise is a major problem, causing distraction and dissatisfaction to both pupils and teachers. 
Effective  control  techniques  include  installation  of  absorbent  ceilings,  linear  layout  of  classrooms, 
limiting  the  number  of  classrooms  to  three  or  fewer,  and  providing  sufficient  floor  space  per  student 
(Shield et al., 2010).  

Exposure to high  noise  in  classrooms may be a risk to hearing. Several studies have noted that the 
indoor  noise  level  may  exceed  recommended  standards.  In  investigating  the  impact,  one  study 
examined the hearing ability of 67 teachers. The test revealed that early changes and possible damages 
to the inner ear were detectable in the sample (Novanta et al., 2020). 

Voice disorders are another noted health consequence for teachers in dealing with noise in classrooms. 
A review of 23 studies concluded that teachers report voice disorders more often than non-teachers, 
and  that  voice  disorders  are  an  important  health  problem  among  teachers  (Cutiva  et  al.,  2013).  The 
authors  further  reported  that  a  large  variation  in  prevalence  of  voice  disorders  was  observed:  the 
prevalence of current voice disorders ranged from 9% to 37% and 15% to 80% of all teachers reported 
to have experienced voice problems in the past 12 months. A study conducted among 682 Colombian 
school workers showed that high noise levels outside schools as well as self-reported poor acoustics at 
the workplace were associated with voice symptoms, indicating that noise and acoustics may play a role 
in the occurrence of voice symptoms among teachers (Cutiva & Burdorf, 2015). 

Similarly, a study from Finland among 1,198 Finnish teachers found that decreased workability among 
teachers  was  connected  with  voice  disorders,  stress  at  work  and  poor  indoor  environment  quality 
(Vertanen-Greis et al., 2020).  

3.5  Other risks 
Although  dependent  on  the  level  of  digitalisation  and  the  use  of  white  boards  in  classrooms,  some 
teachers in Europe may continue to be at risk of chalk dust. A study estimating the risk of inhalation of 
chalk  dust  in  classrooms  using  blackboards  noted  that  approximately  15%  of  observed  chalk  dust 
particles were respirable and high concentrations of chalk dust deteriorated the indoor air quality (Lin 
et al., 2015). Another study noted that although chalk does not contain toxic materials, chalk dust could 
be  harmful  to  allergic  persons  and  may  cause  lacrimation  and  breathing  problems  in  the  long  run 
(Majumdar, 2012).  

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Eye health due to increased use of digital tools also appears to be an emerging issue. For example, a 
survey-based study indicated that among 1,700 teleworkers, the number of visual display unit hours is 
associated  with eye strain  and eye disease (Salinas-Toro et al.,  2021). The same phenomenon  was 
examined by another study (Ganne, 2021) using an online survey to explore the level of eye strain in 
688  students  since  the  COVID-19  pandemic  began.  Again,  it  was  found  that  eye  strain  was  higher 
among students taking online classes compared to the general public.  

To analyse the impact of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the experience of undergraduate 
lessons,  one  study  noted  that  many  students  had  reported  eye  strain/symptoms,  especially  in  those 
participating  in  lengthy  online  lectures  (Matheen  et  al.,  2021).  Similarly,  another  study  found  that 
eyestrain  was  a  key  reported  health  problem  via  a  survey  of  subjective  health  complaints  of  1,710 
teaching professionals (Chong & Chan, 2015). 

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4  OSH risk factors 
4.1  Introduction  
Like all organisations, educational establishments face different types of OSH risks that are related to 
their working practices, materials, environmental conditions, organisation, social relations and so on. By 
honing in on the responses from the education sector, this chapter explores the types of risks confirmed 
by respondents as present in their workplace.  

Using this information, and considering the results of the literature review that suggested that OSH risks 
are endemic to the sector (see Chapter 3), we have:  

• 
• 
• 

reflected on the extent of the risks identified across the education sector population;  
compared whether each of the known risks are identified evenly by establishments; and 
considered  if  the  known  risks  have  been  responded  to  by  suitable  OSH  management 
approaches and measures.  

4.2  Summary of ESENER 2019 findings – OSH risk factors 
The ESENER 2019 results concerning OSH risk factors showed that a high percentage of organisations 
in the education sector across the EU-27 consider difficult pupils (76%) to be the most prevalent OSH 
risk. Though  there  are  other  sectors  that  report  the  risk  associated  with  ‘difficult  customers’  as  high, 
such  as  human  health  and  social  work  activities  (81%),  the  education  sector  ranks  second  highest, 
above  the  EU-27  average  of  59%.  While  this  ESENER  question  was  framed  in  the  context  of 
psychosocial risks and highlights the emotional demands of working with children and young people, 
the literature shows that physical risks or violence may also follow from difficult pupil behaviour (see 
Chapter 3). This finding was corroborated by experts interviewed as part of the case study on Ireland. 
In  addition,  they  found  that  particularly  in  special  education  needs  facilities  the  trend  of  incidents  of 
violent behaviour from pupils has increased over recent years. 

Other prominent MSD-type and psychosocial risks include prolonged sitting (59%), repetitive hand or 
arm movements (51%), loud noise (50%) and time pressure (49%). Over one-third were aware of risks 
associated with lifting or moving people or heavy loads (36%). A lower share of organisations was aware 
of physical and chemical risks (24%), risks associated with tiring or painful positions (32%), slips and 
falls (28%), heath, cold or draught (27%), chemical or biological substances (26%), and accidents with 
machines (25%). To a lower extent still, approximately 20% of establishments were aware of several 
psychosocial  risks  such  as  longer  and  irregular  working  hours  (22%),  poor  communication  or 
cooperation (21%), and job insecurity (16%). What is interesting to note is that employees within the 
education sector reported above-average (12%) job insecurity despite widespread teacher shortages in 
the EU.16 It also shows that the types of risks identified are similar to those mentioned in the literature 
review.  

Furthermore,  the  results  showed  that  medium  and  large-size  organisations  were  more  aware  of 
psychosocial,  physical  and  chemical  risks  compared  to  the  micro-  and  small  organisations.  This 
suggests that smaller educational establishments have less resources, expertise and time needed to 
invest in OSH management. It is, however, also likely, that some of the risk factors may not have been 
present in some small organisations with less extensive facilities or equipment — for example, risk of 
accidents with machines and chemical or biological substances.  

Of course, the prevalence of OSH risks may differ between educational establishments especially at 
different  levels  of  education,  and  those  with  and  without  specialised  teaching  facilities  that  include 
chemicals or machines and so on. For example, the German case study showed that primary school-
level employees may experience slightly different MSD-type risks as they tend to spend less time sitting 
and  are  more  likely  to  be  carrying  (especially  younger)  children.  The  Italian  case  study,  instead, 
identified psychological risks as the main risk concerning OSH at primary and in particularly in secondary 
school-level.  These  were  reported  as  stemming  from  both  the  workload  and  the  relational  aspect  of 
teaching (with a clear reference to the teacher–pupil relationship especially with older children). 

Interestingly, according to ESENER 2019, apart from risks associated with having to deal with difficult 
pupils,  it  seems  that  half  or  more  of  educational  establishments  are  not  aware  of  the  risks  that  are 

16 EPRS. (2019). Teaching careers in the EU. Why boys do not want to be teachers. European Parliamentary Research Service 
(EPRS). https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/642220/EPRS_BRI(2019)642220_EN.pdf  

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common to the profession, for example, around prolonged sitting or time pressure. Therefore, in some 
areas, it seems that there are gaps in risk identification.  

At the same time, while the level of risk identification is not even across establishments, as one may 
expect, the risk factors that were most frequently confirmed as present by educational establishments 
in  response  to  ESENER  2019  correspond  to  many  of  those  identified  in  the  literature  review  (see 
Chapter 3).  

Despite prolonged sitting (59%) being relatively common in the education sector, it was reported below 
the  EU-27  average  (65%).  In  sectors  such  as  public  administration,  defence  and  compulsory  social 
security, the issue seems to be much more frequently reported (89%). 

As mentioned in chapter 3, loud and intrusive noise has been identified as a prevalent risk factor in the 
education sector  The ESENER 2019 results confirm that education sector employees seem to be more 
exposed to loud noises (47%) than employees in other sectors, such as financial and insurance activities 
(4%),  but  not  as  much  as  employees  in  some  sectors  involving  manual  labour  such  as  mining  and 
quarrying (81%). 

Risks  associated  with  difficult  pupils  may  take  the  form  of  emotional  demands,  demands  to  hide 
emotions  as  well  as  offensive  behaviour  from  children/pupils/students  but  also  parents/relatives.  As 
documented in the review, offensive behaviour has been shown to be prevalent in the education sector 
(DANES,  2018;  ETUCE,  2009;  Gervais,  2013;  McMahon  et  al.,  2014),  and  associated  with  serious 
health outcomes such as stress, depression, anxiety, burnout, sleep disturbances and turnover (Chirico 
et  al.,  2021;  Dangleben,  2019;  Pyhälto  et  al.,  2015;  Rudkjobing  et  al.,  2020).  The  literature  review 
findings  are  largely  confirmed  by  the  case  studies,  for  example,  on  the  education  sector  in  Italy  or 
Ireland. As emphasised during the consultation with EU social partners, education professionals must 
also  deal  with  risk  factors stemming from  the  relational  aspect  of  teaching  especially  in  primary  and 
secondary education. Indeed, for some schools or classes, management of relation aspects may feature 
high on the teaching schedule resulting in conditions that take a toll on wellbeing over time. Moreover, 
daily interaction with pupils with behavioural disorders (e.g. inappropriate and offensive behaviours) is 
likely to increase the chances of emotional overload. 

Exposure  to  emotional  demands  and  emotional  labour  have  also  been  shown  to  be  negatively 
associated with health. In this regard, the case study on OSH in the education sector in France helped 
highlight how often the direct contact with difficult pupils is — in the long run — a potential source of 
inferiority and personal failure feelings. 

Compared  to  other  sectors  (EU-27  average  45%)  time  pressure  was  reported  more  often  in  the 
education sector (49%) but not as often as in other parts of public administration such as human health 
and social work activities (56%). The relatively high awareness of time pressure in the education sector 
corresponds with the prevalence of this risk mentioned in the literature associated with stress, depressed 
mood and lower wellbeing among teachers. As highlighted in the German case study, time pressure 
may have increased during COVID-19 as education employees had to administer COVID-19 tests and 
related tasks during teaching hours while still following the same teaching schedule. 

Although a smaller share of respondents to ESENER were aware of other physical and chemical risks 
as well as long and irregular working hours, and psychosocial factors such as poor communication or 
cooperation and job insecurity, these risk factors may be of high importance in the specific organisations 
facing  these  risks  (or  of  course  may  be  overlooked  by  some  establishments).  As  mentioned  in  the 
literature  review,  some  risk  factors may  vary  a  lot  from  organisation  to  organisation  within  the  same 
sector, and they may have serious health consequences for employees within these organisations. 

Finally,  building  on  and  going  beyond  the  ESENER  results,  the  feedback  received  from  EU  social 
partners also highlighted the interaction of risk factors resulting from the transformation of work through 
digitalisation and technical advancements, which was accelerated further by the COVID-19 pandemic. 
This period has intensified the practices of online teaching, including teaching classes entirely at home, 
or with some classes partly taking place physically and also online. This has also combined with greater 
use of digital communication channels used by teachers to communicate with parents. As highlighted in 
the Italian case study, the COVID-19 pandemic breakout meant that teachers have had to learn and 
implement new types of teaching in a very short amount of time and develop evaluation criteria different 
from  the  usual  oral  and  written  tests.  This  reorganisation  is  likely  to  have  been  the  source  of  a  fair 
amount of stress, since spending the whole day at home puts every remote worker in the condition of 
being always available for work. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Multiple dynamics have been unleashed in this new context. For example, teachers are under pressure 
to obtain good results in a more challenging teaching environment. Parents have put school managers 
under pressure when making decisions to close schools considering that they and their children need 
to work and learn together at home. Parents are in direct contact with teachers outside of working hours, 
including  part-time  teachers,  meaning  that  work  and  home  life  are  blurred.  Also,  MSD  risks  have 
intensified due to the lack of appropriate equipment for home working.  

It  was  also  mentioned  that  the  teaching  profession  is  experiencing  a  staff  retention  and  recruitment 
challenge. This is partly the result of unsatisfactory working conditions such as the workload and the 
level of pay but is also affected by the working environment, especially the impact of the psychosocial 
and emotional demands of working with difficult pupils and parents.  

Despite  these  negative  impacts,  the  COVID-19  pandemic  in  some  ways  also  improved  working 
conditions for employees in the education sector. For example, the increased use of remote teaching 
minimised the need to commute to different schools or remote areas, which may be a stress factors for 
some employees. 

Policy pointer: The risk factors identified as most prevalent in the education sector as determined from 
the results of the literature review and ESENER 2019 included the issues of having to deal with difficult 
pupils, threats and violence. Loud noise and MSD risk factors were also reported prominently, including 
prolonged sitting, repetitive work.  

Despite a good level of awareness in many establishments on the well-known and important OSH risks, 
the results suggest that there is still room for improvement in some establishments and some countries. 
Furthermore,  while  the  level  of  awareness  is  good  in  some  areas,  the  results  point  to  a  major  gap 
concerning  the  understanding  of  the  significance  of  the  psychosocial  working  environment.  This  is 
especially the case around the organisational and relational aspects of teaching particularly at primary 
and  secondary  levels,  including  the  quality  of  communication  (towards  pupils/students,  parents, 
colleagues and supervisors), emotional demands, irregular working hours and job insecurity.  

Managers and OSH representatives should ideally  gain better awareness of the risks and how they 
manifest  as  personal  challenges  in  the  working  lives  of  educational  professionals.  Furthermore,  the 
results suggested a particular need for expertise, tools and support for micro- and small enterprises 
that seem less aware of the risks. 

4.3  Health and safety risks in European educational establishments  
Educational  establishments  were  invited  to  provide  feedback  on  the  OSH  risk  factors  facing  at  least 
some employees, regardless of whether the risks were considered as under control or not.  

The  most  frequently  identified  risks  in  educational  establishments  in  the  EU-27  included  ‘prolonged 
sitting’ (59% ESENER 2019), ‘repetitive hand or arm movements’ (39% ESENER 2014 to 51% ESENER 
2019), and ‘loud noises’ (43% ESENER 2014 to 50% ESENER 2019).17 On the sectoral level, there are 
of  course  differences  that  help  put  the  risks  identified  in  the  education  sector  into  perspective.  For 
example, while a majority of establishments across sectors (59%) reported prolonged sitting as a major 
risk, the risk seems to be more prevalent  in sectors where most of the worktime is spent sitting at  a 
desk,  such  as  financial  and  insurance  activities  (92%)  or  information  and  communication  (92%). 
Interviews conducted as part of the country case studies also gave further insight into how the various 
levels of education may differ in terms of their risks. For instance, employees active in lower levels of 
education are typically less exposed to prolonged sitting than employees in higher education but are 
more likely to face risks related to lifting children.  

17 Please note that the following results presented in brackets show the ESENER 2014 result first followed by the ESENER 
2019 result. Where a single result is indicated, the source is ESENER 2019.  

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Figure 1: Risk factors (excluding psychosocial risks) in educational establishments (% educational establishments 
in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019 and 2014)18, 19 

Compared to physical risks, educational establishments reported more frequently the possible sources 
of psychosocial risks, namely difficult pupils (70% to 76%). This result is particularly high compared to 
the  EU  sectoral  average  of  59%  (2019)  for  dealing  with  difficult  external  persons  (e.g.  customers, 
patients or pupils). As highlighted in the case studies, successfully managing pupils and their families is 
generally considered as the main OSH challenge for primary and secondary levels of education, and of 
course, the problems are more severe when dealing with children with behavioural disorders.  

Organisational aspects were less commonly mentioned although they were relatively important to many 
establishments, such as time pressure (48% to 49%), long or irregular working hours (20% to 21%), 
poor communication or cooperation (19% to 21%), and job insecurity (20% to 16%). Generally, these 
results are around the EU sectoral average as measured by ESENER. However, there is a possibility 
of some under-reporting of the organisational risks. The literature review and case studies suggested 
that teachers are committed to ensuring good results for their pupils and often work outside of normal 
hours in doing so — clearly, this could be a general observation of the sector also. Similarly, the case 
studies reported organisational aspects as a less prominent risk when compared to managing pupils. 
However, the case on France suggested  that some schools lack appropriate management methods, 
which  may  result  in  management–staff  tensions,  and  unmotivated  or  cynical  behaviour.  Similarly,  to 
address the OSH challenges of working in educational establishments, the Irish case study revealed 
that  young  teachers  benefit  from  professional  mentoring  through  sharing  of  coping  strategies  and 
instilling of confidence, thus reducing psychosocial risks.  

18 Base: All educational establishments sampled. 
19 Please note that the ESENER 2014 question on whether establishments are exposed to ‘Prolonged sitting or tiring or painful 
positions’ was separated into two new items under ESENER 2019 — that is, ‘prolonged sitting’ and ‘tiring or painful positions’. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Figure 2: Reported presence of psychosocial risk factors in educational establishments (% educational 
establishments in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019 and 2014)20 

ESENER 2014

ENESER 2019

Difficult costumers

Time pressure

Long or irregular hours

Poor communication 
or cooperation

Job insecurity

0

20

40

60

80

100

Considering the results on the noted presence of physical, chemical and psychosocial risks, we also 
explored if there were differences between larger and smaller establishments. Apart from loud noises, 
it seems that larger organisations are likely to report them more often than smaller organisations, as 
seen in Figure 3. The same goes for psychosocial risks (see  Figure 4). In line with the literature, this 
suggests  that  smaller  organisations  face  more  acute  challenges  in  monitoring  their  working 
environment. 

In  addition,  recent  research  by  the  French  National  Centre  for  Scientific  Research  (CNRS)21  on  the 
psychosocial implications of COVID-19 on researchers in France showed that psychosocial risks may 
differ not only across sectors but also across different research fields and levels of seniority among staff. 
For instance, PhD researchers have been among the most impacted categories during the pandemic in 
facing  profound  isolation  and  psychological  stress,  while  some  more  senior  professors  reported  that 
they  enjoyed  having  more  time  to  work  on  publications.  Similarly,  research  conducted  in  Germany 
confirmed that teachers on average reported more difficulties detaching from work than employees in 
other sectors but that there are differences among primary/secondary and higher education teachers. 
The research suggested that for primary and secondary school teachers multitasking demands were a 
much greater risk compared to their colleagues in higher education but that this risk could be reduced 
greatly through supportive colleagues.22  

20 Base: All educational establishments sampled. 
21 See: https://www.csee-etuce.org/en/policy-issues/covid-19/4621-french-study-the-psychosocial-impact-of-covid-19-on-
researchers#_ftn1  
22 Varol, Y. Z., Weiher, G. M., Wendsche, J., & Lohmann-Haislah, A. (2021). Difficulties detaching psychologically from work 
among German teachers: Prevalence, risk factors and health outcomes within a cross-sectional and national representative 
employee survey. BMC Public Health, 21, Article 2046. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-12118-4  

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Figure 3: Reported presence of risk factors (excluding psychosocial risks) in educational establishments, by size 
(% educational establishments in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019)23, 24 

Figure 4: Reported presence of psychosocial risk factors in educational establishments, by size (% educational 
establishments in the EU-27 for ESENER 2019)25 

23 Base: All educational establishments sampled. 
24 Please note that the ESENER 2014 question on whether establishments are exposed to ‘Prolonged sitting or tiring or painful 
positions’ was separated into two new items under ESENER 2019 — that is, ‘prolonged sitting’ and ‘tiring or painful positions’. 
25 Base: All educational establishments sampled. 

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5  OSH management and risk assessment in the education 

sector  

5.1  Introduction  
OSH management involves a comprehensive approach to managing risks at work. It involves several 
steps  and  measures  to  enable  organisations  to  fulfil  their  legal  duties,  and  hopefully  encourage  the 
development  of  proactive  approaches  and  safety  cultures.  Furthermore,  good  OHS  management 
practice is supported by the will and capacity of employers to deliver a competent participatory approach 
to OHS management (EU-OSHA, 2018b). 

A  key  aspect  of  OSH  management  is  risk  assessment.  Among  other  things,  this  procedure  involves 
upfront identification and appraisal of risks, introduction of corresponding measures to mitigate risks, 
ongoing  reporting,  and  updating  of  OSH  management  approaches  over  time  and  as  the  situation 
changes. 

The results of the ESENER 2019 survey on awareness of risks (see Chapter 4 on OSH risk factors) and 
prior research (see the literature review in Chapter 3) indicate that employees in the education sector 
are  exposed  to  several  and  quite  severe  types  of  OSH  risks.  Among  other  things,  this  includes 
psychosocial risks stemming from difficult pupils and parents and the way in which work is organised, 
including long working hours, loud noise, MSD risks due to prolonged sitting and standing and so on, 
and safety. Given these demands, OSH management and risk assessment are important in ensuring 
the protection of education professionals, and the sustainable provision of teaching to pupils.  

This section provides an overview of key ESENER results relating to the domains of OSH management 
and risk assessment, including:  

  a summary of the results to introduce the chapter;  
  measures taken for OSH management;  
  OSH commitment; and 
 

sources of OSH advice.  

5.2  Summary of ESENER 2019 findings  
Measures taken for OSH management 

The  ESENER  results  across  the  EU-27  showed  that  most  establishments  in  the  education  sector 
reported that they are conducting workplace risk assessments regularly, with the finding following an 
increasing trend from 2014 to 2019 (71% under ESENER 2014 to 77% in ESENER 2019). Although 
there were significant differences reported between countries, the results show that there is a good level 
of  initiative  in  fulfilling  this  central  OSH  management  activity,  as  it  ranks  average  on  sectoral  level. 
Similar  to  other  key  OSH  management  indicators,  it  is  the  heavier  industries  that  report  regularly 
conducting risk assessments more often, including electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply 
(94%),  mining  and  quarrying  or  water  supply,  and  sewerage,  waste  management  and  remediation 
activities (both 93%). On the lower end of the spectrum are real estate activities (65%), information and 
communication (61%), and professional, scientific and technical activities (61%). Similarly, the outcome 
of a composite indicator analysis that combined results on several ESENER 2019 OSH management 
measures showed that the education sector is just above the average when compared to other sectors.26  

Results from the multivariate analyses suggest that regular risk assessment is highly associated with 
other formal OSH management aspects such as the presence of health and safety representatives and 
concerning  key  motivations  for  addressing  health  and  safety  such  as  fulfilling  legal  obligations  and 
avoiding fines. With respect to these latter points, the case research helped to partially explain these 
outcomes  in  some  countries  as  completion  of  risk  assessments  is  sometimes  linked  to  stringent 
obligations or measures targeted at public establishments. For example, in Denmark, completion of risk 
assessments is made mandatory as part of the application for the school budget to be submitted to the 
public administration. In Italy, schools are required to complete a yearly risk assessment by law or may 
face up to four months of imprisonment or an up to €4,384 fine. 

26 The composite indicator provided a weighted score for five ESENER 2019 measures as follows: 1) Regular conducting of 
workplace risk assessments. 2) Conducting of risk assessments by internal staff. 3) Whether risks assessments cover 
workplaces at home. 4) If risk assessments cover only people on the payroll or other types of workers. 5) If employees are 
usually involved in the design and implementation of measures following a risk assessment. 

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Furthermore,  regular  completion  of  risk  assessment  was  associated  with  recent  visits  by  the  labour 
inspectorate, showing that interaction with authorities can have lasting positive effects and contribute to 
the  development  of  safety  culture.  It  is  also  worth  noting  that  the  more  OSH  services  (such  as 
occupational  health  doctor  or  psychologist)  the  establishment  is  using,  the  higher  the  chances  for 
carrying out regular risk assessments. 

Almost half of the educational establishments across EU-27 countries reported that the risk assessment 
was conducted by internal staff (52%), which is slightly above average (42%). While heavy industries 
rank high on some OSH management measures, it is the reverse when it comes to the use of internal 
staff, as electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (37%) and manufacturing (38%) reported that 
the use for internal staff is relatively uncommon, compared to human health and social work activities 
(60%) and arts, entertainment and recreation (56%). One reason for this could be that heavier industries 
tend  to  have  more  organised  risk  assessment  processes  that  involve  specialist  experts  to  develop 
essential approaches to manage significant safety risks.  

In total, approximately just a fifth of educational establishments reported that the risk assessment covers 
workplaces at home, and 40% that it covers workplaces outside the establishment. In slightly more than 
half of the establishments, risk assessments covered other types of workers and not only people on the 
payroll. For all these issues, the results showed huge differences between countries, ranging from about 
a fifth to almost all respondents.  

Taken together, while some establishments have purportedly introduced good approaches to managing 
OSH,  there  remain  some  OSH  management  gaps  especially  when  comparing  the  results  between 
countries. While ESENER provides insight into the situation in 2019, it seems that the education sector 
was not  well  placed for the COVID-19 pandemic and the  large number of staff teaching from home. 
Interview feedback from EU-level sector bodies suggested that some establishments may have changed 
practices since the pandemic; however, it is most likely that many schools have yet to include working 
from home in risk assessments.  

Moreover, further comments were received from EU social partners on the OSH-related impact of home 
working. For example, the physical work environment may vary a lot, for example, in terms of the quality 
of equipment and type and size of the working space available. Also, the psychosocial work environment 
is dependent on personal circumstances such as the level of family support, disturbance and prolonged 
isolation.  Particularly  the  possibilities  for  social  support  and  more  informal  communication  with 
colleagues and management are likely to suffer. On the other hand, work–life balance may be easier to 
achieve for some employees (see also the literature review in Chapter 3).  

Further, as with other sectors, the prevalence of internal staff conducting the risk assessment differed 
greatly  between  countries,  suggesting  differences  in  capacity  and  OSH-related  competences  in 
educational establishments across countries. Of course, one should also recognise that some countries 
such  as  Spain  have  well-developed  private  OSH  services  markets  with  many  establishments  hiring 
external persons to conduct risk assessments. However, results from the regression analyses showed 
that  the  use  of  internal  staff  to  conduct  the  risk  assessment  was  highly  associated  with  employees’ 
involvement  in  the  implementation  of  measures  following  a  risk  assessment,  suggesting  that  it  is 
beneficial to have this capacity inside the establishments. 

Most educational establishments across countries document findings from the risk assessment in written 
form, and only in relatively few countries and establishments are improvements needed at this point.  

With respect to the key risks routinely covered by the risk assessments, the results showed that — for 
those educational establishments using such substances and equipment — between 70% and 90% of 
them routinely cover dangerous chemicals and machines. This suggests that these risk factors — that 
are  a  significant  safety  risk  —  are  relatively  well  identified  and  managed,  although  ideally  all 
establishments using dangerous chemicals should include these in risk assessments.  

In terms of all educational establishments, ergonomic, psychosocial risks and noise are covered in 50% 
to  70%  of  establishments.  These  results  may  seem  a  little  low  considering  that  the  results  from  the 
ESENER survey and literature review (see Chapters 3 and 4 ) showed that the main risks facing the 
education  sector  are  having  to  deal  with  difficult  pupils,  prolonged  sitting,  repetitive  hand  or  arm 
movements,  loud  noise  and  time  pressure.  A  reason  for  this  could  be  insufficient  knowledge  of  the 
issues.  For  example,  regression  analyses  showed  that  if  OSH  services  are  used  by  educational 
establishments then there is increased likelihood for identification of time pressure as a risk (which would 
hopefully translate into this risk being included in risk assessments) — see section 6.6.  

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The likelihood of perceiving psychosocial risks as more difficult to manage than other risks was higher 
in the education sector (32%) than in all other sectors, with only 9% of establishments in mining and 
quarrying and 14% of businesses in the accommodation and food service activities reporting the same. 
This  shows  that  education  professionals  are  faced  with  a  severe  psychosocial  risk  management 
challenge,  as  corroborated  by  the  ESENER  results  that  show  that  managing  difficult  pupils  is  a 
significant issue.  

Interestingly,  the  results  from  the  multivariate  analyses  suggest  that  the  likelihood  of  perceiving 
psychosocial risks as more difficult to manage than other OSH risks is higher when establishments use 
measures  such  as  reorganisation  of  work,  confidential  counselling  or  training  on  conflict  resolution, 
suggesting  that  those  that  use  such  measures  recognised  the  associated  challenges  of  effectively 
managing  the  psychosocial  work  environment.  The  likelihood  is  also  higher  if  establishments  use 
external OSH services (and therefore may consider OSH issues as too difficult to manage internally), 
and  also  if  they  consider  fulfilling  legal  obligations  as  a  key  reason  for  addressing  health  and  safety 
(partly suggesting that psychosocial risks cannot be effectively addressed in instances where there is 
only  a  compliance-focused  approach  to  OSH  management).  The  likelihood  was  lower  when  the 
establishments consider enhanced productivity and meeting expectations from employees as reasons 
for addressing health and safety, or if they have sufficient information on how to include psychosocial 
risks in risk assessments, and if they allow employees to take more decisions on how to do their job.  

Policy pointer: Most establishments in the education sector reported regularly conducting workplace risk 
assessments, and the share is growing since 2014.  

Yet, gaps in their regular completion remain. In addition, the results show that there is a need to improve 
the focus and scope of risk assessments, for example, by ensuring that they include the main risks facing 
the  sector,  including  psychosocial,  MSD  and  organisational  aspects,  and  cover  all  staff  and  teaching 
practices as well as those associated with home working since COVID-19. 

Building awareness is clearly part of this but focusing on the need to follow legal obligations and the risk 
of receiving fines should help to boost the response. Importantly, the analysis showed that appointment 
of OSH representatives is positively associated with the likelihood of completing risk assessments, and 
such persons are likely to be receptive to messages encouraging their better and more comprehensive 
application.  

Furthermore,  regular  completion  of  risk  assessments  is  associated  with  recent  visits  by  the  labour 
inspectorate  and  the  avoidance  of  fines,  showing  that  interaction  with  authorities  can  have  lasting 
positive effects. Targeting smaller educational establishments is key in addressing the main gaps around 
the  regular  completion  of  risk  assessments,  thus  helping  to  overcome  their  resource,  skills  and  time 
limitations.  

Moreover, a high share of establishments perceived psychosocial risks as more difficult to deal with than 
other  OSH  risks,  especially  where  experience  had  been  gained  in  trying  to  manage  such  risks,  thus 
showing the complexity of the challenges. And the pattern of results suggested that establishments for 
whom the main reason for regular risk assessment is to fulfil legal requirements may be less likely to 
develop the internal competences necessary to obtain a proactive safety culture and the capacity to deal 
with  psychosocial  risks  — thus  suggesting  the  need  for  stronger  motivations  to  successfully  manage 
risks. On the other hand, it is more likely for establishments to develop the necessary skills internally in 
the organisation when the main reason for addressing health and safety is to improve productivity and 
meeting employee needs.  

Hence,  incentives  of  both  a  formal  and  legal  character  and  those  supporting  the  intrinsic  potential  of 
improved  collaboration  and  increased  productivity  are  likely  to  enhance  the  OSH  performance  of 
establishments in the education sector.  

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To  provide  some  interpretation  of  these  results,  it  is  known  from  the  literature  research  that 
reorganisations  are  often  associated  with  increased  psychosocial  strain  for  employees  (Fløvik  et  al., 
2019), and that better psychosocial work environment in a school context is also associated with better 
performance and higher productivity (Aboagye et al., 2021; Leana & Pil, 2006). An interpretation of the 
results  may  be  that  educational  establishments  experiencing  challenging  psychosocial  issues,  for 
example, associated with reorganisations, often will also find them difficult to solve and accordingly are 
more prone to seek external help. On the other hand, establishments with high productivity, high degree 
of influence for employees and capacity to manage psychosocial issues in relevant ways are less likely 
to  experience  psychosocial  problems  that  cannot  be  solved  internally.  Where  the  main  reason  for 
addressing health and safety is the fulfilment of legal obligations, establishments may be less likely to 
develop  the  skills  necessary  to  manage  psychosocial  risks.  Thus,  it  could  be  suggested  that 
establishments that focus on legal compliance only may be less likely to develop a safety culture that is 
truly responsive in addressing OSH risks.  

Concerning differences between smaller and larger organisations, the results showed that a larger share 
of  medium  and  large-size  organisations  reported  that  they  regularly  conduct  workplace  risk 
assessments, that risk assessments were mainly conducted by internal staff and that they also included 
people not directly employed in the risk assessment. As is common to other sectors, these results may 
suggest that there are more resources and competences available for conducting the risk assessment 
at medium and large establishments compared to micro and small establishments. Measures for micro 
and small establishments could be considered to address these resource limitations.  

Health and wellbeing of employees 

On average, about two-thirds of educational establishments reported arrangement of regular medical 
examinations for employees. Yet, the proportion varied considerably across countries (from almost none 
to almost all). However, these huge differences may reflect that the national context and the way health 
systems are set up are highly different from country to country, for example, employers are not obliged 
to conduct medical examinations in Denmark. Interestingly, sectors that face significant safety risks such 
as  mining  and  quarrying  (89%)  are  more  likely  to  use  regular  medical  examinations,  whereas  some 
service and ‘lighter’ industries are less likely to do so, such as arts, entertainment and recreation (45%). 

Between  a  third  and  half  of  the  educational  establishments  reported  use  of  initiatives  to  improve 
employees’  health  through  healthy  nutrition,  preventing  addiction,  sport  activities  outside  of  working 
hours  and  back  exercises  at  work.  The  data  suggest  that  the  education  sector  invests  more  in  the 
promotion of employees’ health compared to other sectors. 

Most of the educational establishments keep records of employees’ sickness-related absences. This is 
the case in all establishments in six countries, while in other countries it ranged from about half to just 
less  than  all  of  the  establishments.  In  terms  of  the  sector  trends,  it  is  most  common  among  heavy 
industries, such as in mining and quarrying (91%), water supply, sewerage, waste management and 
remediation  activities  (88%)  but  also  in  human  health  and  social  work  activities  (90%).  Among 
educational establishments, 87% reported keeping records of employees’ sickness-related absences, 
which is above the average of 83%. 

In addition, more than half of the establishments with at least 50 employees reported to have a procedure 
in place when employees return to work after a long-term sickness-related absence, and this trend has 
increased since 2014. However, such procedures have become more common in countries that already 
had a high adoption rate but have become less common where only few establishments made use of 
them. Accordingly, the distribution of these procedures has become more polarised between countries 
in the EU-27. The general pattern, therefore, does not seem to correspond well with the widespread 
psychosocial and other risks facing the education sector that may lead to long-term absence.  

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On average across the EU-27, use of measures to promote sustainable working lives by reducing MSDs 
were reported in about a third to less than two-thirds of educational establishments depending on the 
specific type of measure. However, the overall use of such measures has decreased slightly at EU level 
from  2014  to  2019,  which  does  not  seem  to  appropriately  address  the  endemic  MSD  risks  in  the 
education sector.  

Policy pointer: A high share of the establishments in the education sector use measures to support and 
sustain the health and wellbeing of employees and have procedures in place to support return to work 
after long-term sickness absence. Yet, there are signs that these initiatives are quite limited and are on 
the decrease in some countries. Given the risks facing the sector, and the intensification of risks since 
the COVID-19 pandemic began, there is a need to invest in concrete mitigating activities, especially 
preventive measures, such as those that may reduce the MSD risks of working from home and due to 
prolonged sitting. While all education professionals suffer from MSD risks, the risk of prolonged sitting 
appears to be more acute in the higher education sector, and thus demands a more targeted response.  

OSH commitment 

Overall, the results of the composite indicator on OSH commitment that combines several measures 
show that there is wide variation between countries with respect to OSH commitment in the education 
sector, and that generally there is an average to below average performance. Interview feedback from 
EU  social  partners  suggested  that  there  are  some  barriers  in  prioritising  OSH  management  in  some 
establishments, for example, as it may not be considered as a strategic concern by management, OSH 
may be difficult to prioritise and also that there may be perceptions that teaching work does not come 
with inherent risks.27  

In  terms  of  the  findings  on  individual  measures,  the  results  showed  that  90%  of  the  educational 
establishments had documents in place that explain responsibilities or procedures on health and safety. 
This  number  has  remained  the  same  since  2014  and  corresponds  to  the  average  across  sectors. 
Availability for employees was also reported to be high across countries.  

Discussions of organisational safety and health issues at the top level of management were reported to 
occur  regularly  (65%)  across  countries  in  the  EU-27.  Just  over  half  of  the  establishments  in  the 
education sector reported to have regular discussions on OSH at staff or team meetings. Furthermore, 
the  results  showed  that  it  is  relatively  common  for  team  leaders  and  line  managers  (64%)  and  for 
respondents  of  the  survey,  that  is,  the  person  most knowledgeable  about  OSH  in  the  establishment 
(67%),  in  the  education  sector  to  receive  OSH  training.  Yet,  concerning  both  the  regularity  of  OSH 
discussions and OSH training, huge differences can be observed between countries. At the same time, 
it is interesting that these meetings and trainings have not led to increased reporting of risks or coverage 
of the main psychosocial and MSD risks in risk assessments.  

With  respect  to  the  regression  analysis  results,  the  likelihood  of  OSH  discussions  at  the  top  level  of 
management  was  found  to  be  only  partly  related  to  sector  conditions,  although  the  education  sector 
performed better than seven other sectors, including public administration and defence, information and 
communication,  and  professional,  scientific  and  technical  activities,  and  so  on.  Among  others,  the 
analysis showed that the frequency of discussion of health and safety issues at the top management 
level was highly associated with team leaders receiving OSH training, thus suggesting that the initiation 
of OSH discussions at the top level of management is in some way influenced by more knowledge and 
skills among leaders at lower levels.  

27 The measures used for the composite indicator analysis included the following: 1) Putting documents in place that explain 
responsibilities or procedures on health and safety. 2) Availability of an OSH responsibilities document to the people working in 
the establishment. 3) Discussions on OSH at the top level of management. 4) Provision of training to team leaders and line 
managers on how to manage health and safety.  

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Sources of OSH advice  

Policy  pointer:  Most  educational  establishments  have  procedures  and  division  of  responsibilities  in 
place  concerning  OSH.  However,  these  formalities  are  not  enough  to  secure  the  commitment 
necessary for an ongoing and proactive implementation of OSH measures. To enhance the approach, 
the results pointed towards securing the (stronger) commitment of management in the first instance, 
appointment of OSH representatives, better organisation between management, representatives and 
staff, and OSH training among management and team leaders. Development of organisational cultures 
that address the expectations of employees also was shown to be associated with conditions for better 
addressing health and safety.  

More  than  half  of  the  educational  establishments  in  the  EU-27  used  external  OSH  services  such  as 
occupational health doctors, generalists on health and safety, or experts for accident prevention, with 
more than a third of educational establishments using psychologists. However, the extent of the use of 
specific  services  differed  significantly  across  countries.  In  addition,  overall,  most  respondents  were 
satisfied with the external OSH services received. 

Other sources for OSH advice in the educational establishments encompassed contracted health and 
safety experts, insurance  providers, official institutes for health and safety at  work, trade unions and 
employers’ organisations.  

Further, on average, about one-third of the educational establishments reported a visit by the labour 
inspectorate  within  the  previous  three  years,  although  this  is  part  of  a  decreasing  trend.  Research 
conducted  for  EU-OSHA’s  overview  report  on  ESENER  201928  indicated  several  reasons  for  this, 
including cutbacks and that inspections have become longer and more complex. With regard to the latter 
point,  this  perception  seems  to  be  misplaced  considering  that  the  regression  analysis  for  this  study 
showed  that  inspections  are  positively  associated  with  the  reporting  of  regular  completion  of  risk 
assessments.29  

However, it should also be stressed that fulfilling legal obligations as a main reason for addressing health 
and safety issues was associated with the view that psychosocial risks were more difficult to manage 
than  other  risks.  Thus,  this  suggests  that  management  of  the  psychosocial  risks  in  educational 
establishments  cannot  solely  rely  on  legal  obligations  and  inspections  but  also  requires  active 
commitment and involvement of staff at all levels in the establishment.  

Policy pointer: Involvement of employees in the design of measures following a risk assessment was 
found  to  be  more  likely  when  the  risk  assessment  is  conducted  by  internal  staff.  This  is  especially 
important for the education sector, considering that teaching can be a highly ‘individualised’ experience 
with many staff focused on their own teaching activities. Feelings of isolation could be made worse if 
there are poor social bonds among staff and since the onset  of COVID-19  with  working from home 
becoming  more  prominent.  Involving  staff  may  therefore  help  to  bring  OSH  issues  to  the  fore  and 
support the development of safety cultures.  

5.2.1  Risk assessment 
Educational establishments were asked under ESENER whether concerted actions had been taken to 
manage OSH. This included an initial set of questions on the use and methods around risk assessments, 
which  is  a  mandated  procedure  for  employers  under  EU  Framework  Directive  89/391/EEC. 30 
Subsequently,  a  series  of  questions  were  asked  about  the  management  of  employee  health.  The 
following sections provide the results on the measures. 

28 Available at: https://www.esener.eu  
29 The same EU OSHA Overview Report on ESENER 2019 holds that inspections are likely to benefit establishments through 
the provision of advice and in strengthening their safety culture. 
31 Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and 
health of workers at work. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A31989L0391  

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In the EU-27, most educational establishments reported regularly conducting risk assessments (71% to 
77%)31  with  the  trend  over  time  suggesting  that  improvements  were  made.  The  highest  performing 
countries Denmark (99% to 99%) and the United Kingdom (98% to 99%) indicated that the practice is 
almost  universal.  However,  the  results  for  Switzerland  (42%  to  23%)  and  Greece  (20%  to  32%) 
suggested  that  there  are  gaps  elsewhere  in  Europe.  According  to  EU  social  partners,  a  possible 
measure  to  improve  regular  completion  of  risk  assessments  is  the  stronger  promotion  of  Online 
interactive Risk Assessment (OiRA)32 tools designed to aid comprehensive and efficient completion of 
risk assessments in early and secondary education. A further explanation may be that in some countries, 
due  to  the  legislative  framework,  public  organisations  such  as  schools  may  be  inspected  to  a  lower 
extent than private companies, which may be related to the propensity to complete risk assessments. 
See the multivariate analysis in section 5.5.  

Figure 5: Educational establishments that regularly carry out workplace risk assessments (% educational 
establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)33 

Compared  to  other  sectors,  the  EU-27  average  for  the  education  sector  (77%  for  ESENER  2019)  is 
slightly above the average for all sectors in the EU-27 (although it was below the average in 2014) and 
experienced the sharpest increase (6%) between 2014 and 2019 compared to other sectors. This shows 
that the education sector is more likely to conduct regular risk assessments than other ‘light industries’ 
such as information and communication and real estate services (61%) but is less likely to do so when 
compared  to  sectors  facing  severe  safety  risks  such  as  electricity,  gas,  steam  and  air  conditioning 
activities (94%), and the mining and quarrying industry (93%).  

31 Numbers refer to ESENER 2014 and ESENER 2019 results respectively. 
32 See: https://oiraproject.eu/en/what-oira  
33 Base: All educational establishments sampled. 

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Figure 6: Workplace risk assessments carried out regularly (% establishments by sector ESENER 2019 and 
2014)34 

In  nearly  half  of  educational  establishments  in  the  EU-27  (43%  in  2014  to  52%  in  2019),35  risk 
assessments are conducted by internal staff, which is slightly above the EU-27 average across sectors 
(47%). This practice seems most common in Sweden (89% to 92%) and Norway (68% to 82%), and 
least common in Bulgaria (15% to 20%) and Portugal (15% to 19%). In the case of Portugal, previous 
research  conducted  by  ETUCE  revealed  that  private  schools  have  commenced  using  OiRA  tools, 
although public schools are behind in this respect.36 

In 2019, 19% of educational establishments in the EU-27 said that workplaces at home are covered in 
their  risk  assessments,  which  seems  to  be  stable  over  time  (18%  in  2014).  Yet,  there  were  some 
dramatic changes for some countries, such as Romania (37% to 100%). Steep increases, though less 
extreme, were detected in other countries such as in Greece (50% to 67%) and Spain (35% to 49%). In 
other countries, however, there was a proportional decrease, such as the Netherlands (39% to 15%) 
and Sweden (21% to 11%). A sectoral partner interviewed noted that uptake of OiRA tools would help 
to  improve  coverage  of  homes  in  risk  assessments  given  that  users  are  prompted  to  consider  such 
factors. However, it will be interesting to see how the coverage of workplaces at home has developed 

34 Base: All establishments surveyed.  
35 Numbers for ESENER 2014 and 2019. 
36 See: https://www.csee-etuce.org/en/projects/oira/3370-project-introduction  

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since  the  onset  of  COVID-19  since  some  schools  may  have  recognised  the  need  to  review  OSH 
conditions outside of the establishment. 

A similar question was put forward concerning whether risk assessments cover workplaces outside the 
establishment.37  The  EU-27  average  (40%)  showed  that  this  is  not  normally  the  case,  although  the 
results varied  between countries, for example, considering the results for  the United  Kingdom (78%) 
and Ireland (74%), when compared to Bulgaria (26%) and the Netherlands (21%). 

Figure 7: Risk assessment covering workplaces outside the establishment (% educational establishments by 
Member State for ESENER 2019)38 

In 52 of educational organisations across the EU-27, risk assessments cover workplaces outside the 
establishment,  which  is  below  the  EU-average  across  all  sectors  that  is  66%.  Sectors,  such  as 
agriculture, forestry and fishing (89%) or electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (92%) scored 
higher on this item, while financial and insurance organisations (38%) are less likely to do so. At country 
level, and as pointed above, educational establishments in the United Kingdom (78%) and Ireland (74%) 
reported the inclusion of workplaces outside the establishment more often, compared to only 21% and 
26% in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, respectively. 

Considering the need to ensure protection of all workers, educational establishments were also asked 
if the risk assessment also covers other types of workers and not only people on the payroll. For the 
EU-27 (63% to 54%), it seemed that this is increasingly not the case. In addition, the education sector 
in  this  regard  scores  slightly  below  average  when  compared  to  other  sectors  (56%).  However,  the 
situation notably varies across Europe considering the results for Ireland (82% to 90%) and the United 
Kingdom (81% to 89%) in contrast to Austria (24% to 26%) and Bulgaria (26% to 2%). 

37 This is a new question introduced under ESENER 2019.  
38 Base: All educational establishments that routinely conduct workplace risk assessments and that employ people who work 
somewhere outside the premises of the establishment. ‘Yes’ answers mean that the company’s workplace risk assessments do 
also cover people working outside the establishment. 

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Respondents were not only asked about who is covered by risk assessments but also what key risks 
are routinely evaluated in risk assessments. For educational establishments with specialist laboratories, 
the  main  type  of  risk  evaluated  concerned  chemicals  or  biological  substances.  Among  educational 
establishments not  working with chemicals and biological substances, machine safety (71% to  74%) 
was reported most extensively, as one would expect considering that many educational establishments 
contain teaching laboratories equipped with machinery.  

However,  while  psychosocial risks are a significant  issue (see the literature review in Chapter  3 and 
OSH  risk  factors  on  Chapter  4),  these  were  reported  less  extensively  in  risk  assessments  such  as 
organisational aspects (69% to 66%) and supervisor–employee relationships (55% to 56%). To address 
this issue, interviews with EU social partners pointed to the findings of the OSH4EDU project39 that has 
emphasised the need to align the OiRA tools with psychosocial risk management approaches (updated 
versions of the OiRA tools are planned to be issued in 2023). 

Figure 8: Items routinely evaluated in workplace risk assessments (% educational establishments for ESENER 
2019 and 2014)40 

Most  educational  establishments  in  the  EU-27  (94%  to  95%)  confirmed  that  when  they  conduct  risk 
assessments they also document the findings in written form. This number is slightly above the average 
across  all  sectors  (92%).  In  Bulgaria  (98%  to  99%)  and  Germany  (98%  to  99%),  almost  all 
establishments keep written documents. In Greece (70% to 43%) and Switzerland (78% to 81%), this 
practice seems less institutionalised but still common, although the decrease in Greece between 2014 
and  2019  is  a  concern.  At  the  sector  level,  the  variation  is  low  and  ranges  from  85%  in  real  estate 
activities to 99% in mining and quarrying. 

39 See: https://www.csee-etuce.org/en/news/etuce/4417-closing-conference-osh4edu-enhancing-risk-assessment-in-education-
institutions  
40 Base: All educational establishments that routinely conduct workplace risk assessments. Item on ‘dangerous chemicals or 
biological substances’ was only asked to establishments that reported the presence of ‘chemical or biological substances in the 
form of liquids, fumes or dust’. 

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Figure 9: Provision of risk assessments in written form (% educational establishments by Member State for 
ESENER 2019 and 2014)41 

Using the data from some of the previous questions on risk assessments, we explored if differences 
existed  between  larger  organisations  with  50  or  more  employees  (medium  and  large-sized 
establishments)  and  smaller  ones  with  49  or  fewer  (micro  and  small-sized  establishments).  As  one 
would  expect,  on  the  measures  selected,  larger  organisations  reported  slightly  better  results  than 
smaller  ones  except  for  when  it  comes  to  including  workplaces  at  home  in  risk  assessments,  where 
smaller establishments scored higher (18% versus 12%). 

Figure 10: Summary of results for key questions on risk assessments by establishment size (% educational 
establishments by establishment size for ESENER 2019) 

41 Base: All educational establishments. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

5.2.2  Management of employee health  
ESENER  explored  whether  educational  establishments  arrange  regular  medical  examinations  for 
employees. This seems to be the case for about two-thirds of educational establishments according to 
the EU-27 result (55% to 61%), which is below the EU average (73% to 74%). One reason for this could 
be  that  sectors  that  face  more  severe  safety  risks  may  be  more  likely  to  provide  regular  medical 
examinations. In line with this, the sector comparison shows that mining and quarrying (89%) scored 
highest on this measure, compared to arts, entertainment and recreation (45%). Yet, the proportion of 
respondents varies considerably across countries. While in Czechia (98% to 99%) and Poland (100% 
to 98%) almost all respondents reported regular medical examinations, the results for Switzerland (11% 
to 2%) and Denmark (6% to 3%) were rather different. However, national contexts and the way health 
systems are set up differ across countries, which should be kept in mind when reflecting on these results. 
For instance, in Denmark it is unusual for the employer to provide medical treatments as healthcare is 
fully tax-financed. 

Figure 11: Regular medical examinations performed to monitor employee health (% educational establishments 
by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)42 

Across  the  EU-27,  educational  establishments  may  also  actively  promote  employees’  physical  and 
mental wellbeing. The results for the EU-27 indicated that about half of the establishments try to improve 
employee  health  through  healthy  nutrition  (46%  to  53%),  preventing  addiction  (43%  to  44%),  sport 
activities outside of working hours (38% to 41%), and back exercises at work (28% to 31%). 43 The data 
suggest that the education sector invests more in the promotion of employees’ health compared to other 

42 Base: All educational establishments.  
43 Base: All educational establishments.  

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

sectors,  as  it  scores  above  average,  since  the  average  measures  across  all  sectors  are  33%,  36%, 
33%, 29% respectively. 

Most  educational  establishments  (84%  of  EU-27)  also  keep  records  of  employees’  sickness-related 
absences, which is slightly above the average across sectors (85%). However, in France and Hungary 
it is only the case in 49% and 72% of establishments, respectively, compared to all establishments in 
Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. 

Figure 12: Establishments that keep a record of employees’ absences due to sickness (% educational 
establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019)44 

When  employees  return  to  work  after  a  long-term  sickness-related  absence,  employers  may  offer 
support. The survey explored this by asking establishments whether they have specific procedures for 
this purpose in place. Across the EU-27, more than half (57%) have such a procedure in place, which 
is a slight increase from 2014 (55%). While in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom all educational 
establishments follow such procedures, this holds for only 17% in the Czech Republic and 6% in Greece, 
where the number has dropped significantly from 2014 (47%). In some cases, between 2014 and 2019 
such procedures have become more common in countries that already had a high adoption rate (such 
as  Germany,  the  Netherlands  and  the  United  Kingdom)  but  have  become  less  common  in  some 
countries where only few establishments made use of them (such as Greece, Spain and Austria). In this 
sense, their use has become more polarised. At the  same time, there  were some increases in such 
support such as in Belgium, Bulgaria and Switzerland. At the sector level, the education sector (65%) 
ranks slightly below the overall average of 68%, although above real estate activities (50%) but below 
some of the sectors with quite significant safety risks such as mining and quarrying (80%). 

44 Base: All educational establishments. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Figure 13: Establishments with a procedure to support employees returning to work after a long-term sickness 
absence (% educational establishment by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)45 

Moreover, educational establishments were asked to indicate whether they had introduced measures 
to promote sustainable working lives by reducing MSDs. As seen in Figure 14, the overall use of such 
measures  has  been  decreasing  slightly  at  the  EU-27  level,  although  the  provision  of  ergonomic 
equipment (62%), the possibility for people with health problems to reduce working hours (58%) and 
regular breaks for people in uncomfortable working positions (52%) are still used in more than half of 
educational establishments.  

As one may expect for the education sector, the provision of ergonomic equipment (69% to 63%) is the 
most frequently reported measure. It is most common in Finland (87% to 89%), the Netherlands and 
Norway (both 88%) but used less often in Slovakia (54% to 48%) or France (51% to 43%). While some 
countries obtained  good results, education sector stakeholders need to  be mindful that the literature 
review  showed  that  teachers  are  faced  with  serious  MSD  risks  —  thus,  appropriate  responses  are 
needed to build awareness and make suitable equipment available.  

45 Base: All educational establishments with at least 50 employees. 

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Figure 14: Measures to promote sustainable working lives by reducing MSDs (% educational establishments for 
ESENER 2019 and 2014)46 

5.3  OSH commitment  
The data show that in 2019, 90% of educational establishments in the EU-27 had documents in place 
that explain responsibilities or procedures on health and safety. This number has remained the same 
since  2014  and  corresponds  to  the  average  across  sectors.  In  the  Czech  Republic  and  Ireland,  all 
educational  establishments  have  such  documents  (2014  and  2019).  In  other  cases,  the  numbers 
dropped between 2014 and 2019, such as in Switzerland (75% to 58%) and in Greece (67% to 52%). 
In this case, the sector variation is comparatively small, and ranges from 81% in professional, scientific 
and technical activities to 98% in mining and quarrying. 

46 Base: All educational establishments.  

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Figure 15: Establishments with documents in place that explain responsibilities or procedures on health and 
safety (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)47 

ESENER 2019 also explored how accessible these documents are to employees. Across the EU-27, 
96% of establishments in the education sector said the document is available to everyone working in 
the establishment (slightly above the EU-27 average of 95%), 3% said it is available to everyone but on 
demand  and  1%  said  it  was  not  available  for  everyone.  Though  availability  was  reported  to  be  high 
across all cases and was even 100% in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic (92%) and 
Austria (88%) reported lower scores.48 

A further indication of commitment to OSH is whether OSH is discussed at the top level of management. 
The data indicate that such discussions happen regularly (65%) or occasionally (29%) in most cases in 
the EU-27. Regular discussions were reported most often in the Czech Republic (96%) and the United 
Kingdom  (89%)  but  less  so  in  Switzerland  (28%)  and  Poland  (35%).49  Between  sectors,  there  is 
relatively large variation, as 90% of establishments in quarrying and mining reported to have regular 
discussions while this was only the case in 50% of real estate activities. As with other OSH measures, 
there is a tendency for these discussions to be more regular in sectors that are dealing with more severe 
safety and chemical risks, as opposed to ‘softer professions’ like information and communication (22%). 

In this context, respondents were also asked whether health and safety issues were discussed regularly 
in staff or team meetings. Across the EU-27, 54% do so regularly, which is slightly above the EU-27 
average across all sectors (53%), although slightly below other sectors with significant safety risks, such 

47 Base: All educational establishments. 
48 Base: All educational establishments that have documents in place that explain responsibilities or procedures on health and 
safety. 
49 Base: All educational establishments with at least 20 employees. 

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as mining and quarrying (63%). Analysing the data on country level reveals significant differences, for 
example, in Sweden (77%) and the United Kingdom (71%) regular discussions are the norm, while in 
Spain (17%) and Poland (24%) this is only done by a minority of establishments.  

Apart from regular discussions the survey also explored whether employees on different levels receive 
OSH training. Across the EU-27, it is relatively common (64%) for team leaders and line managers in 
the  education  sector  to  receive  OSH  training.  However,  it  differs  between  countries:  in  the  United 
Kingdom and Bulgaria it was 86% in 2019 whereas only 38% in Switzerland.50 

The respondents to ESENER (as the confirmed person in the establishment who knows the most about 
OSH) were also asked if they received any training on how to manage health and safety. Across the 
EU-27, this  was the case for 67% of respondents in the education sector,  which is below the EU-27 
average of 74%. In the Czech Republic all respondents and in Denmark 96% reported to have received 
training compared to 49% in France and 48% in Austria.  

Figure 16: Establishments where respondents have received training on how to manage health and safety (% 
educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014)51 

5.4  Sources of OSH advice  
Educational establishments may draw advice on OSH management from different sources, both from 
internal and external providers. Between 2014 and 2019, 59% of educational establishments in the EU-
27 reported the use of external OSH services. In the Czech Republic (89%) and Hungary (80%) this 
was  reported  by  a  majority  while  only  36.7%  and  19.2%  in  Greece  and  France,  respectively,  used 
external OSH services. 

50 Base: All educational establishments with at least 20 employees. 
51 Base: All educational establishments. 

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Clearly,  the  national  context  is  significant  in  informing  whether  educational  establishments  turn  to 
external OSH advice with differences being due to the way the education and public administration is 
organised, differences in legislation and the availability of finance.  

Figure 17: Establishments where external OSH services were used within the previous three years (% 
educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014)52 

Educational  establishments  across  the  EU-27  make  use  of  different  OSH  services,  including 
occupational  health  doctors  (70%),  generalists  on  health  and  safety  (66%),  experts  for  accident 
prevention (53%), psychologists (34%) and experts dealing with ergonomic design (34%). Compared to 
other  sectors,  educational  establishments  were  about  average  on  these  measures  and  only  slightly 
below average in terms of the use of occupational health doctors, which is more common in sectors that 
typically  have  higher  safety  risks,  such  as  electricity,  gas,  steam  and  air  conditioning  supply  (80%), 
public administration and defence and compulsory social security (83%) or mining and quarrying (88%). 
However, the use of specific services in the education sector differs significantly across countries. For 
example, a psychologist is reported to be  used  by  89% and 95%  of establishments in  Romania  and 
Finland, respectively, but only by 18% and 6% in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, respectively.53 

The Education and Training Monitor 202154 also provided some insights into the use of psychologists in 
schools  but  without  providing  concrete  data  on  their  overall  take-up.  A  Polish  project  known  as 
Monitoring  and  Combatting  Violence  in  School  uses  a  combination  of  research  and  psychological 
support to address issues such as cyberbullying, responses to violence, resolving conflicts and so on. 
Materials and support have been provided to staff on how to take appropriate actions. The report also 
notes  the  growing  trends  of  pupils  receiving  counselling  support  in  Czechia,  Estonia,  Italy  and  the 
Netherlands. 

52 Base: All educational establishments.  
53 Base: All educational establishments.  
54 European Commission, Education and Training Monitor 2021: https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eac/education-and-training-
monitor-2021/en/  

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Respondents  who  made  use  of  external  providers  were  asked  to  rate  the  OSH  services  received. 
Overall, most respondents rated them as either ‘very good’ (42%) or ‘quite good’ (47%), which is about 
average  when  compared  to  the  EU-27  sector  average  (44%  and  45%,  respectively).  The  share  of 
respondents whose experiences with external OSH services was either quite or very good was highest 
in Slovakia (99%) and the Czech Republic (97%) and lowest in Spain (76%) and Portugal (75%). 

Figure 18: How respondents rate external OSH services (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 
2014)55 

Labour inspectorates, apart from enforcing regulation, may also serve as a possible source for OSH 
advice. The survey therefore explored the frequency of inspections among educational establishments. 
The EU-27 average for the education sector shows that 32% of establishments were inspected (down 
by 5% since 2014), although the results indicate that the frequency varies across Member States. In 
Romania  (83%)  and  Bulgaria  (69%)  a  majority  of  establishments  reported  a  visit  within  the  previous 
three years although this was only true for a minority of establishments in France (14%) and Slovakia 
(12%). The large variance can partly be explained by regulatory differences, which are further explored 
in earlier research conducted for EU-OSHA’s overview report on ESENER 2019.56 The report indicated 
that the reduced number of inspections that have occurred across sectors generally could be due to 
cutbacks in funding for inspection activities. In addition, some countries reported that the complexity and 
thus  duration  of  inspections  increased  due  to  the  inclusion  of  more  psychosocial  risks  items  without 
increasing the number of inspectors. This led to fewer establishments reporting visits in 2019 compared 
to 2014. Some countries that scored particularly high on this item, such as Romania, have digitalised 
larger parts of the inspection processes so that they require less time.  

55 Base: All educational establishments where external OSH services were used within the last three years. 
56 EU OSHA’s Overview Report on ESENER 2019 is available at: https://www.esener.eu  

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Figure 19: Establishments that were visited by labour inspectorates within the previous three years (% 
educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014)57 

Other  types  of  organisations  may  also  be  called  upon  to  provide  information  on  OSH.  Educational 
establishments in the EU-27 use contracted health and safety experts (65%), insurance providers (39%), 
labour  inspectorates  in  the  context  of  providing  supplementary  information  as  part  of  visits  or  via 
information dissemination activities (36%), official institutes for health and safety at work (35%), trade 
unions (33%) and employers’ organisations (26%). The use of contracted health and safety experts is 
especially common in the Czech Republic (94%) and Slovakia (84%) but less so in France (31%) and 
Switzerland or Greece (39%).58 

5.5   Multivariate analysis of ESENER results  
Regression analyses using ESENER data were undertaken, with the objective to assess the probability 
of implementing OSH management activities depending  on OSH-related and contextual factors. The 
detailed objectives for this analysis and applied method are presented in section 2.2.  

5.5.1   OSH management 
In this section we examine three OSH management activities: regular completion of risk assessments, 
employees’ involvement in the implementation of measures following a risk assessment, and frequency 
of discussion of health and safety issues at the top management level. In each of the above-mentioned 
models, we assessed various OSH factors identified in the literature review and consultation phase as 
important aspects that may influence OSH management activities. 

57 Base: All educational establishments.  
58 Base: All educational establishments. 

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Education 
Five  OSH  factors  are  significant  predictor  variables  of  regular  risk  assessment,  and  they  hold  their 
strength  even  after  controlling  for  establishments’  characteristics  and  country  context.  The  most 
important factors are (higher chances by ~100%): ‘the presence of health and safety representative’ and 
‘fulfilling  legal  obligations  as  a  reason  for  addressing  health  and  safety’.  This  clearly  suggests  that 
introduction  of  formal  OSH  building  blocks  and  focusing  on  compliance  aspects  are  significantly 
associated with the chances for regular use of risk assessments. Other important factors include ‘recent 
visits by labour inspectorate’ and ‘avoiding fines as a reason for addressing health and safety’. It is also 
worth  noting  that  the  more  OSH  services  (such  as  occupational  health  doctor  or  psychologist)  the 
establishment is using, the higher the chances for regular risk assessment. 

The remaining factor — the ‘perception of the complexity of legal obligations as a difficulty in addressing 
health and safety’ — is not significant, when establishments’ characteristics and country are included in 
the analysis. This means that the country context is a more important factor in determining the carrying 
out  of  regular  risk  assessments  than  the  perception  of  the  complexity  of  legal  obligations.  This  is 
understandable,  as  legal  obligations,  and  the  actions  needed  to  comply  with  them,  vary  between 
countries.  

When examining the conditions that result in the involvement of employees in the design of measures 
following  a  risk  assessment,  seven  OSH  factors  were  significant  after  the  introduction  of  contextual 
factors, meaning that those seven factors work in any context. These factors have a positive influence, 
that is, they are positively associated with employees’ involvement. The biggest influence is when the 
risk  assessment  is  conducted  by  internal  staff  (increase  probability  of  employees’  involvement  in 
implementation of the measures by 290%, even after controlling for the context). This underlines the 
importance of involving employees in the overall management of health and safety broadly speaking. 

In  the  assessment  of  conditions  that  promote  managerial  commitment  to  OSH,  four  OSH  factors 
appeared to have significant influence on the probability of regular discussion of health and safety at the 
top management level, accounting for the context. All four factors — ‘health and safety representative’, 
‘regular discussion of OSH between employees and management’, ‘training received by team leaders’, 
and  ‘meeting  expectations  from  employees  as  a  reason  for  addressing  health  and  safety’  —  are 
positively associated  with reporting  of regular discussions at  the top management level. The biggest 
influence is where team leaders and line managers receive training on how to manage OSH. This clearly 
shows the importance of training for team leaders as a means to improve both OSH management and 
organisational commitment to OSH.  

Summarising, regular risk assessment is mainly supported by legal obligations and the presence of a 
health and safety representative in the establishment; employees are involved in the implementation of 
measures mainly when risk assessment is done by internal staff, and when health and safety issues are 
discussed  and  the  appropriate  training  is  provided.  Finally,  the  management  is  regularly  discussing 
health and safety when this topic is also discussed between employees and management and when 
training  to  management  is  provided.  All  of  these  findings  suggest  the  crucial  role  of  exchanging 
information between various stakeholders in the establishment, highlighting the importance of worker 
participation (or employees’ involvement) in OSH management, as well as the importance of continuous 
training of key staff. 

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Table 3: Probability of OSH management activities in the establishment (in %) after accounting for contextual 
variables59 

Regular 
risk 
completio
n 

Employees 
involved in 
measures 
implementatio
n 

Health & safety 
issues regularly 
discussed at the 
top level of 
management  

Q154. Visited by labour inspectorate 
Q151. OSH services used (0-5) 
Q162. Health & safety regularly discussed at the top 
management level 
Q163. Team leaders and line managers receive training 
how to manage health and safety 
Q352. Health and safety regularly discussed between 
employees and management 
Q251. Risk assessment conducted by internal staff 
Q308.2. Reasons making addressing psychosocial risks 
difficult: lack of awareness among management 
Q353. Controversies related to health and safety arise 
Q354. Health and safety representatives are provided 
with the training 
Q350.1. Forms of employee representation: work council 
Q350.2. Forms of employee representation: trade union 
representation 
Q350.3. Forms of employee representation: health and 
safety committee 
Q350.4. Forms of employee representation: health and 
safety representative 
Q262.1. Reasons for addressing health and safety: 
fulfilling legal obligations 
Q262.2. Reasons for addressing health and safety: 
meeting expectations from employees 
Q262.3. Reasons for addressing health and safety: 
increasing productivity 
Q262.4. Reasons for addressing health and safety: 
organisation’s reputation 
Q262.5. Reasons for addressing health and safety: 
avoiding fines 
Q263.7. Difficulties in addressing health and safety: 
complexity of legal obligations 

+49 
+58 
- 

- 

- 

- 
n.s.* 

- 
- 

- 
- 

- 

+99 

+102 

- 

- 

- 

+48 

n.s. 

* n.s. = not significant (p>0.05); - not included in the model 

- 
- 
+50 

- 

+79 

+291 
n.s. 

- 
+38 

n.s. 
n.s. 

+30 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+62 

n.s. 

+31 

n.s. 

- 

- 
- 
- 

+737 

+313 

- 
- 

n.s. 
+30 

- 
- 

- 

- 

n.s. 

+37 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

All economic activities 
The analysis of the performance of the education sector versus all other economic activities shows clear 
sectoral  divisions  of  regular  risk  assessment.  There  are  higher  chances  for  regular  risk  assessment 
— compared  to  education  —  in  the  sectors  with  significant  manual  labour:  agriculture,  mining, 
manufacturing, electricity and gas, water supply, trade, and human health. On the other hand, in a small 
number of sectors using intellectual and creative skills (such as information and communication), the 
chances for regular risk assessment are lower than in the education sector. 

Yet, the type of sector is not significant for employees’ involvement in the implementation of measures 
—  although  there  are  a  few  exceptions.  Compared  to  the  education  sector,  only  the  manufacturing 
sector  has  a  higher  chance  for  the  implementation  of  measures.  However,  two  sectors  have  lower 
chances  than  the  education  sector:  ‘accommodation  and  food  service  activities’,  and  ‘financial  and 
insurance activities’. The conclusion is that educational enterprises are rather typical when it comes to 
the extent of the implementation of the measures by employees. 

The  type  of  sector  is  only  partially  relevant  when  assessing  the  differences  around  the  frequency  of 
discussion  of  health  and  safety  issues  at  the  top  management  level.  The  establishments  from  the 

59 The values indicated are normalised percentage scores — that is, in the education sector, the chances of team leaders and 
line managers receiving training are 737% higher if health and safety issues are regularly discussed at the level of top 
management.  

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education sector come second when assessing the chances for such discussions after water supply, 
sewerage, waste management and remediation activities. On the other hand, the education sector has 
higher  chances  than  seven  other  sectors:  wholesale  and  retail  trade;  repair  of  motor  vehicles  and 
motorcycles; accommodation and food service activities; information and communication; financial and 
insurance activities; professional, scientific and technical activities; public administration and defence, 
compulsory social security; and arts, entertainment and recreation. 

Figure 20: Probability (odds ratio) of OSH management practices in education vs other economic sectors (1 = 
similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 higher probability than in education) 

5.5.2  Main factors influencing the perception that psychosocial risks are 

more difficult to manage than other risks 

Education 
In  the  assessment  of  factors  influencing  the  perception  that  psychosocial  risks  are  more  difficult  to 
manage than other risks, 13 OSH factors were used.  

Out of 13 OSH factors included in the model, six had a significant positive association with the probability 
of considering psychosocial risks as more difficult than other risks. However, only five of them work in 
every  context:  reorganisation  of  work  (increasing  the  probability  by  28%);  confidential  counselling 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

(+47%); training on conflict resolution (+29%); fulfilling legal obligations (+48%); and the number of OSH 
services used (each additional service used increases the probability by 6%).  

This means that those five OSH measures are positively associated with the perception of psychosocial 
risks as more difficult. Additionally, the more OSH services an establishment is using, the more often it 
is  perceived  that  psychosocial  risks  are  more  difficult.  We  need  to  remember  that  the  relationship 
described above can be reciprocal, that is, OSH services may influence the perception of the difficulty 
of managing psychosocial risks, or the perception may influence the need to use OSH services.  

The following factors are negatively associated with perceiving psychosocial risks as more difficult (when 
accounting for the context): increasing productivity (by 22%), and meeting expectations from employees 
as reasons for addressing health and safety (by 14%) as well as whether establishments have sufficient 
information on how to include psychosocial risks in risk assessments (by 45%) and allowing employees 
to  take  more  decisions  on  how  to  do  their  job  (by  17%).  When  ‘increasing  productivity’  or  ‘meeting 
expectations from employees’ are reported as a driver for OSH, psychosocial risks are less frequently 
reported as more difficult than other OSH risks. 

Existing literature does not provide evidence on the exact relationships described above. However, there 
is evidence that psychosocial risks are different than traditional risks, for example, risk perception and 
awareness about risks among managers and employee representatives are different when it comes to 
psychosocial risks compared to other risks. Risk management practices, such as clear responsibilities 
and coordinated procedures, are important in dealing with psychosocial risks.60, 61 

All economic activities 
There is no sector with higher chances than the education sector for the perception that psychosocial 
risks are more difficult to manage than other risks. Therefore, the importance of psychosocial risks, and 
the awareness of how difficult this type of risk is, in the education sector in very high.  

Establishments from several sectors have lower chances than the education sector for perception of 
psychosocial  risks  as  being  difficult  to  address.  This  may  suggest  that  educational  enterprises  are 
characterised either by high psychosocial risk incidence or better understanding of those risks.  

In five activities this probability is similar: electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; water supply, 
sewerage,  waste  management  and  remediation  activities;  financial  and  insurance  activities;  public 
administration and defence, compulsory social security; and human health and social work activities. 
This means they are similar in the perception of difficulty of managing psychosocial risks. 

60 Houtman, I., van Zwieten, M., Leka, S., Jain, A., & de Vroome, E. (2020). Social dialogue and psychosocial risk management: 
Added value of manager and employee representative agreement in risk perception and awareness. International Journal of 
Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10), Article 3672. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103672  
61 Lunau, T., Dragano, N., Siegrist, J., & Wahrendorf, M. (2017). Country differences of psychosocial working conditions in 
Europe: The role of health and safety management practices. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 
90, 629–638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1225-z 

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Figure 21: Probability (odds ratio) of respondents’ perception that psychosocial risks are more difficult in 
education vs other sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 
higher probability than in education) 

5.6  Composite indicators  
Based  on  ESENER  2019  data,  the  study  developed  a  series  of  composite  indicators  to  compare 
education sector performance related to key OSH policy areas.62  

The purpose of the composite indicators is to summarise the performance of the education sector in 
different key OSH areas using several ESENER measures. One key area concerns risk assessments.  

The  composite  indicators  combined  and  weighted  the  results  of  several  ESENER  2019-related 
measures to produce two ranking statistics:  

• 

international  comparison  –  the  country  rank  of  national  education  sectors  on  ESENER  2019 
measures; and  

•  national comparison – the rank of the education sector compared to other national sectors on 

ESENER 2019 measures.  

To help describe the position of the countries, a cluster analysis was conducted, visualised using colour 
coding. Figure 22 provides an overview of the results concerning risk assessments. 

62 The methodology is described further in the Annex.  

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Figure 22: Risk assessment 

In terms of the sector ranking on risk assessment management, generally it shows that the education 
sector  performs  moderately  well  across  the  EU,  although  there  seems  to  be  some  room  for 
improvement.  

The green country cluster (Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom) scored the highest internationally, 
compared to other countries, whereas the red country cluster performed the best nationally compared 
to other sectors.  

On the other hand, the purple country cluster (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, 
Hungary,  the  Netherlands,  Poland  and  Switzerland)  is  characterised  by  comparatively  lower-ranking 
scores on risk assessment measures for the education sector both within and across countries.  

Figure 23 provides the composite indicator results concerning the level of OSH commitment.  

Again, four clusters were identified. The leading cluster (purple) has some internal differences though: 
while some countries perform strongly nationally -that is, against national sectors in their own country-, 
and  internationally  -that  is,  compared  to  the  performance  of  the  education  sector  of  other  countries 
(Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom)-, there are others 
that  mainly  obtain  strong  international  ranking  scores  (Ireland,  Italy  and  Norway).  The  blue  cluster 
(Austria, France, Greece, Spain and Switzerland) obtained the lowest-ranking scores for the education 
sector internationally and nationally.  

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Figure 23: OSH commitment  

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6  OSH  management  of  psychosocial  and  digitalisation 

risks in the education sector  

6.1  Introduction  
As shown by the literature review (see Chapter 3), the education sector is exposed to relatively severe 
psychosocial risks due to the nature of the working environment including the expectations placed on 
teachers  by  managers  and  parents,  and  the  demands  and  behaviour  of  students.  Without  careful 
management, these risks may lead to lack of job satisfaction, severe anxiety, stress and burnout, and 
long-term sickness absence that clearly have knock-on effects on the quality and stability of teaching.  

As with ‘traditional’ safety risks, psychosocial risks require a controlled management approach to identify 
and mitigate risks upfront and implementation of predefined measures so that appropriate actions can 
be taken when instances arise.  

Our case studies on the education sector in five countries also point to an intensification of psychosocial 
risks  since  the  onset  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  and  through  the  adoption  of  digital  teaching  and 
communication channels, making both teaching and engagement with parents more challenging.  

To explore OSH management trends in these areas, this chapter provides an overview of the results 
from the ESENER surveys as follows:  

•  a summary of the results is provided to introduce the chapter;  
• 
the steps taken to manage psychosocial risks are explored;  
• 
risks and management approaches connected to digital technologies are assessed; and 
• 
results of multivariate analyses of ESENER data on psychosocial risk management are 
provided.  

6.2  Summary of ESENER 2019 findings 
Psychosocial risk management 
With  respect  to  psychosocial  risk  management,  the  results  showed  that  42%  of  the  educational 
establishments  employing  at  least  20  persons  had  specific  action  plans  in  place  aimed  at  reducing 
workplace stress. Clearly, this is  a high proportion compared to the EU-27 average  of 36%,  and  the 
share has increased since 2014. While heavy industries, such as construction and mining and quarrying, 
have scored higher on other OSH management items, they reported the use of measures to address 
psychosocial  risks  less  often,  highlighting  once  more  that  though  these  sectors  may,  for  example, 
conduct risk assessments more regularly, they are less aware or motivated to address psychosocial 
risks with the same level of determination  as they do  with  other risks. Considering the high share of 
educational  establishments  that  took  steps  to  reduce  psychosocial  risks,  it  seems  that  parts  of  the 
education sector are aware of the key OSH challenges they face and have made some efforts to mitigate 
the risks. However, apart from sector differences, the results also show significant country differences, 
ranging from 6% in the Czech Republic to 84% in the United Kingdom.  

Furthermore, 67% of the establishments employing at least 20 persons in the education sector reported 
that  they  have  procedures  in  place  to  deal  with  cases  of  bullying  and  harassment,  compared  to  the 
sectoral average of 52%. Also here, an increase could be observed since 2014, which could in part be 
due to efforts of many European stakeholders during that time to put the issue of psychosocial risks on 
the agenda of policy-makers. Moreover, management of psychosocial risks using procedures to respond 
to  threats,  abuse  or  assault  caused  by  external  individuals  has  been  introduced  in  75%  of  the 
educational  establishments  employing  at  least  20  persons,  compared  to  52%  across  all  sectors. 
However, the actual risk of being exposed to abuse or assault caused by external individuals, such as 
students, may vary across different levels or parts of the education system. For example, the Irish case 
study  showed  that  the  risk  is  higher  with  teenage  pupils  in  special  needs  facilities  considering  their 
physical strength. As a result, the actual use of procedures could vary across levels of education. While 
the  results  possibly  suggest  that  further  action  is  needed,  the  Irish  case  shows  that  such  risks  are 
generally well recognised as needing careful management in the education sector.  

Apart  from  these  procedures,  approximately  half  of  the  educational  establishments  also  use  other 
measures  to  prevent  psychosocial  risks  proactively:  increased  decision  authority,  training  on  conflict 
resolution,  confidential  counselling,  and  measures  to  reorganise  work.  About  a  quarter  of  the 
establishments intervene if excessively long or irregular hours are worked.  

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About a third of the educational establishments found it more difficult to address psychosocial risks than 
other risks, which ranks highest compared to other sectors, with only 9% and 14% of establishments in 
mining and quarrying and accommodation and food service activities reporting psychosocial risks being 
more  difficult  to  address.  Especially  establishments  in  the  Nordic  countries  found  it  more  difficult 
addressing psychosocial risks even though they have comparatively advanced approaches. This is quite 
interesting as it seems in some cases that where steps have been taken, such as introducing counselling 
services, the challenges of securing a strong psychosocial work environment are more apparent. This 
is likely due to an increased realisation of the challenges after some experience is gained in trying to 
manage such risks.  

Moreover, across the EU-27 two-thirds of the establishments in the education sector reported that they 
had  sufficient  information  to  include  psychosocial  risk  factors  in  risk  assessments,  which  is  about 
average  across  sectors,  with  human  health  and  social  work  activities  ranking  highest  (71%)  and 
electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply lowest (53%). Interestingly, some countries scored 
very high on this measure and the above-mentioned measure concerning the challenges of managing 
such risks (e.g. Denmark). Again, this might seem counterintuitive, but the recognition or identification 
of psychosocial risk factors may not necessarily secure the ability to address or solve the problems in 
adequate ways. For example, the establishment of measures to prevent psychosocial risks that involve 
management and staff collaboration may be a complex task (Mac & Albertsen, 2020).  

Moreover,  although  two-thirds  of  the  educational  establishments  reported  sufficient  information  to 
include  psychosocial  risks  factors  in  risk  assessments,  only  half  of  the  educational  establishments 
across the EU-27 reported to include questions on work-related stress on a regular basis. In the Nordic 
countries more than 90% did so, while in other countries the share was much lower.  

More than two-thirds of the educational establishments in the EU-27 encourage employees to play a 
role in the design and set-up of measures to address psychosocial risks. This is higher than in other 
sectors, but there is significant variation between countries despite the high level of awareness around 
psychosocial risks. A reason for this may be that employee involvement is strongly driven by national 
practices and conditions. As the German case study revealed, interviewee respondents suggested that 
education employees have limited personal resources to be involved in the identification of risks and the 
design and implementation of measures. 

A key theme emerging from the case study research is that teachers often prioritise pupils’ educational 
progress and psychosocial wellbeing above their own needs. This is reflected in their commitment to 
fulfilling their duties including working consistently outside of normal hours and in supporting children, 
especially those in challenging circumstances. In some cases, teachers may not formally address issues 
relating to difficult children or parents as they may not see this as an appropriate solution, for example, 
it  may  not  be  in  the  interest  of  the  children  if  they  are  excluded  from  school.  Clearly,  this  type  of 
environment  raises  the  risk  of  burnout  and  distress.  Moreover,  it  was  also  suggested  that  violence 
towards staff is a growing trend that is also negatively affecting the wellbeing of teaching staff.  

Moreover, the case studies noted  that the high  expectations placed on teachers to support pupils to 
achieve excellent results is a major source of stress. This includes the role of managers in monitoring 
the  performance  of  staff  and  also  through  interactions  with  parents.  The  need  to  achieve  excellent 
results has continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic despite the challenges of online teaching and 
reduced direct pupil contact. 

Analyses based on an overall composite indicator of psychosocial risk management showed that the 
psychosocial  risk  management  seems  to  converge  regionally:63  the  Scandinavian  countries  (except 
Norway)  had  particularly  good  psychosocial  risk management  practices  in  the  education  sector  both 
compared to other countries and other national sectors. Another group of countries including Greece, 
Spain, France, Hungary and Portugal ranked relatively low in comparison to other national sectors in 
their own country and when compared to the education sector of other countries. However, compared 
to other sectors, the education sector does comparatively well overall in managing psychosocial risks.  

63 The measures used to form the composited measure included:  

1.  Does your establishment have an action plan to prevent work-related stress? 
2. 
3.  And is there a procedure to deal with possible cases of threats, abuse or assaults by clients, patients, pupils 

Is there a procedure in place to deal with possible cases of bullying or harassment? 

or other external persons? 

4.  Did the employees have a role in the design and set-up of measures to address psychosocial risks? 
5.  Do you have sufficient information on how to include psychosocial risks in risk assessments? 

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Digitalisation risks 
As expected, across the educational establishments within the EU-27, the use of personal computers, 
laptops, smartphones and other devices are generally common across all countries. Risks associated 
with the increased use of such devices were also brought up in expert interviews. Yet, although higher 
than other sectors, the ESENER 2019 survey showed that just a third of the educational establishments 
reported discussions on the possible impact on employees’ health and safety. In this context, the main 
issues discussed included the ‘need for continuous training to keep skills updated’, ‘prolonged sitting’, 
‘information  overload’,  and  ‘increased  work  intensity  or  time  pressure’.  In  somewhat  fewer 
establishments the discussions had covered issues such as: ‘more flexibility for employees in terms of 
place  of  work  and  working  time’,  ‘blurring  boundaries  between  work  and  private  life’,  ‘repetitive 
movements’ and  ‘fear of job loss’. The statistical modelling showed that several  factors increase the 
chance of discussing digitalisation risks, including regular OSH discussions among top management, 
regular completion of risk assessments, and the presence of a health and safety representative. 

As  mentioned  in  the  literature  review,  and  as  also  emphasised  during  the  interviews  with  EU  social 
partners, the increasing digitalisation of teaching tasks, whether full or partial, has presented challenges, 
such as the need to learn new skills to engage with new systems, loss of control of the classroom, higher 
levels of administrative tasks, and problems associated with privacy and data protection. New AI-based 
systems that provide tailored learning support to pupils were also mentioned as an emerging issue that 
requires monitoring. This echoes the findings EU-OSHA’s overview study on the introduction of AI in the 
working environment, and the specific report on the use of AI for the automation of tasks (both physical 
and cognitive), which has documented OSH-related concerns around privacy issues and collection of 
data on staff and students (EU-OSHA, 2022). Another concern that was raised during interviews with 
EU social partners is the risk of deepening differences in learning outcomes among pupils, which in turn 
increases pressure for educators. For instance, when an increasing part of the learning experience is 
dependent on students having access to digital tools not only at school but also at home, then some 
pupils will be more likely to fall behind when they are not given the same opportunities as their peers. 
As teachers typically are extremely committed to helping students and are also expected to do so by 
their employers and society, it may cause additional pressure. 

COVID-19 
Considering  the  COVID-19  pandemic  and  the  specific  challenges  experienced  for  many  employees 
working from home, it is particularly important to be aware that digital risks and their possible impact on 
employees’  health  and  wellbeing  were  in  many  establishments  not  discussed.  Without  a  tradition  of 
discussing  these  issues,  the  education  sector  was  not  well  positioned  for  the  transition  since  the 
pandemic began.  

Also, the results suggesting that psychosocial risks in some countries and in some establishments were 
not  very  well  covered  by  risk  assessments may  also  prove  problematic  for  the  post-COVID-19  work 
environment. 

As presented in the case studies, teachers have under the COVID-19 pandemic been struggling with 
working at home due to poor equipment, unsuitable home office facilities and long hours. Furthermore, 
positive  resources  of  social  support  from  colleagues  and  management  as  well  as  the  meaningful 
interactions  with  pupils  and  students  were  also  more  difficult  to  obtain  under  the  lockdown.  In  some 
countries,  the  lockdown  has  further  revealed  that  some  pupils’  families  were  not  able  to  provide  the 
necessary tools for digitalised teaching at home. Given these new and challenging demands, it is extra 
important that these issues are covered by risk assessments.  

Psychosocial risk management 

To shed light on the dynamics in educational establishments around psychosocial risk management, 
several  regression  analyses  were  performed.  The  results  suggested  that  the  use  of  an  occupational 
health  doctor  is  associated  with  higher  probability  to  report:  time  pressure,  poor  communication  or 
cooperation,  difficult  customers,  and  long  or  irregular  working  hours.  The  use  of  a  psychologist  was 
positively correlated with the reporting of job insecurity and difficult customers, and the use of an expert 
dealing with ergonomic design was positively related to the reporting of time pressure. Clearly, the use 
of  OSH  specialists  helps  to  build  OSH  awareness  and  thus  increases  the  likelihood  of  identifying 
psychosocial risks in the workplace.  

Out of all examined risks, no factors were found to decrease the probability of reporting time pressure, 
job insecurity and difficult customers. But the risk of long or irregular working hours was lower when an 

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expert  dealing  with  ergonomic  design  was  used,  and  when  documents  were  in  place  that  explain 
responsibilities  or  procedures  on  health  and  safety.  And,  the  presence  of  an  expert  for  accident 
prevention decreased the probability for reporting poor communication or cooperation.  

The main reason encouraging the management of psychosocial risks was meeting expectations from 
employees for health and safety. This shows that the adoption of concrete measures and the attitude of 
managers towards the wellbeing of staff play a key role in managing risks.  

It also seems that if organisational aspects are routinely evaluated in risk assessments, it increases the 
chances for the use of measures that may prevent problems from occurring, such as: 1) reorganisation 
of work, 2) intervention if excessively long or irregular hours are worked, and 3) allowing employees to 
take more decisions on how to do their job. 

Policy  pointer:  On  average,  the  education  sector  seems  to  be  performing  better  than  other  sectors 
concerning the management of psychosocial risks, but there is still huge variation between countries, 
and  a  considerable  part  of  the  education  sector  does  not  have  adequate  procedures  and  skills  to 
manage psychosocial risks. Considering the high prevalence of psychosocial risks in the sector, these 
limitations likely carry serious health consequences for affected employees.  

Results from the regression analyses confirmed that many of the psychosocial factors and measures 
taken are related to each other, and show that if psychosocial risks are taken seriously, establishments 
will be proactive in taking action. Such steps may not solve all problems but are likely to ensure that 
organisations can more effectively deal with them. The results showed that one of the most important 
factors for the management of psychosocial risks is meeting expectations from employees as a main 
reason for addressing health and safety. Thus, as one may expect, the level of managerial recognition 
towards  staff  wellbeing  seems  to  be  linked  to  the  extent  that  actions  are  taken  to  manage  the 
psychosocial working environment.  

Furthermore, it is important to remember that awareness and adequate measurement of psychosocial 
risks  are  important  and  necessary  steps,  but  not  tantamount  to  the  ability  to  manage  and  prevent 
psychosocial  risks  in  the  establishments.  In  many  establishments,  both  internal  and  external  OSH 
experts such as psychologists and occupational health doctors, discussions at the top management 
level,  involvement  of  employees  in  the  process  and  new  qualifications  may  be  needed  for  effective 
prevention. The results showed that taking positive steps will likely lead to the introduction of concrete 
actions such as improved decision authority, training on conflict resolution, confidential counselling and 
measures to reorganise work. 

Given the transition to home working, and the fact that this practice is likely to become part of the ‘new 
normal’  post-COVID-19,  actions  are  needed  to  strengthen  the  risk  management  of  digitalisation 
activities. This includes ensuring that risks can be managed around providing classes either partly or 
fully online, ensuring compliance with data privacy and other administrative steps, establishing suitable 
home working practices and use of appropriate equipment. In addition, digital tools, and those systems 
still in development such as AI-driven teaching platforms, should undergo proper risk assessment and 
feature in staff discussions on OSH. 

While  building  awareness  is  clearly  needed,  further  positive  steps  may  include  stronger  employee 
involvement  and  specific  training  of  OSH  representatives,  promotion  of  the  regular  use  of  risk 
assessments and their coverage of all key OSH risks, and stronger commitment from management in 
recognising and acting upon such risks. 

Moreover, where establishments appoint a health and safety representative, the chances for the use of 
key  measures  also  increases,  such  as  the:  1)  reorganisation  of  work,  2)  confidential  counselling  for 
employees, and 3) training on conflict resolution. 

Similarly, where procedures to deal with possible cases of threats, abuse or assault are introduced, they 
increase  the  chances  for  the  use  of  measures,  such  as:  1)  confidential  counselling  for  employees, 
2) training on conflict resolution, and 3) allowing employees to take more decisions on how to do their 
job. 

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6.3  Measures taken for psychosocial risk management  
The  survey  explored  the  measures  that  establishments  take  to  identify  and  mitigate  different 
psychosocial risks, such as work-related stress. In this context, respondents were asked whether their 
establishments have specific action plans in place that aim at reducing stress. In the EU-27, this was 
the  case  in  42%  of  educational  establishments,  which  is  above  the  EU-27  average  of  36%.  In 
comparison  to  specific  sectors,  action  plans  are  most  commonly  used  in  financial  and  insurance 
activities (47%), other service activities (47%), and human health and social work activities (56%) as 
opposed to mining and quarrying (22%) or real estate activities (23%). The highest country scores were 
obtained in the United Kingdom (84%) and Sweden (78%), compared to Portugal (14%) and the Czech 
Republic (6%), with the scores also increasing over the 2014 to 2019 period for the former group, while 
they decreased for the latter. 

While  the  United  Kingdom  scored  particularly  high  on  this  ESENER  measure,  recent  research64  on 
teachers’  mental  health  during  the  pandemic found  that  47%  of  higher  education  staff  describe  their 
mental health as poor, with levels of stress and anxiety considerably above the national average of other 
professions.  However,  this  research  was  conducted  after  2019  and  after  the  onset  of  the  pandemic, 
which likely impacted the results.  

Moreover, while the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychosocial wellbeing of teachers has 
been commonly associated with primary and secondary levels, a French study on researchers in higher 
education  and  other  sectors  noted  a  similar  threat  to  their  mental  wellbeing  due  to  imbalances  in 
professional and personal life, mental workload and an amplification of pre-existing difficulties, although, 
as mentioned, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided some notable benefits for some researchers, for 
example, around creating possibilities to spend more time on writing publications. 65  

Comments made by EU social partners suggested that the support available to address psychosocial 
risks  is  lacking  generally  for  the  education  sector  but  especially  in  some  of  the  countries  with  low 
ESENER scores. One issue is that the guidance around risk assessments available to schools does not 
sufficiently cover psychosocial risk management, thus leading to a limited adoption of measures. This 
is  also  reflected  in  the  ESENER  2019  results:  while  87%  of  educational  establishments  include 
dangerous chemicals or biological substances in their risk assessments, only 56% look at supervisor–
employee relationships. Though this is a common trend across sectors, establishments in human health 
and social work still score higher as 70% reported to cover such risks in their risk assessments.  

64 Wray, S., & Kinman, G. (2022). Supporting staff wellbeing in higher education. Education Support. 
https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/media/x4jdvxpl/es-supporting-staff-wellbeing-in-he-report.pdf  
65 Available at: https://www.csee-etuce.org/en/policy-issues/covid-19/4621-french-study-the-psychosocial-impact-of-covid-19-on-
researchers 

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Figure 24: Establishments that have an action plan in place to prevent work-related stress (% educational 
establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)66 

Similarly, establishments may follow specific procedures for other types of psychosocial risks, such as 
in  cases  of  bullying  or  harassment.  The  survey  thus  asked  respondents  if  their  establishments  have 
procedures in place that deal with these cases. The data shows that this is relatively common across 
the EU-27 (45%), however, with some variation across sectors and countries. For example, only 38% 
of establishments in agriculture, forestry and fishing have procedures in place, compared to 67% in the 
education  sector.  At  country  level,  all  United  Kingdom  and  Irish  educational  establishments  seem  to 
follow specific procedures to prevent bullying and harassment compared to 11% in Hungary and 47% 
in Italy. However, Hungary seems to be an outlier as there are only few countries where less than half 
of the establishments seem to have procedures in place. 

66 Base: All educational establishments with at least 20 employees. 

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Figure 25: Establishments that have procedures in place to prevent cases of bullying or harassment (% 
educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)67 

Psychosocial risks may also arise through negative interactions with external persons, such as parents 
or pupils, and in the worst cases may involve threats, abuse or assaults. Our case research in Germany 
illustrated that teachers in primary and secondary schools feel that parents sometimes put too much 
pressure  on  them  to  support  their  children  to  attain  excellent  results,  or  have  expectations  for  their 
children  that  cannot  be  fulfilled.  Whereas  the  case  in  Denmark  highlighted  the  ongoing  worries  that 
some primary- and secondary-level teachers have in dealing with difficult children who may be verbally 
or physically abusive, at the same time they are sometimes concerned that taking further action may 
not be in the long-term interests of the children.  

To identify efforts to manage these risks, ESENER surveys gathered information on whether there are 
procedures  in  place  that  may  respond  to  such  incidents.  Overall,  it  seems  that  educational 
establishments in the EU-27 do actively try to manage these risks as 75% have procedures in place, 
compared  to  the  average  of  52%  across  all  sectors.  In  line  with  other  action  plans  and  procedures 
dealing with psychosocial risks, all establishments in Finland (100%) and usually establishments in the 
United Kingdom (99%) and Ireland (98%) have procedures in place, which is however not the norm in 
Hungary (18%) and Italy (43%). One interviewee commented that the positive results in Ireland are likely 
due to the strong cooperation and steps taken by national social partners to formalise psychosocial risk 
management.  

67 Base: All educational establishments with at least 20 employees. 

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Figure 26: Establishments that have procedures in place to deal with possible cases of threats, abuse or assaults 
by external persons (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)68 

Apart from the aforementioned procedures and action plans, the survey also explored the use of other 
measures  to  prevent  and  reduce  psychosocial  risks.  Across  the  EU-27,  66%  of  educational 
establishments take measures that allow employees to take more decisions on how to do their job, 55% 
offer  training  on  conflict  resolution,  49%  provide  confidential  counselling  for  employees,  42%  take 
measures  to  reorganise  work,  and  23%  intervene  if  excessively  long  or  irregular  hours  are  worked. 
Across all measures, Danish and Finnish establishments obtained the strongest results, for example, 
95% of Finnish establishments allow employees to take decisions on how to do their job, and 81% of 
Danish establishments permit reorganisation of work, although training on conflict resolution was most 
frequently introduced in Ireland (76%). 

The results also revealed whether these measures were taken in response to specific problems or if 
establishments introduced them proactively without any concrete triggers. The data indicated that in the 
majority of cases (76% on average across the EU-27) new measures are not triggered by any concrete 
issues and only partly so in 3% of cases. The country-level data show that measures often follow specific 
problems in Denmark (49%), Finland, France and Switzerland (34%) but very rarely in Hungary (1%) or 
Poland (2%). 69 This evidence seems to show that specific triggers may not result in changes in OSH 
management in educational establishments, suggesting that support and engagement with education 
sector managers are needed to encourage more formalised management of psychosocial risks. At the 
same time, the education sector seems to be more responsive in introducing measures in response to 
specific  triggers  when  compared  to  other  sectors,  suggesting  that  these  types  of  events  are  better 
understood as a threat to the working environment. For example, sectors that involve manual work, such 

68 Base: All educational establishments with at least 20 employees. 
69 Base: All educational establishments that have implemented measures to prevent psychosocial risks. 

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as mining and quarrying (8%), construction (10%) and manufacturing (12%), reported such incidents 
less often. 

Since psychosocial risks are in many ways distinct from physical risks (e.g. social stigma and lack of 
awareness  and  understanding),  the  survey  explored  if  educational  establishments  find  addressing 
psychosocial risks more or less difficult compared to other risks. Their answers suggest that across the 
EU-27, 32% of educational establishments find addressing psychosocial risks more difficult, which is 
higher than is the case in other sectors (average of 21%). It seems that especially establishments in the 
Nordic countries find addressing psychosocial risks more difficult (70% in Denmark, 51% in Sweden and 
49%  in  Finland),  though  it  is  the  reverse  in  Norway,  where  only  14%  find  it  more  difficult,  similar  to 
Romania  (12%).  Arguably,  the  prevalence  of  the  perception  that  psychosocial  risks  are  harder  to 
address in some of the Nordic countries that have taken significant steps forward indicates that these 
countries are generally more aware of these risks, their complexity and regard addressing psychosocial 
risks as an integral part of the OSH management approach rather than something employees should 
take care of privately. 

Figure 27: How easy or difficult it is for educational establishments to address psychosocial risks compared to 
other risks (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)70 

Considering that more than a third of respondents said psychosocial risks are more difficult to address 
than  other  types  of  risks,  the  survey  explored  if  those  establishments  conducting  regular  risk 
assessments have sufficient information to include psychosocial risk factors. Across the EU-27, 63% of 
establishments  in  the  education  sector  reported  that  they  have  enough  information.  Roughly,  the 
education sector obtained a similar score to the ‘average EU sector’, although some sectors like human 
health and social work (71%) obtained even better results. What is interesting is that some of the national 
changes between 2014 and 2019 are relatively large. In Greece (82%) and Austria (81%), the share of 
educational  establishments  that  reported  to  have  sufficient  information  increased  by  39  and  30 

70 Base: All educational establishments that have implemented measures to prevent psychosocial risks. 

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percentage  points,  respectively.  In  contrast,  in  Belgium  (58%)  and  Switzerland  (54%)  decreases  of 
roughly 20% were noted. However, it is important to remember that these are subjective views and that 
when  general  awareness  of  psychosocial  risks  is  low,  respondents  may  still  report  that  sufficient 
information is available even though that may not be the case objectively. In addition, the availability of 
online tools for the assessment of psychosocial risks may subjectively  provide  sufficient information, 
which however does not necessarily mean that the identified risks are addressed effectively. 

Figure 28: Establishments that have sufficient information to include psychosocial risks in risk assessments (% 
educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019 and 2014)71 

In 2019, on average across the EU-27, 62% of educational establishments let employees play a role in 
the  design  and  set-up  of  measures  to  address  psychosocial  risks,  showing  a  slight  increase  in  this 
process since 2014. Compared to the average across sectors (55%), this is a relatively high score, and 
the  education  sector  was  a  strong  performer  on  this  measure,  especially  when  compared  to  other 
sectors such as financial and insurance activities (49%). 

Yet,  considering  that  psychosocial  risks,  especially  in  the  form  of  working  with  difficult  pupils,  are 
prevalent in educational establishments, especially at primary and secondary levels, and that teachers 
should ideally be consulted in the management of these risks, the sector would be better supported in 
its OSH management activities if such information were made more widely available.  

One possible reason for the comparatively limited involvement could be that employees’ involvement is 
strongly driven by national legislation and that sector dynamics may be less important in this case, as 
per the findings of a recent EU-OSHA study on the management of psychosocial risks72. For instance, 
in Denmark, employee involvement is legally mandated and institutionalised through national legislation 

71 Base: All educational establishments that conduct regular risk assessments. 
72 EU OSHA (2022) Managing psychosocial risks in European micro and small enterprises: Qualitative evidence from the Third 
European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER 2019). Country reports on Denmark and Poland.  

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across sectors, which is not the case in Poland. In Poland, not all companies carry out workplace risk 
assessments,  and  there  are  no  formal  channels  for  identifying  psychosocial  risks.  Similarly,  in  some 
countries, employee size thresholds determine the instances where OSH representatives/committees 
should be appointed. As such, the opportunities for the involvement of employees in the development 
of measures are likely to be more limited in smaller establishments that fall under the size thresholds.  

Figure 29: Establishments where employees have played a role in the design and set-up of measures to address 
psychosocial risks (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019 and 2014)73 

6.4  Psychosocial risk management (composite indicator) 
A composite indicator was developed to ease communication of the performance of the education sector 
in  terms  of  psychosocial  risk  management  on  several  measures.74,  75  Generally,  compared  to  other 
national sectors, the education sector performs moderately well in terms of managing psychosocial risks 
(see Figure 30). 

The green country cluster (Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) stands 
out  with  particularly  good  psychosocial  risk  management  practices  in  the  education  sector  both 
compared  to  other  countries  and  other  national  sectors.  The  blue  country  cluster,  including  Greece, 
Spain,  France,  Hungary  and  Portugal,  ranks  relatively  low  on  both  levels.  Overall,  psychosocial  risk 
management seems to converge regionally to some extent: the Scandinavian countries (except Norway) 

73 Base: All educational establishments where measures to prevent psychosocial risks were taken. 
74 See the Annex for more details on the methodology.  
75 The measures used to form the composited measure included:  

1.  Does your establishment have an action plan to prevent work-related stress? 
2. 
3.  And is there a procedure to deal with possible cases of threats, abuse or assaults by clients, patients, pupils 

Is there a procedure in place to deal with possible cases of bullying or harassment? 

or other external persons? 

4.  Did the employees have a role in the design and set-up of measures to address psychosocial risks? 
5.  Do you have sufficient information on how to include psychosocial risks in risk assessments? 

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are in the first green cluster and eastern European countries (except Hungary) are part of the third purple 
cluster.  

Figure 30: Psychosocial risk management 

6.5  Digitalisation risks  
Under  ESENER  2019,  additional  questions  were  included  on  the  impact  of  digitalisation  and  new 
technologies vis-à-vis OSH management.  

As expected, use of digital technologies is relatively high in the education sector. Across educational 
establishments in the EU-27, the use of ‘personal computers at fixed workplaces’ (88%) and ‘laptops, 
tablets,  smartphones  or  other  mobile  computer  devices’  (83%)  scored  highest  in  terms  of  attention 
received in OSH management, however the use of the former ranges from 71% in Sweden to 98% in 
Hungary and the latter from 71% in Italy to 100% in Finland.  

This implies that while the use of digital technologies in educational establishments across the EU-27 is 
relatively  widespread,  there  are  still  organisations  that  are  unfamiliar  with  the  use  of  digital  tools.  In 
addition, what the results do not tell us is the differences in establishments’ digital maturity. For example, 
it  is  to  be  expected  that  some  countries  will  show  substantial  differences  between  rural  and  urban 
institutions not only in terms of the extent to which tools are used but also regarding the quality of these 
tools, and also in the competency of teachers in using these tools. These factors become relevant for 
OSH,  for  example  in  the  context  of  employees’  data  protection  and  sense  of  safety  when  handling 
sensitive data, and in terms of the ability to successfully implement online teaching activities. 

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Figure 31: Used digital technologies (% educational establishments by establishment size for ESENER 2019)76 

Considering  that  the  use  of  digital  technologies  is  widespread  in  the  education  sector,  the  survey 
explored the extent to which possible impacts on employees’ health and safety are discussed. Overall, 
it seems that in the EU-27 this is not the norm as only 26% of establishments reported such discussions, 
with a slightly higher rate (33%) among educational establishments. In some countries this number was 
higher however, such as in Hungary (66%) and the United Kingdom (59%), but lower in Italy (22%) and 
France (15%). 

Feedback from EU social partners noted that there is growing concern of the risks associated with the 
use of digital technologies in teaching. A key challenge is the management of classrooms that may be 
completely virtual, or may be held partly online with some classroom attendees also participating. It was 
mentioned  that  virtual  teaching  is  more  demanding  considering  that  it  is  more  difficult  to  control  the 
attention of pupils, especially when they can ‘appear’ as engaged in the lessons online. The ongoing 
risk may be that pupil performance suffers, which can strain teacher–parent relations. The technologies 
used may also increase administrative tasks, require demonstration of compliance with data protection 
procedures, and demand developing new skills in using the tools and in learning how to ensure that 
classes are conducted successfully. It was also suggested that pupils need to be trained in how to learn 
online and become more independent. In addition, some educational establishments and countries were 
lacking  digital  equipment  during  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  which  added  to  the  problems  of  ensuring 
good continuity of education provision. These points were echoed in a recent report published by the 
EU social partners.77  

A further concern is the emergence of new AI-based systems that have the potential to become relatively 
significant in the education sector. Such systems can provide tailored education solutions to pupils with 
the aim of strengthening their educational progress. As noted in EU-OSHA’s report ‘Advanced robotics, 
artificial  intelligence  and  the  automation  of  tasks:  definitions,  uses,  policies  and  strategies  and 
occupational safety and health’ (EU-OSHA, 2022), while such systems have the possibility to improve 
student learning, there are some privacy concerns considering that such tools need to collect data on 
students, and in some cases teachers as well, so that students are provided with specific tasks aimed 
at their exact level of learning.78 While these systems are not widespread currently, their possible OSH-
related impacts should undergo risk assessment along with other digital technologies.  

76 Base: All educational establishments. 
77 Available at: e-Speed_Research_Report.pdf (csee-etuce.org)  
78 Available at: https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2022-04/Advanced%20robotics_AI_based%20systems.pdf 

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Figure 32: Establishments where the possible OSH impacts of the use of digital technologies have been 
discussed (% educational establishments by Member State for ESENER 2019)79 

Those establishments where respondents reported discussions regarding the impact of technologies on 
OSH were further asked which possible impacts were discussed specifically. The EU-27 average for the 
education  sector  indicated  that  the  possible  impacts  that  were  discussed  included  the  ‘need  for 
continuous training to keep skills updated’ (79%), ‘prolonged sitting’ (61%), ‘information overload’ (59%), 
‘increased  work intensity  or time pressure’ (55%), ‘more flexibility for employees in terms of place of 
work  and  working  time’  (50%),  ‘blurring  boundaries  between  work  and  private  life’  (47%),  ‘repetitive 
movements’ (46%) and ‘fear of job loss’ (20%). In Finland and Romania, a high share of respondents 
reported  to  have  discussed  all  possible  impacts,  while  in  Belgium  and  France  some  risks  were  only 
discussed by half of the respondents.  

Reflecting  on  this,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  even  where  the  impacts  of  technologies  have  been 
discussed, there are sizeable groups that have not discussed some of the impacts, showing that there 
are  blind  spots  even  in  some  companies  that  are  ‘more  aware’  of  the  risks,  for  example,  only  55% 
discussed  the  issue  of  increased  work  intensity  or  time  pressure  and  47%  blurring  of  boundaries 
between work and private life, even though these would seemingly affect all educational establishments 
that use modern technologies to some degree. 

79 Base: All educational establishments that use at least one digital technology. 

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Figure 33: The impacts that have been discussed (% educational establishments by establishment size for 
ESENER 2019)80 

6.6  Multivariate analysis of ESENER results  
Regression analyses were conducted  with the objective of assessing the  probability of implementing 
OSH management activities to address psychosocial and digitalisation risks depending on OSH-related 
and contextual factors. The former refers to whether establishments had adopted good OSH building 
blocks that would likely help in introducing other OSH management practices, and the latter relates to 
key  contexts  that  impact  the  approach  to  OSH  management,  such  as  the  size  of  the  establishment, 
sector and country.  

Using ESENER 2019 data, we considered the assessment of factors associated with the reporting of 
psychosocial  risks,  the  use  of  measures  to  address  psychosocial  risks  and  the  reasons  that  make 
addressing psychosocial risks difficult in the establishment.  

6.6.1  Presence of psychosocial risks  
Respondents to ESENER 2019 were asked to identify the presence of five psychosocial risks, namely: 

time pressure; 

• 
•  poor communication or cooperation; 
• 
•  having to deal with difficult customers/students; and 
• 

long or irregular working hours.  

job insecurity; 

Using this data, we conducted several regression analyses to assess the probability of their presence 
in establishments separately for each risk (five separate regressions were carried out). Nevertheless, 
the assessment below provides a summary of the results for all risks, pointing to differences related to 
specific risks where they exist. 

In all models, eight OSH factors were included: the five OSH measures used in the establishment, plus 
‘a  document  in  place  that  explains  responsibilities  or  procedures  on  health  and  safety’,  ‘regular 
discussion of health and safety at the top management level’, and the ‘presence of a health and safety 
representative’. 

Education 
When analysing the effect of OSH factors alone (not including the contextual factors), most of the OSH 
factors are significantly associated  with the reported  presence of psychosocial risks. However,  when 
accounting for the context the establishments are operating in (country, their size), only few factors are 
important. This may suggest that the context (country, and company’s size) has a stronger influence on 
the ‘existence’ of psychosocial risks than OSH factors. 

The use of an occupational health doctor is positively correlated with the presence of four out of five 
analysed psychosocial risks: ‘time pressure’, ‘poor communication or cooperation’, ‘difficult customers’, 

80 Base: All educational establishments that use at least one digital technology and where impacts have been discussed. 

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and ‘long or irregular working hours’. This means that, in every context, the establishments using an 
occupational health doctor have a higher probability to report those four risks. It does not mean though 
that this relationship is causal: the presence of risks may trigger the use of an occupational health doctor, 
or the presence of an occupational health doctor may help to identify those risks. 

The next important factor is the use of a psychologist, which is positively correlated with the reporting of 
job  insecurity  and  difficult  customers/students  (but  not  other  risks).  Availability  of  such  services  to 
employees helps to identify demands related to relationships with students and fellow teachers, but also 
demands related to the insecurity of employment contracts.  

Experts dealing with ergonomic design are positively related to the reporting of time pressure. This result 
might be unexpected, but it should be remembered that standing or sitting for long periods are key risks 
in the education sector, and as mentioned in the literature review section, education sector employees 
are more prone to MSDs than other workers. Thus, time pressure coincides with static body positions 
for longer periods, and may result in MSDs, which are reported by ergonomics designers.  

Next, the factor of discussions on OSH management is positively related to long or irregular working 
hours, which means that the discussions among top management reveal problems with working hours. 
Interestingly, it was difficult to identify factors that reduce psychosocial risks. Out of all examined risks, 
no factor was found to decrease the probability of the following risks: time pressure, job insecurity and 
difficult customers. In case of poor communication or cooperation, the presence of an expert for accident 
prevention decreases the probability of this risk. Finally, to reduce the effects of long or irregular working 
hours resulting in MSDs, it may be helpful to use an expert dealing with ergonomic design, and to have 
a document in place that explains responsibilities or procedures on OSH (as both factors decrease the 
probability of reporting long or irregular working hours). 

Interestingly, the presence of an OSH representative is not significant for the reporting of psychosocial 
risks in the establishment. This may suggest that this form of employee representation is not enough, 
and when other, specialised OSH services are available to employees, such as an occupational health 
doctor or psychologist, they are more effective in identifying the risks. On the other hand, the results 
suggested that psychologists are not very effective in identifying risks related to demands or related to 
supervisor–employee  relationships  (time  pressure,  poor  communication),  and  in  such  cases  an 
occupational health doctor seemed better placed to identify these risks.  

Summarising,  we  have  found  that  some  factors  —  especially  involvement  of  an  occupational  health 
doctor and psychologist — can be helpful in the identification of psychosocial risks, but there is no single 
factor able to address all risk factors. Additionally, the decrease in the number of significant psychosocial 
risks between model 1 (including only OSH factors as predictors) and model 2 (including OSH factors 
and the context) means that only a few OSH factors are correlated with the reporting of psychosocial 
risks. The context, especially country (since there is huge difference in probabilities between countries), 
plays a crucial role in identifying and reporting psychosocial risks. 

Table 4: Probability of the presence of a psychosocial risk in the establishment (in %) after accounting for 
contextual variables81 

Time 
pressure 

Poor communication 
or cooperation 

Job 
insecurity 

Difficult 
customers/ 
pupils 

Q151.1. Used OSH services: 
occupational health doctor 
Q151.2. Used OSH services: 
psychologist 
Q151.3. Used OSH services: expert 
dealing with ergonomic design 
Q151.4. Used OSH services: 
generalist on health and safety 
Q151.5. Used OSH services: expert 
for accident prevention 
Q155. Document in place that 
explains responsibilities or 
procedures on health and safety? 

+18 

n.s.* 

+23 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+24 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

-16 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+20 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+26 

+31 

-22 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

Long or 
irregular 
working hours 
+25 

81 The values indicated are normalised percentage scores — for example, use of a psychologist helps educational 
establishments to identify the risk of difficult pupils and parents in establishments by 31%.  

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 

n.s. 

-11 

n.s. 

n.s. 

-40 

71 

  
                                                           
Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Time 
pressure 

Poor communication 
or cooperation 

Job 
insecurity 

Q162. Health and safety regularly 
discussed at the top management 
level 
Q350.4. Health and safety 
representative 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

Difficult 
customers/ 
pupils 

n.s. 

n.s. 

Long or 
irregular 
working hours 
+19 

n.s. 

* n.s. = not significant; pink colour = probability increases; green colour = probability decreases 

All economic activities 
When compared to the education sector, the situation is different for each psychosocial risk. In case of 
‘time pressure’, ‘poor communication or cooperation’, and ‘long or irregular working hours’, the majority 
of other sectors have a higher probability for reporting the presence of these risks. This means those 
three types of risks are rarely reported in educational enterprises. On the other hand, none (or only one) 
of the activities has a higher probability for reporting the presence of job insecurity and having to deal 
with difficult customers/students than the education sector. This means that educational enterprises face 
job insecurity and difficult customers (students in that case) significantly more than other sectors. 

Figure 34: Probability (odds ratio) of the presence of psychosocial risks in education vs other sectors (1 = similar 
probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 higher probability than in education) 

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6.6.2  The use of various measures for psychosocial risks 
Education 
In the assessment of predictors for the use of various measures for psychosocial risks, 10 OSH factors 
were used. In this case, most of the predictors used maintained their significance from model 1 (only 
OSH factors) to model 2 (OSH + contextual factors). This shows that they are rather universal and can 
support implementation of measures in all contexts. The second important finding is that our analysis 
helped to identify factors that are positively associated with the application of each measure, while no 
factor associated negatively was identified. 

There are two key universal factors that are positively correlated with all five measures for psychosocial 
risks: ‘reorganisation of work’, ‘confidential counselling for employees’, ‘training on conflict resolution’, 
‘intervention if excessively long or irregular hours are worked’, and ‘allowing employees to take more 
decisions’. These two factors are: ‘a plan to prevent work related stress’, and ‘meeting expectations from 
employees as a reason for addressing health and safety’. 

Another factor — ‘supervisor–employee relationships that are routinely evaluated in risks’ — is positively 
associated with the adoption of four of the measures managing psychosocial risks (excluding ‘allowing 
employees to take more decisions’). 

Three other factors — ‘organisational aspects routinely evaluated in risk assessment’, ‘health and safety 
representative’,  and  ‘procedures  to  deal  with  possible  cases  of  threats,  abuse  or  assault’  —  are 
significant in case of three measures (yet, not for the same measures — see Table 5).  

Our  findings  underline  the  importance  of  including  employees  in  the  application  of  measures  for 
psychosocial risks, but they also point to a one-for-all solution, which is a plan to prevent work-related 
stress (significant for all measures — see Table 5). Other factors may encourage the adoption of some 
of the measures, but the development of specific plans to address stress seems to support thinking on 
how to manage psychosocial risks and therefore leads to the adoption of a wide selection of measures.  

Table 5: Probability of applying the measure for psychosocial risks in the establishment (in %) after accounting for 
contextual variables82 

Re-
organisati
on of work 

Confidential 
counselling 
for 
employees 

Training 
on 
conflict 
resoluti
on 

Interventio
n if 
excessivel
y long or 
irregular 
hours are 
worked 

+31 

+68 

+53 

+21 

Allowing 
employees 
to take 
more 
decisions 
on how to 
do their job 
n.s. 

+49 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+40 

+33 

n.s.* 

+27 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+34 

n.s. 

+53 

n.s. 

+50 

n.s. 

+52 

n.s. 

+31 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+42 

+72 

n.s. 

+31 

Q252.5. Routinely evaluated in 
risk assessment: supervisor–
employee relationships 
Q252.6. Routinely evaluated in 
risk assessment: organisational 
aspects 
Q162. Health and safety regularly 
discussed at the top management 
level 
Q300. Plan to prevent work-
related stress 
Q301. Procedure in place to deal 
with possible cases of bullying or 
harassment 
Q302. Procedure to deal with 
possible cases of threats, abuse 
or assaults 

82 The values indicated are normalised percentage scores — for example, appointment of an OSH representative helps 
educational establishments to introduce measures to reorganise work when needed by 46%. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Re-
organisati
on of work 

Confidential 
counselling 
for 
employees 

Training 
on 
conflict 
resoluti
on 

Interventio
n if 
excessivel
y long or 
irregular 
hours are 
worked 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

Allowing 
employees 
to take 
more 
decisions 
on how to 
do their job 
n.s. 

+46 

n.s. 

+25 

n.s. 

+18 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

+97 

+44 

+23 

+30 

+77 

Q163. Team leaders and line 
managers receive training on how 
to manage health and safety 
Q350.4. Health and safety 
representative 
Q262.1. Reasons for addressing 
health and safety: fulfilling legal 
obligations 
Q262.2. Reasons for addressing 
health and safety: meeting 
expectations from employees 

* n.s.: not significant (grey colour); pink colour = probability increases 

All sectors  

In the case of two measures — ‘reorganisation of work’, and ‘intervention if excessively long or irregular 
working hours are worked’ — most or all sectors have a higher probability to report these measures 
than the education sector. This means that both are reported less often in the education sector, and 
educational establishments do not reorganise work, and do not plan intervention for excessive workload 
compared to other sectors. 

However, for the cases of ‘training on conflict resolution’ and ‘allowing employees to take more decisions 
on how to do their job’, most of the other sectors report these measures less frequently. This means that 
educational enterprises provide employees with opportunities to take more decisions on how to do their 
job and provide training on conflict resolution as measures to prevent psychosocial risk. 

In the case of ‘confidential counselling’, the education sector is rather average, as some sectors have a 
higher while others a lower probability to apply this measure. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Figure 35: Probability (odds ratio) of applying measures for psychosocial risks in education vs other sectors (1 = 
similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 higher probability than in education) 

6.6.3  Reasons making psychosocial risks difficult to manage 
Education 
In the  assessment of predictors making addressing psychosocial risks difficult,  10 OSH factors  were 
tested  (Table  6).  They  have  very  limited  influence  on  identification  of  reasons  making  addressing 
psychosocial risks difficult. This means that there are other factors — mainly contextual (size, sector, 
country),  but  also  factors  not  studied  in  this  survey  —  that  shape  the  perception  held  by  some  that 
psychosocial risks are difficult to manage. 

Two significant factors are associated with more than one reason: ‘confidential counselling’, and ‘training 
on conflict resolution’ as measures used for psychosocial risks. Both measures are negatively correlated 
with  indicating  lack  of  awareness  among  management.  Additionally,  ‘confidential  counselling’  is 
negatively  associated  with  reporting  lack  of  expertise  or  specialist  support,  and  ‘training  on  conflict 
resolution’ with reporting reluctance to talk openly. 

The  two  next  important  factors  influence  one  reason  only  (and  are  not  significant  for  other  factors). 
‘Allowing employees to take more decisions on how to do their job’ is negatively correlated with reporting 

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lack of awareness among management. Another factor is the number of OSH services used — if this 
number is higher, the probability of lack of expertise or specialist support is increasing. 

In  summary,  higher  health  and  safety  awareness  among  management  is  related  to  ‘confidential 
counselling’, ‘training on conflict resolution’, and ‘allowing employees to take more decisions on how to 
do their job’; specialised OSH knowledge is related to confidential counselling, and higher number of 
OSH  services  used;  and  open  discussion  on  health  and  safety  is  supported  by  ‘training  on  conflict 
resolution’.  

One interesting relationship has been found, that is, fulfilling legal obligations as a reason for addressing 
OSH is positively associated with reporting lack of awareness among staff. This suggests that when an 
education establishment is addressing OSH in order to fulfil legal obligations (and probably neglecting 
other reasons), it may result in lack of awareness among staff, which — as a consequence — could 
produce difficulties in addressing OSH.  

Considering the results available via ESENER, this relationship can be tested using a representative 
dataset and therefore provides good evidence in its own right. Therefore, it should be mentioned that 
this  finding  is  important  as  it  shows  that  staff  awareness  in  the  education  sector  is  necessary  when 
managing OSH, and legal obligations cannot be the only motive to address OSH — other aspirations 
are needed.  

Other research has produced similar results but the results are mostly qualitative or use small samples, 
or are related to OSH awareness for specific occupations. For example, a study carried out at a local 
hospital showed that by increasing the organisation’s OSH awareness, safer healthcare services were 
introduced. 83  Another  study,  comparing  OSH  management  in  Spain  and  Sweden,  reported  that  the 
accidents rate was lower in Sweden. The motivations of establishments were a key reason given for the 
differences.  The  main  reason  for  the  implementation  of  an  OHS  management  system  in  Spanish 
establishments is enforcement of law, whereas in Sweden the focus is on responding to employee needs 
and retaining staff.84  

Table 6: Probability of the perceived reasons that make addressing psychosocial risks difficult (in %) after 
accounting for contextual variables 

Q151. OSH services used (0-5) 

Lack of 
awarenes
s among 
staff 

n.s.* 

Lack of 
awareness 
among 
manageme
nt 
n.s. 

Lack of 
expertise 
or 
specialist 
support 
-17 

Q250. Regular completion of risk assessment 

n.s. 

Q300. Plan to prevent work-related stress 

Q304.1. Used measures for psychosocial risks: 
reorganisation of work 

Q304.2. Used measures for psychosocial risks: 
confidential counselling 

Q304.3. Used measures for psychosocial risks: 
training on conflict resolution 

Q304.4. Used measures for psychosocial risks: 
intervention if excessively long hours are worked  

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

-36 

-51 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

-43 

n.s. 

n.s. 

Reluctanc
e to talk 
openly 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

-24 

n.s. 

83 Momani, A., Hirzallah, M., & Mumani, A. (2017). Improving employees’ safety awareness in healthcare organizations using 
the DMAIC quality improvement approach. Journal for Healthcare Quality, 39(1), 54–63. 
https://doi.org/10.1097/jhq.0000000000000049  
84 Morillas, R. M., Rubio-Romero, J. C., & Fuertes, A. (2013). A comparative analysis of occupational health and safety risk 
prevention practices in Sweden and Spain. Journal of Safety Research, 47, 57–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2013.08.005 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Q304.5. Used measures for psychosocial risks: 
allowing employees to take more decisions on how 
to do their job 
Q262.1. Reasons for addressing health and safety: 
fulfilling legal obligations 

+54 

n.s. 

Q262.2. Reasons for addressing health and safety: 
meeting expectations from employees 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

n.s. 

-43 

n.s. 

n.s. 

*  n.s.:  not  significant  (grey  colour);  pink  colour  =  probability  increases;  green  colour  =  probability 
decreases 

All  
The comparison of the education sector to other sectors revealed an important division in the perception 
that  addressing  psychosocial  risks  is more  difficult  that  other  risks.  For  two  of  the  factors  —  ‘lack  of 
awareness among staff’, and ‘lack of awareness among management’ — educational establishments 
exhibited very low probability of indicating those as reasons. However, in the cases of ‘lack of expertise 
or specialist support’ and ‘reluctance to talk openly’, educational establishments are among those with 
the highest probability. 

For  ‘lack  of  awareness  among  staff’,  the  sectors  associated  with  a  higher  probability  than  education 
included:  manufacturing,  water  supply;  sewerage,  waste  management  and  remediation  activities, 
construction,  public  administration  and  defence;  compulsory  social  security,  and  lower  probability  in 
information and communication. 

In terms of ‘lack of awareness among management’, the sectors with a higher probability than education 
included:  water  supply;  sewerage,  waste  management  and  remediation  activities,  financial  and 
insurance activities, professional, scientific and technical activities, public administration and defence; 
compulsory social security, and lower probability in accommodation and food service activities. 

In the case of both ‘lack of expertise or specialist support’ and ‘reluctance to talk openly’, none of the 
sectors were associated with a higher probability than the education sector, and most of the activities 
have a lower probability. 

These findings suggest that in the education sector, lack of awareness among staff and management 
might  be  a  barrier  in  addressing  psychosocial  risks,  whereas  lack  of  expertise  or  reluctance  to  talk 
openly is not an issue. Educational establishments should therefore invest in improving the awareness 
of health and safety issues among all employees. 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

Figure 36: Probability (odds ratio) of reasons making addressing psychosocial risks difficult in education vs other 
sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 higher probability than in 
education) 

6.6.4   Impact of digitalisation risks on OSH 
Out of 10 OSH factors included in the model, eight have a significant positive association with discussing 
possible  impacts  of  digital  technology  on  health  and  safety.  All  of  the  significant  predictors  have  a 
positive influence, that is, they are correlated with a higher chance of discussing possible impacts of 
digital  technologies.  They  are:  1)  used  digital  technology:  personal  computer  at  fixed  workplaces; 
2) laptops, tablets or other mobile computer devices; 3) machines, systems and so on determining the 
content  or  pace  of  the  work;  4)  machines,  systems  and  so  on  monitoring  workers’  performance; 
5) wearable devices, such as smart watches, or other sensors; 6) health and safety regularly discussed 
at top management level; 7) regular completion of risk assessment; and 8) the presence of a health and 
safety representative.  

After  accounting  for  contextual  factors  (country,  sector,  size)  the  majority  of  OSH  factors  remained 
statistically significant. The only exception is the presence of a health and safety representative, which 
became insignificant when we added the context variables (size of establishment and country) to the 
analysis. The strongest factor is ‘used digital technology: wearable devices, such as smart watches, or 

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other sensors’, increasing the odds of discussing possible impacts of digital technology by 151%. Other 
factors exhibit much lower odds (between 30% and 65%), with the lowest odds for the factor ‘employees 
working from home’ (increases the odds by 13%). 

When compared to the education sector, all of the other sectors have a lower probability of discussing 
the possible impacts of digital technology, that is, the establishments from the education sector discuss 
such impacts most often (see Figure 37). While the results presented earlier in this chapter showed that 
most establishments in the education sector do not report digital impacts often, the regression analysis 
showed that there is a higher likelihood of educational establishments doing so. It corresponds with the 
descriptive results, showing that educational establishments report such discussion more often than all 
other establishments.  

Figure 37: Probability (odds ratio) of discussing possible impacts of digital technology in education vs other 
sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 higher probability than in 
education) 

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7  Drivers  and  barriers  to  OSH  risk  management  in  the 

education sector  

7.1  Introduction  
Establishments’  efforts  to  provide  health  and  safety  measures  and  their  motivation  to  continuously 
reassess  and  improve  these  efforts  may  be  driven  by  different  drivers,  or  conversely,  hindered  by 
organisational gaps or other barriers. 

To  measure  these  dynamics,  ESENER  collected  evidence  using  several  questions  on  the  possible 
drivers  and  barriers  to  complying  with  OSH  requirements.  As  we  have  seen  from  the  results  of  the 
composite indicators, the education sector performs better on average than other sectors in terms of 
psychosocial  risk  management  but  could  do  better  considering  the  performance  of  other  sectors 
regarding OSH commitment. This chapter complements these previous findings by shedding light on 
some of the factors that may be driving the introduction of OSH management practices or act as a barrier 
to them.  

An overview of the results from the ESENER 2019 and 2014 surveys is presented as follows:  

•  To begin, a summary of the results is introduced.  
•  The results on the main barriers and drivers are presented.  
•  Next, the specific barriers concerning psychosocial risk management are highlighted. 
•  Finally, the results from the regression analyses using this information are examined.   

7.2  Summary of ESENER 2019 findings  
The  results  suggested  that  the  drivers  for  OSH  management  for  most  (70%  to  90%)  of  the 
establishments  in  the  education  sector  were  to  fulfil  legal  obligations,  meet  expectations  from 
employees, maintain the organisation’s reputation and avoid fines from the labour inspectorate.  

Generally, compared to other sectors, the education sector ranks average across answer categories. 
The vast majority of educational  establishments (89%) reported  ‘fulfilling legal obligations’ as a main 
reason for addressing risks, similar to 81% of real estate establishments and 90% in construction and 
human health and social work activities, which shows that this is a main driver regardless of the sector. 

In addition, 82% of educational establishments found ‘meeting expectations from employees’ to be a 
driver, which was the case in 73% of real estate organisations and 85% of establishments in the human 
health and social work activities. Also, 73% of educational establishments are motivated by maintaining 
the organisation’s reputation as opposed to 66% in real estate and 86% in accommodation and food 
services. This makes sense as accommodation and food services is arguably the sector most reliant on 
reviews and reputation to attract new clients, as opposed to educational establishments that rely on their 
OSH-related reputation to a lesser degree.  

Moreover, 69% of educational establishments mentioned that the main driver is ‘avoiding fines from the 
labour inspectorate’, compared to 64% in the public sector and 88% in mining and quarrying. Again, this 
reflects that the public sector is less likely to be inspected and thus avoiding fines is not necessarily one 
of the main drivers. 

Furthermore, almost half of the establishments reported that the need to increase productivity motivated 
them to manage OSH.  

Other motivations for addressing OSH included the organisational support that is made available to staff. 
Reflecting  on  the  case  study  research,  in  Denmark,  at  primary  level  especially,  OSH  is  organised 
through ‘TRIO’ groups made up of a leader, the OSH representative and the union representative. The 
TRIO  either  follow  a  defined  meeting  pattern  or  meet  more  informally,  and  discuss  prevalent  OSH 
related issues as well as the general wellbeing among teachers. The Irish case study showed that the 
employee  counselling  provided  through  a  designated  call  line  can  help  improve  individual  and 
organisational  wellbeing  by  advising  staff  on  how  they  can  address  their  personal  or  workplace 
problems. Please see the Annex for more details on the country cases. 

In terms of the barriers to OSH management, 35% to 45% of the establishments identified some of the 
key problems as ‘complexity of legal obligations’, ‘lack of time or staff’, ‘paperwork’ and ‘lack of money’. 
Compared to other sectors, educational establishments perceived ‘lack of money’, ‘lack of expertise or 

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specialist support’, and ‘lack of awareness among management’ as less of a problem. In mining and 
quarrying,  for  example,  ‘lack  of  awareness  among  staff’  was  reported  as  a  barrier  in  25%  of 
establishments  compared  to  16%  in  the  education  sector.  The  case  study  research,  for  example,  in 
Denmark  and  Germany,  showed  that  ‘time  pressure’  is  a  significant  barrier  to  managing  OSH,  with 
teachers considering that there are increasing demands on their time due to the complexity of curricula, 
administrative burdens and digitalisation, along with an upswing in their teaching responsibilities since 
the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for primary and secondary levels.  

According to the ESENER 2019 results, the experience of ‘complexity of legal obligations’ as a barrier 
was  to  a  large  extent  country-dependent,  for  example,  in  Germany  this  barrier  is  felt  more  strongly. 
Similarly,  drawing  from  the  Italian  case  study,  the  perceived  excessive  bureaucratisation  of  the 
educational system constitutes a barrier in ensuring that enough time is available for addressing and 
managing OSH.  

Based  on  the  findings  of  the  Irish  case  study,  a  key  barrier  mentioned  was  the  lack  of  emphasis  by 
management in establishing the necessary communication channels to ensure  ongoing engagement 
with OSH representatives. A further point raised was that while OSH training courses have been made 
available to teaching staff, their uptake has been somewhat slow to date due to conflicting demands 
rather than a lack of willingness.  

With  specific  regard  to  psychosocial  risks,  the  results  showed  that  about  half  of  the  educational 
establishments experienced obstacles dealing with psychosocial risks, such as ‘reluctance to talk openly 
about the issue’ and ‘lack of expertise or specialist support’, and about a third experienced obstacles 
such as ‘lack of awareness among staff’ and ‘lack of awareness among management’. In comparison 
to other sectors, education ranks about average or slightly below in highlighting the significance of these 
obstacles.  

Moreover, the case study research revealed some further problems in terms of the barriers in managing 
psychosocial risks. The Italian and Irish cases showed that there is sometimes a fear of challenging the 
behaviour of some pupils considering the  aggressive  attitude  of some parents.  However, the Danish 
case  showed  that  management  of  psychosocial  risks  does  not  sometimes  address  the  underlying 
problems,  and  that  procedures  may  be  available  but  are  not  used  as  they  are  not  considered  as 
appropriate  or  effective,  for  example,  seriously  misbehaving  children  may  not  benefit  from  being 
excluded from school.  

The  results  of  regression  analyses  produced  some  interesting  findings  on  how  the  barriers  to  OSH 
management may be reduced in the education sector, for example, by engaging with external bodies 
and  appointing  key  OSH  management  representatives.  As  expected,  while  statistical  models  do  not 
provide concrete evidence of causal relations, it is likely that the presence of an OSH representative 
and visits by the labour inspectorate help reduce the perception that OSH obligations are too complex 
to deal with. In terms of the motivating factor of fulfilling OSH duties due to legal obligations, it seems 
that  receipt  of  advice  from  trade  unions  and  the  presence  of  an  OSH  representative  are  key  in 
strengthening 
that  education  sector 
establishments were more likely to indicate that OSH rules are complex when compared to most other 
sectors.  

this  perception.  Worryingly, 

the  analysis  also  showed 

Policy pointer: In summary, the drivers for OSH management in the education sector were reported 
more frequently than barriers, but still measures can be taken to support positive motivations and 
help establishments to overcome any obstacles. 

Motivations to manage OSH may be strengthened by stressing and demonstrating the benefits of 
better collaboration, cooperation and productivity. And, the barriers to compliance due to the 
perceived complexity of OSH laws can be reduced through visits made by the labour inspectorate 
and by appointing OSH representatives who can encourage their employer to establish effective 
OSH management systems.  

The perception that OSH regulations are complex was expressed more often in the education sector 
compared to most other sectors. Clearly, this suggests that OSH representatives or persons 
responsible for OSH in the education sector need more support to overcome these obstacles.  

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7.3  Drivers of OSH management  
The ESENER survey includes a question that offers insight into what motivates companies to proactively 
improve OSH management. Establishments were asked to rate the importance of several reasons for 
addressing  OSH.  Across  the  EU-27,  ‘fulfilling  legal  obligations’  is  clearly  the  main  driver  for  OSH 
management in the education sector and ranks similarly high in both 2014 and 2019 (from 87% to 89%). 
In  Norway  and  Sweden,  99%  of  companies  reported  this  to  be  the  main  driver  compared  to  78%  in 
Slovakia.  The  biggest  increase  between  2014  and  2019  is  in  responses  from  Danish  educational 
establishments.  In  2014,  65%  of  education  organisations  named  legal  obligations  as  a  main  driver, 
whereas in 2019 it was 75%. In Czechia, the proportion decreased by nine percentage points from 92% 
to 83% between 2014 and 2019. The sectoral variation on this item is relatively small. Water supply, 
sewerage, waste management and remediation activities scored highest (94%), compared to 81% of 
establishments in the real estate sector. 

Compliance  with  the  law  was  found  as  the  main  OSH  management  driver  also  by  the  country  case 
studies. For instance, national regulations oblige employers in Italy to draw up regular risk assessments 
with the aim of identifying, analysing and evaluating potential risks to workers’ health and safety. When 
drafting the risk assessment, employers usually rely on in-house experts who ideally should have some 
knowledge on workplace safety. Failure to comply with the regulation may result in significant penalties 
for the employer (i.e. fines of a maximum of €4,384). Also, French educational establishments rely on 
ad hoc committees made of employees’ representatives, occupational physicians, labour inspectors and 
so on. However, the lower-than-EU-average share of establishments conducting regular workplace risk 
assessments can be partially explained by the fact that unlawful employers are subject to a fine of ‘only’ 
€1,500. 

The  ESENER  2019  findings  suggest  that  the  second  strongest  driver  is  to  ‘meet  expectations  from 
employees’ (from 81% to 82%), which compared to other sectors is around the average score although 
it falls below the score of 85% attained in the human health and social work activities sector, although it 
is higher than real estate (73%). While the highest proportion of educational establishments reported 
this as a main driver in Norway (95%) compared to Czechia (57%), it was the education sector in Ireland 
that experienced the steepest increase of 23 percentage points between 2014 and 2019 (from 67% to 
90%). One possible reason for this could be that in 2016 Irish teachers went on strike several times and 
the  Association  for  Secondary  Teachers  (ASTI)  had  several  negotiations  with  the  Department  of 
Education and Skills regarding pay disputes. 85 Thus, Irish educational establishments were frequently 
confronted  with  the  negative  impacts  of  strikes  between  2014  and  2019,  which  may  have  led  to 
organisations trying to accommodate employees’ wishes more proactively. 

At the country level, there are larger differences in terms of educational establishments’ perception of 
organisational  reputation  as  a  main  driver  when  compared  to  other  drivers.  In  Bulgaria,  99%  of 
educational  establishments  reported  this  as  a  main  driver,  compared  to  only  38%  in  France.  At  the 
sectoral  level,  although  the  education  sector  was  73%,  slightly  above  the  sectoral  average,  OSH 
management driven by reputation is less of a concern compared to some private sector industries that 
are more sensitive towards how OSH and services interact with each other, such as the accommodation 
and  food  sector.  The  EU  social  partners  interviewed  stressed  that  the  education  sector  needs  to 
strengthen its reputation as a positive sector to work in. While OSH is one factor among many, concerns 
were raised that the image of the sector and the challenges in dealing with difficult pupils have led to 
worries around staff recruitment and retention.  

At EU-27 level, 68% of educational establishments reported ‘avoiding fines from the labour inspectorate’ 
as one of the main reasons for addressing health and safety, which marks a slight increase of three 
percentage points since 2014. This was, however, lower than other business sectors that are likely to 
be exposed to more inspections considering their safety risks, such as the accommodation and food 
sector (87%) and mining and quarrying (88%). In Bulgaria, educational establishments (96%) are highly 
driven by the motivation to avoid fines, while this is only the case in 33% of establishments in France.  

Avoiding fines was also found to be a driver in the Italian case study, where interviewees from primary 
and secondary education levels emphasised how sometimes employers can overlook the wellbeing of 

85 Brophy, D. (2016, November 29). After late night talks, a possible breakthrough at the ASTI teacher dispute. TheJournal.ie. 
https://www.thejournal.ie/asti-late-night-talks-3108181-Nov2016/  

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workers in favour of legal compliance. It was mentioned that the monitoring and penalty system is much 
more structured and proactive than the support and advice system.  

‘Increasing productivity’ was only reported by 50% and 47% of educational establishments in the EU-27 
in 2014 and 2019, respectively. Thus, productivity gains can be seen as the weakest driver among the 
items  included.  Other  industries  like  the  manufacturing  sector  perceive  productivity  gains  as  a  more 
important driver in improving OSH (75%), whereas public administration organisations (44%) are less 
likely  to  do  so —  it  thus  seems  to  show  that  manufacturing  industries  will  have  a  stronger  focus  on 
ensuring measurable improvement in productivity and profitability, and reducing accidents due to the 
inherent safety risks. 

Figure 38: Reasons for addressing health and safety (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019)86 

7.4  Barriers to OSH management  
Conversely,  the  survey  also  explored  the  obstacles  for  establishments  in  addressing  OSH  risks 
effectively. The barriers that a proportion of educational establishments in the EU-27 identified as major 
difficulties are ‘complexity of legal obligations’ (46%), a ‘lack of time or staff’ (40%), ‘paperwork’ (38%), 
the ‘lack of money’ (37%), ‘lack of expertise or specialist support’ (21%), the ‘lack of awareness among 
staff’  (17%)  and  the  ‘lack  of  awareness  among  management’  (15%).  Since  the  ‘complexity  of  legal 
obligations’ is to a large extent country-dependent, it makes sense to look at these answers at country 
level. In the Netherlands (59%) and Germany (58%), the majority of establishments found that the legal 
system hinders them from addressing OSH effectively, compared to only 13% in both Denmark and the 
United Kingdom. Though the data does not make it clear why certain respondents experience the legal 
system as a barrier to OSH more often than others, earlier research has shown that the German system, 
for instance, is comparatively fragmented. This reflects the relatively decentralised system where both 
private and public institutions at several levels of governance (national, sub-national, local) play a role 
in OSH management. Interviews with employees and managers in Germany have revealed that from 
establishments’ perspectives, this may easily cause confusion about their legal obligations. In Denmark, 
for example, the system is more centralised, and the establishments may thus find their legal obligations 
less  complex  to  understand.  In  addition,  the  argument  can  be  made  that  when  legislation  changes 
frequently, the perceived complexity increases as establishments must adapt and familiarise themselves 
with the new rules.  

86 Base: All educational establishments. 

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Figure 39: Difficulties addressing health and safety risks in educational establishments87 

Some of the findings from the Italian and the French case studies on OSH in the education sector helped 
to interpret some of the results of the ESENER survey. The former case study highlighted how OSH 
management obligations were seen as too burdensome to implement proactively — for example, it was 
felt that the administrative obligations to report incidents were quite ‘heavy’ to deal with. Moreover, some 
managers  responsible  for  risk  assessments  were  considered  as  lacking  the  necessary  training  to 
conduct their duties robustly. Also, in some cases, steps to monitor staff–manager relations were seen 
as tick-box exercises rather than leading to substantive changes in the actual approach.  

7.5  Barriers to psychosocial risk management  
As the ESENER results have shown, psychosocial risks are in many ways distinct from other OSH risks 
and are often perceived as harder to address and prevent. Therefore, the survey explored the possible 
barriers to psychosocial risk management specifically.  

Across the EU-27, the ‘reluctance to talk openly about the issue’ (53%), the ‘lack of expertise or specialist 
support’  (51%),  the  ‘lack  of  awareness  among  staff’  (32%)  and  the  ‘lack  of  awareness  among 
management’  (27%)  are  the  main  obstacles  facing  establishments  around  psychosocial  risk 
management88.  The  results  illustrated  that  establishments  in  different  sectors  experience  certain 
barriers  to  varying  degrees.  For  example,  80%  of  organisations  in  water  supply,  sewerage,  waste 
management and remediation activities reported ‘reluctance to talk openly about the issue’ as a problem 
versus 51% in human health and social work activities. The extent to which people may be reluctant to 
talk  openly  about  the  issue  could  also  be  connected  to  the  culture  in  a  given  country.  Comparing 
responses  at  the  country  level  shows  that  it  is  perceived  as  a  main  barrier  by  most  respondents  in 
Norway (88%) and Finland (83%) but less so in Hungary (45%) and Bulgaria (27%). 

On this topic, the Italian case study reported also the existence of an economic barrier with regard to 
support  for  psychological  risks.  As  argued  by  one  interviewee,  forms  of  psychological  support  (e.g. 
internal psychological services) are less common because they do not receive regular and significant 
funding during the school year. This barrier was also highlighted by French stakeholders who argued 
how the overall lack of financial and human resources translates to shortcomings of the occupational 
medicine system failing to do regular check-ups of school staff. In Denmark, in the secondary and higher 
education  sectors  it  was  felt  that  there  is  a  higher  degree  of  autonomy  in  the  way  educational 
professionals  conduct  their  role  than  at  the  primary  level.  For  this  reason,  it  is  harder  to  address 
psychosocial risks as personal relations may not be strong enough to discuss sensitive matters.  

87 Base: All educational establishments, plotting response ‘major difficulty’. 
88 Base: This question was only asked to those establishments perceiving psychosocial risks as more difficult to manage than 
other OSH risks. 

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7.5.1   Multivariate analysis of ESENER results 
Regression analysis was undertaken in the area of barriers and reasons for addressing health and safety 
using ESENER data.  

In this section we examine how OSH factors influence the perception of legal obligations in the area of 
health  and  safety,  both  as  a  barrier  and  as  a  driver.  In  two  separate  models,  the  analysis  tested 
associations  with  the  drivers  and  barriers,  and  in  doing  so  four  OSH  factors  were  used  as  possible 
predictors: the ‘presence of a health and safety representative’, ‘labour inspectorate visits’, the ‘use of 
external providers’, and ‘source of information in the area of health and safety’, namely trade union and 
employers’ organisations. 

Education 
In examining the probability of perceiving legal obligations as too complex, three OSH factors included 
in  the  model  were  significantly  associated  (after  accounting  for  the  context),  with  different  direction, 
though. The use of external providers is correlated with higher probability of perceiving legal obligations 
as a complex matter. This might be self-explanatory as establishments hiring external providers assess 
their knowledge in the area of legal obligations as not adequate and perceive them as too complex. Two 
other factors — the ‘presence of a health and safety representative’ and ‘labour inspectorate visit’ — 
are negatively correlated with viewing legal obligations as complex, which supports the conclusion that 
employees’ representation and regular visits by external authorities compel establishments to acquire 
more OSH knowledge. It has to be noted, however, that the effect of those three predictors is rather low 
in magnitude.  

For the probability of fulfilling legal obligations as a reason for addressing health and safety, two OSH 
factors were found to have significant influence on the outcome variable, and both in a positive way. 
The ‘presence of a health and safety representative’ and ‘using a trade union as a source of information’ 
increase the chances by more than 30% — hence, they predict the opinion that fulfilling legal obligations 
is a major reason for addressing health and safety. 

Both  models  suggest  that  the  use  of  external  providers  may  build  OSH  awareness,  and  that  legal 
obligations are the main reason for addressing health and safety, but also support the perception of 
complexity of legal obligations. This perception can be mitigated by labour inspectorate visits and the 
presence of health and safety representatives. 

Table 7: Probability of the presence of barriers to addressing health and safety in the establishment (in %) after 
accounting for contextual variables89 

Complexity of legal 
obligations as a 
difficulty in 
addressing health 
& safety 

Fulfilling legal 
obligation as a 
reason for 
addressing health 
& safety 

Q350.4. Health and safety representative 

-11

Q154. Visited by labour inspectorate in the last three years 

-9

Q152. The use of external providers in the last three years 

+12

Q358.1. Source of information: employer’s organisation 

n.s.*

Q358.2. Source of information: trade union 

n.s.

* n.s. = not significant

n.s

n.s

+31

n.s

+32

89 The values indicated are normalised percentage scores — that is, in the education sector, the chances of perceiving the legal 
obligations as complex increase if external service providers are used by 12%. 

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All sectors  
When  compared  to  the  education  sector,  two  economic  activities  —  human  health  and  arts, 
entertainment and recreation — have a higher probability of reporting fulfilling legal obligations, while 
professional,  scientific  and  technical  activities  and  information  and  communication  have  a  lower 
probability  for  the  same  outcome.  The  perception  that  legal  obligations  are  too  complex  is  high  in 
educational establishments; most of the sectors have lower probability than the education sector, which 
means that this opinion is  expressed by  education enterprises more often than in other sectors (see 
Figure  40).  Clearly,  this  suggests  that  OSH  representatives  or  persons  responsible  for  OSH  in  the 
education sector need more support to overcome these obstacles. 

Figure 40: Probability (odds ratio) of reasons and barriers addressing health and safety in education vs other 
sectors (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in education; >1 higher probability than in 
education) 

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8  OSH employee representation in the education sector  
8.1  Introduction  
Representation  and  participation  of  staff  are  key  cornerstones  of  the  European  approach  to  OSH 
management due to the region’s long-standing tradition of industrial relations, and more specifically the 
EU  Framework  Directive  89/391/EEC  on  OSH  that  lays  down  rules  supporting  information  sharing, 
dialogue,  and  balanced  participation  of  workers  and  their  representatives. 90  Moreover,  substantial 
evidence  indicates  that  representation  and  staff  involvement  in  the  design  of  measures  significantly 
benefits OSH management and the development of safety cultures. 91  

In  this  chapter,  we  focus  on  the  steps  that  have  been  taken  in  the  education  sector  in  supporting 
representation and staff involvement as follows:  

•  First, a summary of the results introduces the main findings.  
•  Next, the main forms of employee representation are highlighted.  
•  Finally, a regression and composite indicator assessment provide a multivariate analysis of 

ESENER data with respect to employee involvement.  

8.2  Summary of ESENER 2019 findings 
Data  analysis  showed  that  employees  in  the  education  sector  are  on  average  generally  better 
represented  on  OSH  matters  than  in  other  sectors  across  the  EU.  Two-thirds  of  the  educational 
establishments across the EU-27 use OSH representatives,  while  work councils or OSH committees 
were present at less than half of the establishments. However, when compared to other sectors, work 
councils and OSH committees do not seem to be as common in general, as no sector reported their use 
in more than half of establishments.  

In less than half of the establishments with OSH representatives, the representatives were elected by 
the  employees,  again  a  stronger  than  average  performance  than  in  other  sectors.  While  these  are 
interesting findings, sector variation is not as big, which may simply be due to national legal structures 
that  require  organisations  to  comply  with  the  similar  standards  across  sectors.  The  results  therefore 
showed a higher variation among countries, with a high share of employee-elected representatives in 
the Nordic countries and a much lower share in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic.  

According to the ESENER results, in most educational establishments the OSH representatives receive 
OSH training during work time (81%), though with some country and sector differences. For example, it 
is most common (around 90%) in Norway, Sweden and Czechia, in the water supply, sewerage, waste 
management  and  remediation  sector,  but  less  so  in  Greece  (32%),  in  professional,  scientific  and 
technical  activities  (73%).  A  relatively  high  share  of  establishments  also  provided  OSH  training  in 
different  topics  for  employees  without  mandate  as  representative  (71%).  However,  the  country  case 
studies have also indicated that there may be other barriers to the uptake of OSH training, even when 
available during work time. For example, if participation is not mandatory, education sector employees 
will often have to prioritise other tasks, as they typically have a relatively high workload.  

Assessment of mobile or external workplaces were, however, only included in the training in less than 
a  third  of  the  establishments.  About  a  fifth  of  the  establishments  further  offered  OSH  training  in 
languages other than the native language.  

Whereas undertaking trainings on OSH is mandatory in countries such as Denmark, Italy and so on, 
this is not the case for other countries, such as France. Lack of training might, in turn, impact the level 
of awareness of top managers around OSH generally and psychological risk factors in particular. The 
development of (lifelong) trainings for both employers and employees were identified by interviewees 
as one of the main milestones to be achieved in the upcoming years. 

The  ESENER  results  showed  that  OSH  discussions  between  OSH  representatives  and  the 
management  happen  occasionally  or  regularly  in  most  establishments,  and  discussions  on 
controversies  were  in  most  countries  rare.  While  controversies  were  reported  as  more  common  in 

90 The EU Framework Directive (89/391/EEC) is available at: Directive 89/391/EEC - OSH “Framework Directive” | Safety and 
health at work EU-OSHA (europa.eu) 
91 Ollé-Espluga, L., Vergara-Duarte, M., Belvis, F., Menéndez-Fuster, M., Jódar, P., & Benach, J. (2014). What is the impact on 
occupational health and safety when workers know they have safety representatives? Safety Science, 74,  55–58. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2014.11.022 

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educational establishments in some countries (13% in Italy, 12% in Greece), they do not occur more 
often than average (5%) when compared to other sectors. 

Development  of  the  case  studies  revealed  some  different  approaches  to  how  OSH  is  managed  at 
different levels and between countries. In Denmark, primary-level education was noted as being well 
organised for OSH management. In this case, TRIO 92 groups arrange regular OSH-focused meetings 
to discuss and address issues in establishments, and comprise a leader, the OSH representative and a 
union representative (see the Annex for details). The case study  on Ireland  provided insight into the 
support provided to staff generally in schools though OSH officers, but also in the form of wider specific 
programmes that provide employee counselling or seek to address bullying and harassment through 
the development of good working relations with internal and external persons.  

However,  the  case  research  also  noted  that  despite  the  approaches  to  employee  representation, 
teachers can often feel isolated and lacking the necessary support and resources. This can be due to 
issues such as a lack of general staff cooperation that in turn weakens the possibility to commit to a 
strong  OSH  management  approach,  or  the  adoption  of  compliance-based  approaches  to  OSH 
implementation that do not result in meaningful measures or actions. To a certain extent, there seems 
to  be  some  missing  links  between  ensuring  that  employee  representation  supports  the  OSH 
management system strategically, and, in doing so, can help facilitate the introduction of measures and 
proactive responses that can alleviate some of the risks that teachers face.  

The  results  of  the  composite  indicator  analysis  of  the  education  sector  in  involving  staff  in  OSH 
management  showed  average  to  above-average  performance  for most  countries  when  compared  to 
their own national sectors, although a small number including Greece, Ireland and Switzerland lagged 
behind the average national sector performance. While there is room for improvement, the good results 
likely stem from the link between the education sector and the public administration and affiliation with 
trade unions.93  

Results from the regression analyses suggested that regular discussions between employees and the 
management  as  well  as  the  occasional  discussion  on  OSH  in  staff  or  team  meetings  are  positively 
associated with the presence of OSH representatives in the establishment. 

Policy pointer: Although the education sector in general has a comparatively good representation of 
employees,  there  is  still  room  for  improvement,  considering  that  despite  the  efforts  to  establish 
appropriate approaches, staff may not feel supported or have the resources to manage the challenges 
they face. Certain risks, especially around having to deal with difficult pupils and families, workload 
and digitalisation, could be better addressed through stronger frameworks that jointly engage OSH 
representatives,  employee  representatives  and  staff  in  the  design  and  set-up  of  measures  and 
ongoing monitoring.  

Related to this, in some countries there is a great need for improvements in training of both employers 
and  employee representatives  in OSH  issues and OSH management. Without  appropriate sector-
specific knowledge, responsibilities around OSH management may not be understood or acted upon.  

As one would expect, the regression analysis showed that commitment to appointing OSH 
representatives is in some way related to the establishment of organisational communication 
channels and discussions on OSH, in particular between the employees and management and in 
staff and team meetings. This suggests that if organisations develop awareness on OSH through 
discussions and so on, the chances increase of introducing relevant measures, such as appointing 
OSH representatives.  

92 Schools in Denmark generally have a TRIO-collaboration that can find ways to address issues. The TRIO is made up by; a 
leader, the OSH representative and the union representative. The TRIO either follow a defined meeting pattern, or meet more 
informally, and discuss prevalent OSH related issues as well as the general well-being among teachers. Although TRIOs are 
established both at primary and secondary levels, it is more common for the primary schools to adopt the practice. 
93 The ESENER 2019 measures used to form the composite indicator included the following: 

1.  Do you have a health and safety committee or representative?  
2.  How often is health and safety discussed?  
3.  Are the OSH representatives provided with training?  
4.  Discussion of OSH in staff or team meetings. 

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8.3  Methods of employee representation in the education sector  
As mentioned earlier, employee representation plays a crucial role in supporting OSH management. In 
order  to  learn  about  the  approaches  taken,  ESENER  2019  invited  respondents  to  list  the  forms  of 
employee representation used in their establishment. For the education sector across the EU-27, 67% 
of educational establishments use an OSH representative, 40% a work council, 40% trade unions and 
35% an OSH committee, with the OSH committee becoming increasingly common since ESENER 2014 
(26%). OSH representatives are most common in Denmark (100%) and Bulgaria (97%) but less so in 
France (27%) and Switzerland (24%).  

Figure 41: Forms of employee representation (% educational establishments for ESENER 2014 and 
2019) 94 

When considering the ESENER 2019 results overall, the education sector is above the average across 
sectors for OSH representatives (56%), work councils (24%), trade unions (18%) and OSH committees 
(22%). Clearly, this is reflective of the stronger employer–employee relations as one would expect in 
organisations with ties to the public administration, and likely adds value to fulfilling OSH management 
obligations.  Having  comparatively  strong  employee  representation  may  also  be  the  reason  why 
discussions on the possible impacts of the use of digital technologies are reported more frequently in 
the education sector (33%) compared to the EU-27 average (26%). Similarly, issues related to health 
and safety are discussed more regularly in staff or team meetings in educational establishments (42%) 
than in organisations in other sectors (EU-27 average 39%). 

Since employee representatives’ main mandate is to represent employees’ interests, it is interesting to 
explore how health and safety representatives are appointed, whether democratically by employees or 
by appointment of the management. Across the EU-27, health and safety representatives are elected 
by the employees  in 44%  of educational establishments,  which  is above the average  across sectors 
(36%).  The  former  method  seems  to  be  less  common  in  the  United  Kingdom  (13%)  and  the  Czech 
Republic (9%) as opposed to the Nordic countries. 

94 Base: All educational establishments. 

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Figure 42: How health and safety representatives are appointed (% educational establishments by 
Member State for ESENER 2014 and 2019) 95 

8.4  Methods of employee training and involvement  
ESENER also explored whether OSH representatives are provided with OSH training during work time. 
Across the EU-27, this is the case in 81% of educational establishments and is especially common in 
Norway (96%) and the Czech Republic (96%) but less so in Greece (32%) and Hungary (61%). 96 

There may also be OSH training for employees generally, regardless of whether they have a mandate 
as representatives or not. Across the EU-27, 85% of employees in educational establishments receive 
training on emergency procedures, 73% on the use of dangerous substances, 57% on how to lift and 
move heavy loads, 52% on how to prevent psychosocial risks, 49% on the proper use and adjustment 
of their working equipment, and 29% on the assessment of mobile or external workplaces.97 

Moreover,  respondents  were  asked  about  the  frequency  of  OSH  discussions  between  employee 
representatives  and  the  management.  Across  the  EU-27  in  the  education  sector,  36%  have  such 
discussions  occasionally  and  54%  regularly.98  This  is  similar  to  the  overall  sector  average  of  50% 
regularly and 39% occasionally; therefore, while the results are decent, there remains some room for 
improvement. In human health and social work activities, for example, such discussions were reported 

95 Base: All educational establishments with a health and safety representative. 
96 Base: All educational establishments with a health and safety representative. 
97 Base: Some of the items were filtered and asked only to some establishments i.e. On use of dangerous substances, only if 
the use of chemical or biological substances was reported as a risk factor;  On how to lift and move heavy loads, only to those 
establishments reporting lifting or moving heavy loads as a risk factor;  On assessment of mobile or external workplaces, only to 
those establishments reporting to have workers working from home or anywhere else outside the premises of the workplace.  
98 Base: All educational establishments with employee representation. 

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to  take  place  on  a  regular  basis  in  two-thirds  of  establishments  and  occasionally  in  almost  all  the 
remaining organisations in the sector. 

Regular employee surveys on OSH provide the opportunity for management to learn of key risks and in 
developing a proactive safety culture in cooperation with staff. Across the EU-27, 50% of educational 
establishments  conduct  employee  surveys  on  a  regular  basis  including  questions  on  work-related 
stress, which is above the average across sectors (44%). This practice seems to be especially popular 
in the Nordic countries, as in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden more than 90% do so, compared 
to 21% in the Czech Republic and 13% in Greece. 

Figure 43: Establishments that have conducted an employee survey including questions on work-
related stress in the last three years (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019) 99 

Some establishments ensure inclusion of employees’  views and experiences by  having structures in 
place that allow for more employee involvement in the identification of possible causes for work-related 
stress.  Across  the  EU-27,  56%  of  educational  establishments  (micro  and  small  only)  have  such 
structures  in  place,  which  is  above  the  average  of  55%,  again  with  significant  variation  between 
countries. While in Denmark (95%) and Switzerland (88%) employee involvement seems to be the norm, 
it is relatively rare in Slovakia (30%) and Greece (25%). Compared to other sectors, human health and 
social work activities score high on this measure (72%), although some of the sectors with significant 
safety risks such as mining and quarrying were much less likely to do so. 

99 Base: All educational establishments with at least 20 employees. 

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Figure 44: Establishments where employees have been involved in identifying possible causes for 
work-related stress (% educational establishments for ESENER 2019) 100 

In addition, it is fairly common for employees in educational establishments to play a role in the design 
and  set-up  of  measures  to  address  psychosocial  risks,  which  is  the  case  in  67%  of  educational 
establishments  across  the  EU-27,  though  this  seems  to  be  more  common  among  Scandinavian 
countries (89% in Denmark and Sweden) compared to others (e.g. Hungary 47% and Poland 49%). In 
contrast to other sectors, educational establishments (68%) are above the EU-27 average, lower than 
human health and social work activities (75%) but higher than mining and quarrying (39%). 

If measures should be introduced following a risk assessment, on average in the EU-27, employees in 
educational establishments are more likely to be involved in their design and implementation (80%). In 
some countries this is the norm (Ireland 96%, Austria 95%) but less so in others (Greece 59%, Slovakia 
55%). 

100 Base: All educational establishments with fewer than 20 employees. 

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Figure 45: Establishments where employees have played a role in the design and set-up of measures 
to address psychosocial risks (% educational establishments for ESENER 2014 and 2019)101 

Overall, controversies in relation to OSH seem to be relatively rare in the education sector across the 
EU-27, as 67% of respondents reported this to happen ‘practically never’ or only ‘sometimes’ (27%). 
These results are similar to the overall average, for example, 66% for ‘practically never’.  

Greece  (13%)  and  Italy  (12%)  were  among  the  countries  most  likely  to  positively  confirm  that 
controversies connected to OSH occur often in the education sector.  

Yet, according to the key informants who were interviewed for the case study research, it is felt there is 
some under-reporting of the true number of controversial events. For example, in some cases, teachers 
may feel that it is in the interest of pupils not to report any wrongdoings or mobilise internal procedures 
for fear of negatively affecting them, their education or their family.  

Considering that educational establishments sometimes employ persons without fluency in the national 
language, it is interesting to know whether these establishments offer training in other languages so that 
all employees  build awareness. Across the  EU-27, this seems to be the case  in 21%  of educational 
establishments that offer training to workers and employ workers who do not understand the national 
language. In addition, many establishments seem to have changed their approach between 2014 and 
2019, leading to great variation in answers. Nevertheless, we can conclude that the practice is relatively 

101 Base: All educational establishments that over the last three years have made use of measures to prevent psychosocial 
risks. 

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uncommon, especially when compared to administrative and support service activities (40%) as well as 
mining and quarrying (55%). In this context, EU social partners for the education sector called for the 
translation of national OiRA tools and guidance to ensure their wider usability.  

8.5  Multivariate analysis of ESENER results  
The assessment of factors influencing the presence of an OSH representative in the establishment was 
undertaken using regression analysis and ESENER data.  

Education 

Six OSH factors were included in the analysis to identify the factors correlated with the presence of an 
OSH  representative,  that  is,  four  different  reasons  for  addressing  health  and  safety  (‘fulfilling  legal 
obligations’, 
‘organisation’s 
reputation’), ‘regular discussion of health and safety issues between employee representatives and the 
management’, and ‘frequency of health and safety discussion in staff or team meetings’. 

‘increasing  productivity’, 

‘meeting  expectations 

from  employees’, 

Out of the six OSH factors included in the model, three have a significant influence on the probability of 
the presence of a health and safety representative in the establishment, yet only two were significant 
after  the  introduction  of  contextual  factors  (country,  sector,  size).  Regular  discussion  between 
employees and the management is positively associated with the probability of presence of a health and 
safety representative by 410%, and occasional discussion of health and safety in staff or team meetings 
increases this probability by 49%. Those two factors are likely to be important variables in every context. 
The various reasons for addressing health and safety are not significant for this outcome. A health and 
safety representative is a form of employee representation, therefore regular communication between 
staff and the management is obviously highly correlated with this form of representation. 

All sectors 

The  education  sector  ranks  lower  than  14  other  economic  activities  in  terms  of  the  probability  of 
presence of an OSH representative, with remaining economic activities having similar (not statistically 
significantly different) probability as education. 

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Figure 46: Probability (odds ratio) of the presence of a health and safety representative in education 
vs other economic activities (1 = similar probability as in education; <1 lower probability than in 
education; >1 higher probability than in education) 

8.5.1  Composite indicator (OSH employee representation)  
To ease the communication of the results, the study  developed a composite indicator for the field of 
OSH employee representation using several related measures from the ESENER 2019 dataset. 102 The 
indicator shows how the national education sector compares to other national sectors (Y axis), and how 
the national scores compare to other countries overall (X axis).  

When compared to the other national sectors, the results show that, overall, the education sector scores 
better than average in terms of employee involvement in OSH. However, there is some wide variation 
in the scores, with some countries in the green and purple clusters doing quite well, and others in the 
red and blue clusters obtaining average or below-average results.  

The purple cluster (Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and Poland) ranked the highest on 
measures  involving  workers  in  OSH  management  internationally,  although  the  cluster  did  only 
marginally better than the others.  

102 A detailed methodology is contained in the Annex.  

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Figure 47: Worker participation 

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9  Conclusions and policy pointers 
9.1  Introduction  
This section provides a series of conclusions on the  ESENER study in the  education sector and the 
main findings. Some policy pointers are also provided to be viewed as items for discussion and possibly 
policy development for strengthening OSH management in the education sector.  

Like all sectors, the education sector in Europe is subject to the EU Framework Directive 89/391/EEC 
on health and safety and supporting legislative provisions through national legal frameworks aiming to 
encourage the introduction of measures to improve OSH management.  

In this context, ESENER plays a key role in monitoring how OSH is managed in the workplace by using 
survey methods to monitor the actions and measures taken in establishments.  

However, by focusing on the results for the education sector, ESENER can be used to provide insights 
on  whether  key  OSH  practices  that  can  be  used  to  provide  a  safe  working  environment  have  been 
implemented in some form, thus providing opportunities to measure progress and identify areas to be 
addressed.  

This includes areas such as the identification and elimination of health and safety risks-, including new 
and  emerging-the  managerial  commitment  to  the  working  environment,  the  consultation  and 
participation  of  workers,  the  provision  of  good  information  and  so  on.  Moreover,  further  primary  and 
secondary research was undertaken to complement the findings from ESENER with insights relevant to 
the OSH context in educational establishments.  

9.2  Conclusions and policy pointers 
As one may expect, the results from the ESENER survey and the literature review showed that the OSH 
risks  facing  the  education  sector  are  typically  psychosocial  and  MSD  risks,  and,  more  specifically, 
include  dealing  with  difficult  pupils  and  parents,  time  pressure,  offensive  and  sometimes  violent 
behaviour, prolonged sitting, repetitive hand or arm movements, and loud noise. These types of risks 
are generally acknowledged as endemic to the sector by education professionals, representatives and 
previous studies, and pose significant threats to most teaching staff and management if left unmanaged.  

Of course, there are also possible disparities in the level of risks between establishments generally, and 
between different levels of education, especially since tertiary level students are more mature and much 
less  prone  to  antisocial  behaviour.  This  also  includes  establishments  with  and  without  specialised 
teaching facilities that include chemicals or machines and so on.  

However,  apart  from  risks  associated  with  difficult  pupils,  it  seems  that  half  or  more  of  educational 
establishments are not aware of the risks that are recognised by experts and leading representatives as 
common to the profession, for example, around prolonged sitting or time pressure. Therefore, in some 
areas, it seems that there are some significant gaps in the level of risk awareness, especially among 
smaller establishments.  

Moreover, interviews with key informants in educational and sectoral bodies stressed the significant role 
that digitalisation is playing as a driver of new risks, such as blurring the balance between work and 
private life, while possibly also mitigating some traditional risks, such as enabling people to have more 
flexible working lives or reducing commuter time and so on. Online teaching and digital communications 
are exposing teachers to enhanced or new challenges in managing classrooms, ensuring good exam 
results and meeting parental demands, and in some instances decisions to transition to home teaching 
have put management–parent relations under strain.  

Policy pointer: The risk factors identified as most prevalent in the education sector, as determined 
from the results of the literature review and ESENER 2019, included the issues of having to deal with 
difficult  pupils,  threats  and  violence.  MSD  risk  factors  were  also  reported  prominently,  including 
prolonged sitting, repetitive work, as well as other risks, such as loud noise.  

Despite a good level of awareness in many establishments on the well-known and important OSH 
risks, the results suggest that there is still room for improvement in some establishments and some 
countries. Furthermore, while the level of awareness is good in some areas, the results point to a 

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major gap concerning the understanding of the significance of the psychosocial working environment. 
This is especially the case around the organisational and relational aspects of teaching, particularly 
at  primary  and  secondary  levels,  including  the  quality  of  communication  (towards  pupils/students, 
parents, colleagues and supervisors), emotional demands, irregular working hours and job insecurity.  

Managers and OSH representatives should ideally gain better awareness of the risks and how they 
manifest  as  personal  challenges  in  the  working  lives  of  education  professionals.  Furthermore,  the 
results suggested a particular need for expertise, tools and support for micro- and small enterprises 
that seem less aware of the risks. 

In  terms  of  completion  of  regular  risk  assessments,  the  results  show  that  there  is  a  good  level  of 
commitment  (77%  of  establishments  in  2019),  for  example,  when  compared  to  other  sectors  (the 
education sector is just above the overall EU-27 average). Moreover, as measured on the composite 
indicator  for  risk  assessment  management,  the  education  sector  is  an  ‘average’  sector  compared  to 
other sectors across several aspects of risk assessment management — thus, while the performance 
in  this  area  is  good,  there  is  clearly  scope  for  improvement.  The  regression  analysis  showed  that 
appointing OSH representatives, undergoing inspections, the focus on avoiding fines and considering 
OSH management as a legal duty are factors associated with higher likelihood of regular completion of 
risk assessments.  

In explaining some of the gaps, the results suggest that there are more resources and competences 
available  for  conducting  the  risk  assessment  at  the  medium  and  large  educational  establishments 
compared to the micro- and small establishments — this latter group is less likely to undertake regular 
risk assessments and other OSH management practices, suggesting that staff in these establishments 
experience a less tightly controlled working environment.  

With respect to the key risks routinely covered by risk assessments, the results showed that between 
70% and 90% of the educational establishments routinely cover dangerous chemicals and machines, 
while ergonomic, psychosocial risks and noise are covered less extensively, typically within the region 
of 50% to 70%. This seems to be at odds with the risks present in establishments that are endemic to 
the sector as mentioned above.  

Policy  pointer:  Most  establishments  in  the  education  sector  reported  regular  conducting  of  risk 
assessments, and the share is growing since 2014.  

Yet,  gaps  in  their  regular  completion  remain.  In  addition,  the  results  show  that  there  is  a  need  to 
improve the focus and scope of risk assessments, for example, by ensuring that they include the main 
risks facing the sector, including psychosocial, MSD and organisational aspects, and cover all staff 
and teaching practices, including those associated with home working since the COVID-19 pandemic 
began. 

Building awareness is clearly part of this, but focusing on the need to follow legal obligations and the 
risk  of  receiving  fines  should  help  to  boost  the  response.  Importantly,  the  analysis  showed  that 
appointment of OSH representatives may have a positive associating with the improvement of the 
likelihood to complete risk assessments, and such persons are likely to be receptive to messages 
encouraging their better and more comprehensive application.  

Furthermore, regular completion of risk assessments is associated with recent visits by the labour 
inspectorate and the avoidance  of fines, showing  that interaction  with  authorities can  have lasting 
positive  effects.  Targeting  smaller  educational  establishments  is  key  in  addressing  the  main  gaps 
around the regular completion of risk assessments, thus helping to overcome their resource, skills 
and time limitations.  

According to the regression analysis, the education sector is more likely to view psychosocial risks as 
more  challenging  to  manage  when  compared  to  other  sectors,  and  it  is  also  more  likely  to  view 
psychosocial risks as more difficult to address after efforts have been made to introduce measures. This 
highlights  the  severity  of  the  challenges  for  teaching  staff,  especially  concerning  difficult  pupils  and 
parents, and the need for further actions to encourage representatives and staff to cooperate on the 
development of OSH management approaches.  

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Moreover,  key  features  of  the  teaching  sector  are  not  yet  fully  accounted  for  in  risk  assessment 
practices, namely covering staff not on the payroll and working from home. While ESENER was last 
completed in 2019, this latter aspect clearly does not align well with the transition to home working since 
the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Policy pointer: A high share of establishments perceived psychosocial risks as more difficult to deal 
with than other OSH risks, especially where experience had been gained in trying to manage such 
risks,  thus  showing  the  complexity  of  the  challenges.  And,  the  pattern  of  results  suggested  that 
establishments for which the main reason for regular risk assessment is to fulfil legal requirements 
may be less likely to develop the internal competences necessary to obtain a proactive safety culture 
and the capacity to deal with psychosocial risks — thus suggesting the need for stronger motivations 
to successfully manage risks On the other hand, it is more likely for establishments to develop the 
necessary skills internally in the organisation when the main reason for addressing health and safety 
is to improve productivity and meeting employees’ needs.  

Hence, incentives of both a formal and legal character and those supporting the intrinsic potential of 
improved  collaboration  and  increased  productivity  are  likely  to  enhance  the  OSH  performance  of 
establishments in the education sector.  

Involvement of employees in the design of measures following a risk assessment was found to be 
more likely when the risk assessment is conducted by internal staff. This is especially important for 
the education sector, considering that teaching can be a highly ‘individualised’ experience with many 
staff focused on their own teaching activities. Feelings of isolation could be made worse if there are 
poor  social  bonds  among  staff  and  since  the  onset  of  the  COVID-19  pandemic  with  working  from 
home becoming more prominent. Involving staff may therefore help to bring OSH issues to the fore 
and support the development of safety cultures. 

In  terms  of  actions  taken  to  improve  employee  health,  between  a  third  and  half  of  the  education 
establishments  reported  measures  to  enhance  healthy  nutrition,  preventing  addiction,  sport  activities 
outside  of  working  hours  and  back  exercises  at  work.  The  data  suggest  that  the  education  sector 
performs well compared to other sectors in introducing such actions.  

Yet,  although  around  half  of  establishments  use  such  approaches,  the  use  of  measures  to  promote 
sustainable  working  lives  by  reducing  MSDs  has  decreased  slightly  across  the  EU-27  from  2014  to 
2019. This trend does not correspond well with the main risks facing the sector around MSDs, especially 
prolonged sitting.  

Most  of  the  educational  establishments  keep  records  of  employees’  sickness-related  absences.  In 
addition, more than half of the establishments reported to have a procedure in place when employees 
return  to  work  after  a  long-term  sickness-related  absence.  Such  procedures  have  become  more 
common in countries that already had a high adoption rate but unfortunately have become less common 
where only few establishments made use of them. The general pattern, therefore, does not seem to 
correspond well with the intense psychosocial and other risks that may lead to long-term absence.  

Policy pointer: A high share of the establishments in the education sector use measures to support 
and sustain the health and wellbeing of employees and have procedures in place to support return to 
work after long-term sickness absence. Yet, there are signs that these initiatives are quite limited and 
are on the decrease in some countries. Given the risks facing the sector, and the intensification of 
risks since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there is a need to invest in concrete mitigating activities, 
especially preventive measures, such as those that may reduce the MSD risks of working from home 
and due to prolonged sitting. While all educational professionals suffer from MSD risks, the risk of 
prolonged sitting appears to be more acute in the higher education sector, and thus demands a more 
targeted response.  

Overall, the results of the composite indicator on OSH commitment that combines several measures 
show that there is wide variation between countries with respect to OSH commitment in the education 
sector, and that generally there is an average to below-average performance. Interview feedback from 

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education representatives suggested that in some cases this may be explained by lack of managerial 
commitment, among other things.  

Yet, the regression results indicated several factors that may improve managerial commitment towards 
OSH, including appointing an OSH representative, regular discussion of OSH between employees and 
management, training received by team leaders, and meeting expectations from employees as a reason 
for addressing health and safety.  

On this last point, EU social partners stressed the heighted risk of limited supply of teachers and staff 
retention that is partly due to poor perceptions of the working environment.  

Policy pointer:  Most educational establishments have procedures and  a division of responsibilities 
concerning OSH. However, these formalities are not enough to secure the commitment necessary 
for an ongoing and proactive implementation of OSH measures. To enhance the approach, the results 
pointed towards securing the (stronger) commitment of management in the first instance, appointment 
of  OSH  representatives,  better  organisation  between  management,  representatives  and  staff,  and 
OSH  training  among  management  and  team  leaders.  Development  of  organisational  cultures  that 
address  the  expectations  of  employees  also  was  shown  to  create  the  conditions  for  a  stronger 
approach to health and safety.  

While  stark  differences  were  identified  between  countries,  as  confirmed  by  the  composite  indicator 
results, the education sector was noted as doing comparatively well in introducing measures to manage 
psychosocial  risks  such  as  action  plans  to  reduce  work-related  stress,  and  procedures  to  manage 
bullying and harassment from colleagues as well as threats, abuse or assault from external persons. 
Interview feedback indicated that this may not be surprising considering the nature of the work and the 
need to manage difficult pupils and parents.  

Yet still, the use of such measures is far from widespread across the sector despite the challenges of 
providing teaching, especially at primary and secondary levels. Adoption of such measures would also 
be beneficial considering the transition to home working since the COVID-19 pandemic began and the 
associated  growing  risk  of  isolation  and  longer  working  hours  or  pressures  that  some  staff  may 
experience.  

The regression analysis showed that the identification of psychosocial risks is correlated with the use of 
a psychologist or occupational health doctor. Moreover, the analysis also revealed that the inclusion of 
supervisor–employee relationships in risk assessments is related to the introduction of measures such 
as increased decision authority, training on conflict resolution, confidential counselling and measures to 
reorganise work. These measures are also more likely to be introduced if the establishments already 
have relevant procedures and ction plans to manage psychosocial risks, as mentioned already.  

Policy pointer: On average, the education sector seems to be performing better than other sectors 
concerning the management of psychosocial risks, but there is still huge variation between countries, 
and  a  considerable  part  of  the  education  sector  does  not  have  adequate  procedures  and  skills  to 
manage psychosocial risks. Considering the high prevalence of psychosocial risks in the sector, these 
limitations likely carry serious health consequences for affected employees.  

Results from the regression analyses confirmed that many of the psychosocial factors and measures 
taken are related to each other, and show that if psychosocial risks are taken seriously, establishments 
will be proactive in taking action. Such steps may not solve all problems but are likely to ensure that 
organisations can more effectively deal with them. The results showed that one of the most important 
factors for the management of psychosocial risks is meeting expectations from employees as a main 
reason for addressing health and safety. Thus, as one may expect, the level of managerial recognition 
towards  staff  wellbeing  seems  to  be  linked  to  the  extent  that  actions  are  taken  to  manage  the 
psychosocial working environment.  

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Furthermore,  it  is  important  to  remember  that  awareness  and  adequate  measurement  of  the 
psychosocial risks are important and necessary steps, but not tantamount to the ability to manage 
and  prevent  psychosocial  risks  in  the  establishments.  In  many  establishments,  both  internal  and 
external OSH experts such as psychologists and occupational health doctors, discussions at the top 
management level, involvement of employees in the process and new qualifications may be needed 
for effective prevention. The results showed that taking positive steps will likely lead to the introduction 
of concrete actions such as improved decision authority, training on conflict resolution, confidential 
counselling and measures to reorganise work. 

Considering the results from ESENER 2019, the education sector did not seem well placed in terms of 
OSH for managing the enhanced adoption of digital tools since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with 
just one-third of the educational establishments reporting discussions on the impact of digitalisation on 
employees’  health  and  safety.  The  interviews  with  EU  social  partners  and  education  sector 
representatives noted the increasing challenges of using digital teaching methods in controlling classes 
and ensuring that students receive the best education. Moreover, ongoing online communication with 
parents has placed increased pressure on staff and further blurred the boundaries between work and 
private life.  

The regression results showed that several factors are positively related with discussing risks due to 
digitalisation,  including  regular  OSH  discussions  among  top  management,  regular  completion  of  risk 
assessment, and the presence of a health and safety representative. 

Policy pointer: Given the transition to home working, and the fact that this practice is likely to become 
a  ‘new  normal’  post-COVID-19,  actions  are  needed  to  strengthen  the  risk  management  of 
digitalisation activities. This includes ensuring that risks can be managed around providing classes 
either  partly  or  fully  online,  ensuring  compliance  with  data  privacy  and  other  administrative  steps, 
establishing suitable home working practices and use of appropriate equipment. In addition, digital 
tools and those still emerging such as AI systems should undergo proper risk assessment and feature 
in staff discussions on OSH. 

While building awareness is clearly needed, further positive steps may  include stronger  employee 
involvement  and  specific  training  of  OSH  representatives,  promotion  of  the  regular  use  of  risk 
assessments and their coverage of all key OSH risks, and stronger commitment from management 
in recognising and acting upon such risks. 

The results showed that the education sector has strong motivations for complying with OSH rules to 
ensure their legal duties are fulfilled and to meet expectations from employees.  

Yet,  worryingly,  the  analysis  also  showed  that  education  sector  establishments  were  more  likely  to 
indicate that OSH rules are complex when compared to most other sectors. The regression analysis 
showed the important role played by on-site visits by inspectorates and the role of OSH representatives 
in helping to reduce perceptions that OSH rules are complex.  

Policy  pointer:  In  summary,  the  drivers  for  OSH  management  in  the  education  sector  were  reported 
more frequently than barriers, but still measures can be taken to support positive motivations and help 
establishments to overcome any obstacles. 

Motivations to manage OSH may be strengthened by stressing and demonstrating the benefits of better 
collaboration,  cooperation  and  productivity.  And,  the  barriers  to  compliance  due  to  the  perceived 
complexity of OSH legislation can be reduced through visits made by the labour inspectorate and by 
appointing  OSH  representatives  who  can  encourage  their  employer  to  establish  an  effective  OSH 
management system.  

The perception that OSH regulations are complex was expressed more often in the education sector 
compared to most other sectors. Clearly, this suggests that OSH representatives or persons responsible 
for OSH in the education sector need more support to overcome these obstacles.  

The  previous  conclusions  and  regression  analyses  mentioned  above  have  shown  that  employee 
involvement, staff training and appointment of OSH representatives are associated with strengthening 
of OSH management approaches in the education sector.  

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Using the  ESENER 2019  data, compared to other sectors, for the most part the composite indicator 
analysis showed that the education sector was slightly above average in engaging employees in the 
management of OSH. About two-thirds of the educational establishments across the EU appoint OSH 
representatives, and around half of these are elected. Work councils or OSH committees have been 
established at less than half of the establishments. Notably, there is quite wide variation among countries 
when comparing, for example, the Nordic countries to other parts of Europe.  

The  literature  review  results  showed  that  schools  with  direct  employee  participation  had  a  positive 
attitude to employee involvement. Moreover, schools with high levels of social capital can help reduce 
psychosocial risks, improve teachers’ professional experience and improve the teaching experience for 
pupils.  It  was  noted  that  schools  with  trustful  relationships  involved  employee  representatives  in 
decision-making on major changes.  

The  regression  analysis  using  data  from  ESENER  2019  showed  that  regular  discussion  between 
employees and the management, and discussions of OSH in team meetings, increase the probability of 
appointment of health and safety representatives.  

Policy pointer: Although the education sector in general has a comparatively good representation of 
employees,  there  is  still  room  for  improvement,  considering  that  despite  the  efforts  to  establish 
appropriate approaches, staff may not feel supported or have the resources to manage the challenges 
they face. Certain risks, especially around having to deal with difficult pupils and families, workload 
and digitalisation, could be better addressed through stronger frameworks that jointly engage OSH 
representatives,  employee  representatives  and  staff  in  the  design  and  set-up  of  measures  and 
ongoing monitoring.  

Related to this, in some countries there is a great need for improvements in training of both employers 
and  employee  representatives  in  OSH  issues  and  OSH  management.  Clearly,  with  appropriate 
sector-specific knowledge, responsibilities around OSH management are more likely to be fulfilled.  

As  one  would  expect,  the  regression  analysis  showed  that  commitment  to  appointing  OSH 
representatives  is  in  some  way  related  to  the  establishment  of  organisational  communication 
channels and discussions on OSH, in particular between the employees and management, and in 
staff and team meetings. This suggests the development of awareness on OSH in organisations, is 
associated  with  an  increased  rate  of  introducing  relevant  measures,  such  as  appointing  OSH 
representatives. 

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Annex 

1. Annex - Data processing and analysis 

The extraction of education datasets from the ESENER 2019 and ESENER 2014 datasets has been 
done by selecting only those establishments described by the variable “Nace1” equals to 16 (sector P). 
As  a  result  of  this  step,  the  total  sample  size  of  the  education  datasets  amounted  to  3,540  entities 
(ESENER  2019)  and  3,605  (ESENER  2014).    The  total  sample  sizes  of  the  education  datasets  is 
significantly smaller than the total for the entire ESENER datasets. Additionally, there is great variation 
between countries, e.g. in the 2019 dataset, the number of establishments varies from 26 in Malta to 
293  in  Poland.  In  19  countries  (almost  60%  of  all  33  countries  surveyed),  the  sample  size  does  not 
exceed 100 entities, and in 4 countries it is below 50 establishments.  

Given  the  need  to  produce  reliable  estimates,  but  also  considering  the  need  to  analyse  as  many 
countries as possible separately, we selected countries based on the Eurostat 2008 “Survey sampling 
reference  guidelines 103  which  recommends  that  the  minimum  sample  size  should  be  45  responses, 
although  we  relaxed  the  assumption  and  selected  countries  with  30  responses.  Countries  with  very 
small  sample  sizes  were  removed  entirely  while  the  rest  were  grouped  as  ‘others’.  The  approach  is 
shown in the Table A1.  

Table  A1.  Number  and  share  of  establishments  from  education  sector  in  total  number  of  establishments 
participating in the ESENER 2019 survey.  

Country 

Number  

% 

Approach  

Country 

Number  

% 

Approach  

AT 

BE 

BG 

CH 

CY 

CZ 

DE 

DK 

EE 

EL 

ES 

FI 

FR 

HR 

HU 

IE 

IS 

60 

63 

37 

68 

5 

68 

439 

32 

11 

66 

199 

32 

440 

15 

58 

29 

3 

1,9 

Include  

2,0 

x 

1,2 

x 

2,1 

x 

0,2 

Other 

2,1 

x 

13,6 

x 

1,0 

x 

0,3 

Other 

2,1 

x 

6,2 

x 

1,0 

x 

13,6 

x 

0,5 

Other 

1,8 

x 

0,9 

x 

0,1 

Other 

IT 

LT 

LU 

LV 

MK 

MT 

NL 

NO 

PL 

PT 

RO 

RS 

SE 

SI 

SK 

UK 

399 

12,4 

x 

17 

3 

13 

6 

2 

76 

31 

189 

54 

73 

20 

111 

8 

34 

337 

0,5 

Other 

0,1 

Other 

0,4 

Other 

0,2 

Other 

0,1 

Other 

2,4 

x 

1,0 

x 

5,9 

x 

1,7 

x 

2,3 

x 

0,6 

Other 

3,4 

x 

0,3 

Other 

1,1 

x 

10,4 

x 

Total 

3225 

100,0 

The other variable requiring grouping is establishment size. With a view to obtaining better estimates, 
micro and small establishments were merged in one group, and medium and large establishments in 
another - as a result – the analyses were split into two groups according to the size. This division is 

103 Eurostat sampling reference guidelines - Introduction to sample design and estimation techniques - Products Manuals and 
Guidelines - Eurostat (europa.eu) 

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clearly based on lengthy evidence that smaller organisations have less resources, awareness, access 
to expertise etc. resulting in weaker scores on ESENER measures. Therefore, it is expected that the 
analysis for these two groups will follow the same or similar logic. Of course, the education sector is 
embedded in the public administration meaning that support is available to ‘small organisations’ due to 
wider resources. The reality is that entities in the public sector are not SMEs as legally defined by the 
SME  definition  which  is  typically  used  in  supporting  policies,  such  as  competition  policy,  to  provide 
thresholds for receipt of support to private companies such as subsidies due to ‘market failures’ e.g. 
poor  access  to  finance.  Therefore,  perhaps,  the  results  are  showing  smaller  differences  between 
organisation sizes than normally expected.  

ESENER datasets include surveys weights to correct the probability of units selected for the sample and 
reflect  the  structure  of  the  population.  The  ESENER  dataset  provides  5  types  of  weights.  The  same 
weights have been applied to Education datasets and used for descriptive analysis, i.e. frequencies and 
bivariate analysis. Appropriate weights have been used when analysing different variables, for example 
‘estprop’ for international comparative analysis of establishments, whereas ‘empprop’ for comparative 
analyses  of  employees.  However,  the  standard  approach  of  not  weighting  the  data  for  multivariate 
analyses  has  been  followed  considering  the  relationships  estimated  would  be  more  consistent  and 
would have smaller standard errors. 

2. Composite indicator analysis 

In  this  study,  several  composite  indicators  were  formulated  for  the  purpose  of  benchmarking  sector 
performance in several sub policy domains and each one of those, have a specific policy focus. Those 
are presented in Table A2.  

Table A2: Composite indicator overview  
Composite 
indicator  
1.  Risk 

Variables and weights  

assessment 
management  

1.  Q250 (40%) Regular conducting of workplace risk assessments. 
2.  Q251(20%) Conducting of risk assessments by internal staff 
3.  Q253(10%) Whether risks assessments cover workplaces at home. 
4.  Q255(10%) If risk assessments cover only people on the payroll or other types of workers 
5.  Q258 (20%) If employees are usually involved in the design and implementation of measures 

following a risk assessment.  

2.  OSH 

1.  Q155 (25%) Putting documents in place that explain responsibilities or procedures on health 

commitment 

and safety.  

2.  Q156 (25%) Availability of an OSH responsibilities document to the people working in the 

establishment.  

3.  Q162 (25%) Discussions on OSH at the top level of management.  
4.  Q163 (25%) Provision of training to team leaders and line managers on how to manage 

health and safety.  

3.  Psychosocial 

risk 
management  

1.  Q300 (30%) Does your establishment have an action plan to prevent work-related stress? 
2.  Q301 (20%)  Is there a procedure in place to deal with possible cases of bullying or 

harassment? 

3.  Q302 (20%) And is there a procedure to deal with possible cases of threats, abuse or assaults 

by clients, patients, pupils or other external persons? 

4.  Q306 (10%)  Did the employees have a role in the design and set-up of measures to address 

psychosocial risks? 

5.  Q309  (10%) Do you have sufficient information on how to include psychosocial risks in risk 

assessments? 
 Q151 (10%) Does your organisation use a psychologist?  

6. 

4.  Worker 

participation  

1.  Q350 (40%) Do you have an OSH committee or representative?  
2.  Q352 (15%) How often is health and safety discussed?  
3.  Q354 (15%) Are the OSH representatives provided with training?  
4.  Q357 (15%) Discussion of OSH in staff or team meetings. 
5.  Q258 (15%) If measures have been taken, are employees involved in their implementation.  

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For each of the variables above, by examining the country percentage scores, two ranking scores 
were determined per country: 

1. 

‘Within country ranking’ to rank the education sector against other sectors nationally 

o  A ranking score from 1st to 19th was allocated per country, considering the 19 NACE 

sectors;  

2. 

‘Between country ranking’ to rank and compare the education sector internationally;  

o  A ranking score = was allocated per country considering also the approach to analysing 

countries as indicated in Table 1.   

3. Country reports 

The aim of the country reports is to provide contextual information at the national level on the OSH 
dynamics and challenges in the education sector at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels for a 
number of selected countries: Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland and Italy. Each one of the reports 
includes information on:  

1.  OSH in a National context, which  provides details on  key ESENER results for the education 

sector at a national level, as well as OSH law and policy characteristics;  

2.  OSH risks using qualitative results to pinpoint the main sources of OSH risks facing educational 

professionals;  

3.  OSH  management,  bringing  together  interviewee  feedback  to  highlight  the  main  drivers  and 

barriers in managing OSH in the education sector.  

A number of interviews were conducted with key informants, including social partners, employers, 
safety experts and representatives from the education sector. The main findings for each one of the 
selected countries are presented in the following sub-sections. 

3.1 Denmark 
Danish education system 
The  Danish  education  system  is  divided  into  three  overall  education  levels:  primary,  secondary  and 
tertiary  level  of  education.  Within  this  context  it  is  relevant  to  note  that  education  in  Denmark  is 
compulsory for children below the age of 16 as well as that it is free for all. The primary level of education 
encompasses the entire period of compulsory education, and the age group spans from the age of six 
to 16 years. Much of the Danish population chooses the public school at the primary level of education, 
which is tuition free as it is financed by taxes. At this level of education, the classes are divided according 
to age and all genders are represented in each class.  
After the primary level of education, the students can choose to move on to secondary level of education. 
They can either choose a vocational or technical education or go to the Danish gymnasium, which is a 
three-year  general  academically  oriented  program  that  qualifies  the  student  for  admission  to  higher 
education. The secondary level of education is not mandatory, which is why the age group varies from 
15 – 20 years. Most of the students at the gymnasium continue their education at the tertiary level, either 
at universities or trade schools, which are also tuition free in Denmark.  

OSH in a Danish context 
Figure 1 shows some of the key Danish education sector results from the ESENER 2019 survey. The 
results  suggest  that  OSH  management  is  important  to  the  sector  considering  that  management  are 
committed to discussing OSH at the top level (97%), over three quarters of establishments complete 
risks assessments (99%), and many educational establishments have procedures to deal with possible 
threats from pupils (92%). Psychosocial risk management is also a recognised concern with steps taken 
including  developing  action  plans  to  prevent  work  related  stress  (74%),  and  ensuring  access  to 
information on how to include psychosocial risks in risk assessments. On all measures, Denmark scored 
higher than the EU 27 average. 

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Figure 1: Danish education sector scores on key ESENER 2019 measures 

A recent legal and policy mapping survey was conducted for an EU OSHA study (2021) that produced 
an  Overview  Report  on  the  European  Survey  for  New  and  Emerging  Risks  (ESENER).  The  survey 
collected basic feedback, e.g. ‘Yes/No’ answers, from national OSH authorities to identify national policy 
characteristics.  

The survey results provide some further contextual information that may help to interpret the scores for 
the education sector on the ESENER 2019 measures, for example:  

•  The National Labour Inspectorate in Denmark provides tools and guidance to support inclusion 

of psychosocial risk in risk assessments. 

•  All small, medium, and large establishments in Denmark are required by law to appoint an OSH 

representative.  

•  Team  leaders  and  line  managers  are  obliged  to  undertake  training  on  OSH  to  comply  with 

minimum legal requirements.  

•  There is legislation in place mandating that establishments introduce procedures to deal with 

difficult or abusive 'external persons' such as clients, patients, pupils etc;  

Thus, there are legal requirements to be met by establishments, as well as possible services to help 
with OSH management in the education sector. Seemingly, this partly explains Denmark’s overall high 
scores on the five key ESENER measures. 

Risks and their sources 
Across the three educational levels, psychosocial risks were identified as the primary OSH risk in the 
education sector. The primary sources of psychosocial risks are:  

•  high  workload  and time pressure, and  it is common that  teachers feel that they do not  have 

• 

• 

enough time to do their job properly;  
the relational aspect of teaching is a key psychosocial dimension in educational work as it forms 
part of all activities whether teacher-to-student, teacher-to-parents, and among staff;  
connected to the above source, ‘high emotional demands’ form part of the relational aspect of 
teaching, and result in ‘peak-loads’ of stress and tension. 

Since the pandemic, a tendency across all three educational levels is that teachers have been struggling 
with working at home due to poor equipment (screens, tables, chairs etc.) and unsuitable home office 
facilities. The interviewees underline that this could have possibly exacerbate MSD risks. However, at 
the primary and secondary levels, the interviewees emphasize that psychosocial risks have intensified. 
OSH risks at the tertiary level differs from the other two levels, in the way that teachers do not experience 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

high  emotional  demands  since  students  are  relatively  mature,  committed  and  come  from  stable 
socioeconomic backgrounds. However, besides high workload and time pressure, teachers at this level 
struggle  with  musculoskeletal  disorder  (MSDs)  as  a  primary  risk,  caused  by  prolonged  sitting  and 
standing.   

OSH Management; drivers and barriers 
As is evident from the five key questions from the ESENER 2019 survey, compared to the average of 
the EU countries, Denmark obtained high scores. Findings from the legal mapping survey mentioned 
above, showed that this could be due to the legal requirements in Denmark as well as good access to 
information and help. However, this analysis revealed that across all three education levels teachers 
are struggling with several psychosocial risks at the workplace, which have been intensified since the 
COVID pandemic.   

Schools  in  Denmark  generally  have  a  TRIO-collaboration  that  can  find  ways  to  address  issues.  The 
TRIO is made up by; a leader, the OSH representative and the union representative. The TRIO either 
follow a defined meeting pattern, or meet more informally, and discuss prevalent OSH related issues as 
well as the general well-being among teachers. Although TRIOs are established both at primary and 
secondary levels, it is more common for the primary schools to adopt the practice. As explained by a 
representative  from  the  Danish  National  Union  of  Upper  Secondary  School  Teachers,  this  is  due  to 
work-cultural differences in Denmark between teachers at primary and secondary levels. 

The main drivers for OHS management in the education sector in Denmark are the legal requirements 
that the schools must abide by, as well as the TRIO constellation, which allows for discussions across 
the different organizational levels at the institution. The main barrier across all three educational levels 
is time pressure, which may mean that the results of risk assessments may not lead to further actions 
and improvements in OSH at the workplace. 

3.2 Germany 
German education system 
The German education system has five levels, including the primary, secondary I, secondary II, tertiary 
and quartal levels (continuing education), where the first three levels make up the schooling system and 
the latter two refer to further education. 

Primary education includes the first four years of schooling, after which pupils are divided depending on 
their attainment and receive more targeted schooling on secondary I level. These first two levels are 
mandatory  for  all  children.  Depending  on  the  qualifications  attained,  pupils  can  then  move  on  to 
secondary II level institutions, such as gymnasiums with the goal to attain the ‘Abitur’, or more technical 
or vocational training institutions that prepare pupils for jobs in specific sectors. Tertiary level institutions 
refer  to  Universities,  Universities  of  Applied  Sciences  and  similar,  to  which  only  pupils  meeting  the 
respective  minimum  requirements  have  access  to.  Additionally,  German  authorities  understand  any 
form of further education, reskilling or upskilling later on in life as part of the quartal level of education. 

Education is free of charge in public schools, which are known to offer decent quality education. It is 
therefore  only  a  minority  (9%)  of  pupils  that  end  up  visiting  private  schools  that  require  tuition.104 
Because  the  German  system  offers  different  educational  paths  and  because  of  the  prominence  of 
apprenticeships, tertiary education attainment is comparatively low in Germany.105  

OSH in a German context 
Figure 2 shows some of the key German education sector results from the ESENER 2019 survey. The 
results  suggest  that  72%  of  education  establishments  in  Germany  reported  to  regularly  conduct 
workplace  risk  assessments  in  2019,  and  90%  reported  to  have  regular  or  at  least  occasional 
discussions about OSH related issues at the top management level, which is slightly below the EU 27 
average of 76%  and 92%. Conversely, the percentage of education  establishments that  have action 
plans for work-related stress in place is far higher in Germany (61%) than across the EU 27 (35%). The 

104 European Commission. (2021). https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/germany_en 
105 OECD Data. (2020). https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm 

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proportion  of  establishments  reporting  to  have  sufficient  information  on  how  to  include  psychosocial 
risks in risk assessment is similar both  on  EU 27 level (62%) and in Germany (63%). The data also 
indicates that having procedures in place that deal with possible cases of threats or assaults by clients 
or  external  persons  is  more  common  among  establishments  in  Germany  (83%)  compared  to 
establishments across the EU 27 (70%). 
Overall, the data suggests that education establishments in Germany rate average or well across OSH 
management  measures  and  can  be  expected  to  have  a  more  targeted  and  thus  potentially  more 
effective approach to the management and mitigation of work-related stress than most other member 
states. 

Figure 2: German education sector scores on key ESENER 2019 measures 

A recent legal and policy mapping survey was conducted for an EU OSHA study (2021) that produced 
an  Overview  Report  on  the  European  Survey  for  New  and  Emerging  Risks  (ESENER).  The  survey 
collected basic feedback, e.g. ‘Yes/No’ answers, from national OSH authorities to identify national policy 
characteristics.  

The survey results provide some further contextual information that may help to interpret the scores for 
the education sector on the ESENER 2019 measures, for example:  

Inspectors set a strong focus on psychosocial risk management 

• 
•  They additionally provide tools and guidance to support the inclusion of psychosocial risks in 

risk assessments 

•  There is currently no legislation in place that mandates establishments in Germany to introduce 
any  procedures  specifically  dealing  with  difficult  or  abusive  external  persons  or  causes  of 
bullying or harassment, which are all major reasons for work-related stress  

•  Team leaders and managers are not legally obliged to undertake training on OSH that would 

help them comply with minimum legal requirements 

Therefore, even though establishments may not be legally required to follow action plans to manage 
certain  psychosocial risks, efforts made by  inspectorates may be  able to raise  awareness leading to 
establishments  taking  measures  to  mitigate  the  causes  regardless.  This  may  explain  why  Germany 
fares around average or above the EU27 across the selected key measures. 

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Risks and their sources 
The main musculoskeletal risks that have been identified by respondents stem from either prolonged 
sitting during class preparation or exam corrections or standing when employees face workdays of back-
to-back teacher-centered lessons. The lifting and carrying of heavy items is less of a concern, however, 
it may likely be a risk for elementary level employees (pre-school) as they often have to lift and carry 
children.  The  main  psychosocial  risks  identified  were  pressure  and  stress,  which  the  interviewees 
connected to  expectations  held by society. In secondary and higher education For instance, there is 
also  the  risk  of  violence  or  the  threat  of  violence  by  students.  The  interviews  also  revealed  risks 
connected to digitalization, such as the increased use of laptops, which goes hand-in-hand with the risk 
of prolonged sitting as more and more tasks are being shifted towards digital.  
OSH Management; drivers and barriers 
The interviews overall draw a relatively negative picture of OSH management in the education sector. 
Respondents  across  all  levels  find  that  more  involvement  of  employees  in  the  identification  of  risks, 
design of measures as well as speedier implementation of measures is needed to drive more effective 
OSH management. In addition, awareness of institutions that offer support in OSH management seems 
to be relatively low.  

This  overall  low  level  of  awareness  of  available  resources  may  in  part  be  due  to  the  fact  that  OSH 
training  is  not  mandatory.  Other  barriers  to  effective  OSH  management mainly  reflect  the  increasing 
pressure and workload that teaching staff are experiencing in Germany. In sum, this leads to employees 
neglecting the identification and prevention of OSH related risks in favour of meeting pupils’, families’ 
and  society’s  expectations.  In  addition,  respondents  reported  that  OSH  risks  are  predominantly 
psychosocial, which is perceived as more complex and harder to address. 

In addition, interviewees criticised the fact that usually employees are not involved in the identification 
of  risks,  the  design  of  measures  and  that  implementation  of  measures  is  too  slow.  For  instance, 
measures  in  connection  with  COVID-19  related  risks  have  yet  to  be  implemented  despite  extensive 
efforts of teacher unions and associations. 

Furthermore,  they  highlighted  that  teacher’s  profession  is  increasingly  being  put  under  pressure  by 
politics and society and that unattainable expectations cause serious psychosocial issues for employees 
in the sector, some of which have only been intensified by Covid-19. 

3.3 France 
French education system 
The French education system is organised on three levels, the primary, secondary and tertiary education 
level. 106 Children enter primary education at the age of six where they stay for five years until they move 
on  the  secondary  level,  which  includes  ‘collège’  and  ‘lycée’,  where  pupils  can  either  attain  the 
‘baccalauréat or the ‘Certificat d’aptitude professionnelle’. The former enables pupils to then move on 
to higher education institutions, whereas the latter provides vocational degrees. The tertiary level refers 
to higher education that is non-compulsory, such as Universities and similar institutions. On this level 
both  public  and  private  institutions  are  offered.  The  private  universities,  the  ‘grandes  écoles’,  are 
perceived  as  being  particular  prestigious  and  significantly  more  expensive  than  the  publicly  funded 
universities. 

OSH in a French context 
Figure 3 shows some of the key French education sector results from the ESENER 2019 survey. The 
data  indicates  that  education  establishments  in  France  conduct  workplace  risk  assessments  less 
regularly (46%) and generally discuss OSH issues less often on top management level (81%) than the 
EU  27  average  (76%  and  92%).  Similarly,  fewer  French  education  establishments  reported  to  have 
action  plans  on  work-related  stress  in  place  (27%)  compared  to  the  EU  27  average  (35.4%).  In  this 
context, it is thus maybe not surprising that the data also suggests education establishments in France 
commonly not having sufficient information on how to include psychosocial risks in risk assessments, 
which was reported by 64% compared to 37.7% across the EU 27. However, in France a slightly higher 

106 European Commission. (2020). https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/france_en 

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proportion of education establishments reported to be using procedures dealing with possible cases of 
threats or assaults by clients or other external persons. 

Figure 3: French education sector scores on key ESENER 2019 measures 

Overall, data indicates that French education establishments may not have incorporated psychosocial 
risk factors as much in their OSH management approach as is the case in many of their EU counterparts. 
A recent legal and policy mapping survey was conducted for an EU OSHA study (2021) that produced 
an  Overview  Report  on  the  European  Survey  for  New  and  Emerging  Risks  (ESENER).  The  survey 
collected basic feedback, e.g. ‘Yes/No’ answers, from national OSH authorities to identify national policy 
characteristics.  

The survey results provide some further contextual information that may help to interpret the scores for 
the education sector on the ESENER 2019 measures, for example:  

•  Education establishments generally have good access to free of charge advisory support on 
OSH  compliance  from  inspectorates  and  they  provide  tools  and  guidance  to  support  the 
inclusion of psychosocial risks in risk assessments 

•  During  inspections,  a  great  focus  is  put  on  how  establishments  manage  psychosocial  risks. 
Nevertheless, there is currently no legislation in place that mandates establishments to adopt 
procedures to deal with difficult or abusive external persons 

•  Though some establishments are obliged to introduce procedures to deal with causes of staff 

bullying or harassment, micro enterprises (fewer than 10 employees) are exempted 

•  Team leaders and line managers are not obliged to undertake any training on OSH that would 

help them complying with minimum legal requirements. 

Overall, the findings of the legal mapping survey may partly explain French education establishments’ 
relatively low score on the key OSH measures when compared to the EU 27. For instance, the fact that 
French  top  managers  are  less  likely  to  have  undergone  OSH  training  may  be  a  reason  for  OSH 
discussion  being  less  common  among  education  establishments  in  France,  which  may  also  have  a 
negative impact on managers awareness on OSH generally and psychosocial risk factors in particular. 

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Risks and their sources 
Teachers in primary and secondary education are mostly exposed to psychological risks. First 
and foremost, the successive reforms of the education system have contributed to a 
significant increase of teachers’ workload, since they are often required to cope with new rules 
and to change teaching and evaluation methods. At primary level, risks may also arise from the 
lack of a structured hierarchy which negatively affects the decision-making ability of schools’ 
directors – especially from a financial point of view. Primary level schools’ directors are in fact 
not hierarchical superiors of the schools’ teachers, but just colleagues with additional 
administrative tasks. Although at secondary level the hierarchical relationship within schools 
is stronger and legally defined, decision-making abilities are often hampered due to a general 
lack of managerial skills by headmasters – which in turn stems from a lack of training.    
Furthermore, the  direct and continuous contact  with  difficult pupils  is a  potential source of verbal (or 
even physical) aggression, which in the long run can result in the development of: feelings of inferiority, 
feelings of personal failure, demotivation and lack of confidence with regards to their ability to educated 
students, etc. Megatrends (i.e., social and technological) also affect the working condition of teachers. 
The increasingly frequent domestic violence, use of video games and wide disposal of cruel films on 
television, generate by mimicry unconscious behaviours in the classroom or playground, reproducing 
the same aggressive gestures or insults towards classmates or teachers. These issues are likely to be 
exacerbated  within  suburban  contexts,  where  students  come  from  diverse  social  and  ethnic 
backgrounds and are faced with great financial or psychological difficulties. 

In primary  and secondary  education, even  parents might constitute a source  of risk for teachers.  As 
stated  by  one  interviewee,  there  are  both  disproportionate  expectations  of  families  about  the  school 
whose  teaching  is  supposed  to  give  a  future  place  in  society  and  parents  who  are  often  uninvolved 
and/or critical, which leads teachers to face ever more varied and complex demands in the exercise of 
their  profession.  Furthermore,  parents  can  become  psychologically  violent  in  certain  situations, 
especially during the evaluation of their children. 

Finally, inadequate school management methods have been said to increase the lack of confidence of 
teachers, which manifests itself through various symptoms such as relational tensions, disinvestment, 
aggressive or cynical behaviour. 

Interviewees representing tertiary education institutions have argued that professionals within the sector 
face  multiple  sources  of  risks  too.  As  explained  during  one  interview,  even  according  to  the  French 
National  Research  and  Safety  Institute  for  the  Prevention  of  Occupational  Accidents  and  Diseases 
(Institut  national  de  recherche  et  de  sécurité,  INRS),  in  light  of  the  multidisciplinary  nature  of  the 
institutions providing education at tertiary level, and the diversity of the tertiary education professions, 
physical and psychological risks as well as risks related to digitalisation can be detected.  

However, it was also mentioned that the official data of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research 
–  published  in  2021  –  seem  to  indicate  that  musculoskeletal  disorders  are  the  main  cause  of 
occupational  disorders.  The  figure  is  up  compared  to  2019  data  and  suggest  that  the  COVID-19 
pandemic and the consequent teleworking played a significant role in individuals wellbeing. 

OSH Management; drivers and barriers 
The main driver for OSH management is that both schools and other educational institutions generally 
want  to  comply  with  the  law.  Like  every  other  enterprise  with  at  least  one  employee,  schools  must 
complete a yearly risk assessment (Document Unique d’Evaluation des Risques professionnels, DUER) 
– which according to interviewees covers all the risks that may be encountered in all levels of education. 
Therefore,  according  to  Law  n.  91-1414/1991107  risk  assessment  fall  under  the  responsibility  of  the 
employer  and  is  part  of  the  general  obligation  to  ensure  the  safety  and  wellbeing  of  workers.  The 
evaluation  is  usually  structured  as  follows:  identification  of  risks;  classification  of  risks;  proposal  of 
preventive actions. In those establishments with 50+ employees, the assessment of risks is carried out 

107 Available at: Loi n° 91-1414 du 31 décembre 1991 modifiant le code du travail et le code de la santé publique en vue de 
favoriser la prévention des risques professionnels et portant transposition de directives européennes relatives à la santé et à la 
sécurité du travail (1) - Légifrance (legifrance.gouv.fr)  

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by a committee (Comité d’hygiène, de sécurité et des conditions de travail, CHSCT)108 composed by: 
the  employer;  representatives  of  the  employees;  the  occupational  medicine  physician  (if  one); 
representative  of  the  labour  inspection  and  prevention  services  of  CRAM  (Caisse  Régionale 
d’Assurance Maladie)109.  

On  the  other  hand,  within  primary  and  secondary  education  in  France,  the  main  barrier  to  OSH 
management lies in the fact that schools’ directors (who are ultimately responsible for safety and security 
within the establishments) are not trained to carry out risks’ evaluations. Despite a general awareness 
of issues related to risks in the workplace, interviewees have argued that sometimes directors are not 
even familiar with the DUER. This is in line with the French education sector scores on key ESENER 
2019 measures which sees the country lagging 30 percentage points behind EU average in terms of 
“Establishments conducting regular risks assessments”.  

Across all three levels of education, the main barriers to OSH management are also represented by a 
significant lack of financial and human resources. The lack of means to improve working conditions and 
reduce risks hampers the overall process. The implementation of measures to prevent or reduce risks 
are in fact subject to the business model of higher education institutions, which can often only deal with 
the most pressing issues. This, for instance, translates into shortcomings of the occupational medicine 
system failing to do regular check-ups of school staff. Another barrier identified by interviewees is the 
lack of training at all levels of the hierarchy due to the little amount of resources and time allocated to it. 

As is evident from the five key questions from the ESENER 2019 survey, compared to the average of 
the EU countries, France scores considerably below EU average. The data gathered through interviews 
revealed that especially primary  and secondary education teachers are struggling  with psychological 
risks. They are mostly stemming from the increased workload as well as the threats of violence faced 
by teachers. Psychological risks have been exacerbated by the multitude of sectorial reforms launched 
by the ministers of education and rarely fully implemented. As argued by the interviewees, these reforms 
often required teachers to cope with new rules and to change teaching and evaluation methods. 

In  conclusion,  the  enhancement  of  OSH  management  in  France  should  be  achieved  through  the 
strengthening of rules compliance; the provision of additional financial and human resources to improve 
key aspects of health and safety at work; the development of (lifelong) trainings for both employers and 
employees. 

3.4 Ireland 
Irish education system 
The Irish education system consists of three different levels, is compulsory for children above the age 
of six and offers state funded education on all levels.110 Most children attend primary school between 
the ages of four and twelve although it is not compulsory until the age of six. Pupils enter the secondary 
level at the age of twelve, which they may complete with different types of certificates. Depending on 
the  certificate  obtained,  students  may  then  visit  different  educational  institutions  on  tertiary  level, 
including universities, technical institutions, or colleges. 

OSH in an Irish context 
Figure 4 shows some of the key Irish education sector results from the ESENER 2019 survey. The data 
shows that the Irish education establishments score above EU 27 average across four out of five key 
measures.  Almost  or  all  establishments  reported  to  conduct  regular  workplace  risk  assessments,  to 
have regular or occasional discussions about OSH issues at  top management level  and to be using 
procedures dealing with possible cases of threats or assaults by clients or other external persons. While 
across the EU 27 only 35.4% of education establishments have an action plan in place that deals with 
work-related stress, it is most establishments in Ireland (56%). The only OSH measure where Ireland 
scores  slightly  lower  (61%)  than  the  EU  27  average  (62.3%)  is  in  terms  of  whether  establishments 

108 Available at: The Committee on Health, Safety and Working Conditions (CHSCT) - Occupational Health and Safety in Paca 
(sante-securite-paca.org)  
109 As of 2022, the CHSCT will be replaced by the Comité Social d’Administration. 
110 European Commission. (2021). https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/ireland_en 

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reported  to  have  sufficient  information  on  how  to  include  psychosocial  risks  in  risk  assessments. 
Nevertheless,  this  lets  us  expect  Irish  education  establishments  to  have  well-functioning  OSH 
management measures in place that also address possible psychosocial risks. 

Figure 4: Irish education sector scores on key ESENER 2019 measures 

A recent legal and policy mapping survey was conducted for an EU OSHA study (2021) that produced 
an  Overview  Report  on  the  European  Survey  for  New  and  Emerging  Risks  (ESENER).  The  survey 
collected basic feedback, e.g. ‘Yes/No’ answers, from national OSH authorities to identify national policy 
characteristics.  

The survey results provide some further contextual information that may help to interpret the scores for 
the education sector on the ESENER 2019 measures, for example:  

•  Authorities provide online tools for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) to ease 
completion of risk assessments and inspectorates provide guidance specifically to support the 
inclusion of psychosocial risks in risk assessments 

•  All establishments are legally mandated to appoint OSH employee representatives 
• 
Inspections also include assessing establishments’ approach towards psychosocial risks 
•  While all establishments are legally mandated to have procedures in place dealing with cases 
of bullying or harassment, only large establishments must follow procedures dealing with difficult 
or abusive external persons. 

In sum, the regulatory environment seems to support establishments’ OSH management leading to 
Irish education establishments scoring relatively well compared to the EU 27. 

Risks and their sources 
In terms of physical risks, employees in secondary and further education are likely exposed to different 
ergonomic risks in connection to prolonged sitting. Additionally, employees that are handling chemical 
substances or engage in woodwork because they teach chemistry and crafts, for example, face the risk 
of chemical injuries, cuts and similar. Moreover, employees may suffer injuries from slips, trips and falls. 
According to the expert from the Dublin Education and Training Board risks associated with slips, trips 
and falls may increase over the coming years as many teaching facilities are located in old buildings. 
As those building require more attention and resources over time to maintain a safe environment for 
everyone, slips and trips are likely to become an even bigger concern in the future. On primary level, 

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employees are largely exposed to the same risks. However, they tend to be less exposed to prolonged 
sitting but instead more likely to be lifting and carrying materials and especially children, which may lead 
to different types of MSD related risks. 

Psychosocial risks that employees in the education sector are typically exposed to are often connected 
to relationships either with other staff or with pupils. These can range from minor friction between staff, 
or with pupils, to severe intentional or unintentional physical violence. The latter mainly occurs in Special 
Education  Needs  facilities  (SEN)  on  secondary  or  tertiary  level,  and  often  comes  from  young  male 
adults, whose physical strength may pose a serious danger to staff and other pupils if they engage in 
violent behaviour. 

In addition, the literature pointed out how the number of pupils per class may be a driver of occupational 
stress.  While  the  study  was  conducted  analysing  primary  school  teachers,  the  findings  may  be 
applicable across levels.  Similarly, a study conducted by the Teaching Council and commissioned by 
the ESRI looked at job satisfaction and occupational stress among primary school teachers and school 
principals in Ireland.  The study finds that teachers teaching multi-grade classes are more stressed and 
should thus receive more support in coping with these difficulties. The research also highlights the role 
played by pupils’ parents; primary school teachers of pupils whose parents are more involved, are less 
stressed. 

Furthermore,  having  access  to  adequate  resources  contributes  towards  lower  stress  levels.  Poor 
administrative support is found to be one of the key psychosocial risks for primary school principals. 

Risks associated with digitalization may arise when the use of technology leads to isolation separating 
people from their working environment and negatively impacts their access to support and backup from 
colleagues. Other risks may be associated with the improper use of digital tools or unsuitable equipment, 
which however is taken into account through centralized planning processes and thus mitigated as far 
as possible. 

Respondents  see  a  lack  of  training  as  a  potential  source  of  OSH  risks:  Even  though  trainings  are 
provided,  they  are  voluntary,  so  the  uptake  is  often  a  bit  slow  as  principles  are  faced  with  many 
conflicting priorities. In addition, funding is again a restricting factor for training provision. 

The COVID pandemic especially increased the risk of isolation and stress, especially for new and young 
teachers coming  on  board  as they  would normally have relied on physical mentoring and support of 
more experienced staff. Receiving no feedback from pupils during online classes may also be a cause 
of anxiety and lack of motivation. Regarding teachers’ relationships with pupils the pandemic has meant 
that the lack of interaction and communication has made them loose touch or that they were never able 
to form a relationship in the first place. Moreover, the risk of contracting COVID as classes resumed in 
person was and still is a concern, though this has been met with extensive measures to reduce the risk 
as far as possible (installation of air purifiers, provision of sanitizers and protective equipment etc.). 

OSH Management; drivers and barriers 
During  the  COVID  pandemic  it  has  become  clear  that  an  important  driver,  especially  to  address 
psychosocial  risks,  are  communication  channels.  If  they  are  set  up  in  such  a  way  that  supervisors, 
management and OSH experts are approachable to employees and that staff can easily be made aware 
of any other resources available to them, then these channels are an important driver for effective OSH 
management. In Ireland, employees’ access to OSH officers is reported to be well developed prior to 
the  pandemic.  In  addition,  regular  online  check-in  meetings  were  institutionalized  during  the  COVID 
pandemic to somehow compensate for the lack of personal interaction at the workplace.  

The  Irish  education  sector  also  has  procedures  in  place  dealing  with  bullying  or  harassment  at  the 
workplace. While cases of harassment are governed by equality legislation, bullying is legally distinct. 
To manage bullying, many schools have adopted the INTO Working Together document that helps to 

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establish  good  relations  with  internal  and  external  people  and  puts  procedures  in  place  to  deal  with 
issues should they arise.111 

In terms of drivers for the management of physical risks, existing research recommends that continued 
attention  should  be  given  to  the  design  of  new  facilities  and  refurbishing  older  ones.112  In  addition, 
Medmark4teachers, which is a service operated on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills, 
provides ‘schools and teachers with a well-co-ordinated and managed medical assessment system, a 
supportive resource, to ensure the health and safety of those at work within the teaching system’. 113 

As respondents pointed out, the lack of well-functioning communication channels is a barrier to OSH 
management.  Furthermore,  though  the  provision  of  training  was  identified  as  contributing  positively 
towards OSH management, the uptake of courses is at times slow because participation is voluntary. In 
that sense, the lack of a legal requirement to attend such trainings may present as a barrier. However, 
experts highlight that the reason for slow uptake is not necessarily unawareness or unwillingness but 
rather that employees are faced with a myriad of conflicting demands. Not being able to meet all these 
demands to the degree they would like to, may further increase psychosocial risks, such as stress.  In 
addition, training provisions are restricted by the availability of funding and resources, which may be a 
barrier  also  when  it  comes  to  the  provision  of  new  equipment  or  the  proper  maintenance  of  aging 
buildings and facilities. 

The Irish case study exemplifies the importance of clear and effective communication channels to not 
only  make  employees  aware  of  the  resources  and  support  available  to  them  but  also  to  make 
supervisors and managers aware of issues they may otherwise have missed. In combination with legal 
regulations that require establishments to appoint OSH representatives, the Irish model is an overall 
positive  example  of  OSH  management  in  the  education  sector  and  thus  scores  well  above  EU27 
average on the selected key measures. 

3.5 Italy 
Irish education system 
The Italian education system consists of four levels and is compulsory for people between 6 and 16.114 
The so-called first cycle of education includes the primary level and the first two years of lower secondary 
education, which starts at age 11 and lasts three years in total. This first cycle is compulsory and ends 
with a final estate examination. During the second cycle, pupils may either visit the upper secondary 
school or the regional vocational training for three to five years, of which the first two are non-voluntary 
in  either  case.  The  third  level  includes  universities,  higher  level  arts,  music  or  dance  education 
institutions,  higher  technical  institutions  and  similar.  Depending  on  the  path,  only  pupils  who  have 
acquired the required upper secondary certificates are admitted. The fourth level of education broadly 
refers to all activities aimed at the cultural enrichment, requalification and professional mobility of adults. 

OSH in an Italian context 
Figure 5 shows some of the key Italian education sector results from the ESENER 2019 survey. The 
results suggest that OSH management is quite important to the sector considering that management is 
committed to discussing OSH at the top level (98%) and over three quarters of establishments complete 
risks  assessments  (93%).  Furthermore,  the  confidence  in  including  psychosocial  risks  in  risks 
assessments  is  quite  high  among  establishments  in  Italy  (71%).  Nonetheless,  the  introduction  of 
measures is not as extensive (e.g., only half of establishments takes steps to develop action plans to 
prevent work related stress). Finally, Italy scores significantly below EU27 average (43% vs 70%) when 
it comes to the implementation of procedures to deal with possible cases of threats or assault by clients 
or external persons. 

111 INTO (2000): https://www.into.ie/app/uploads/2019/07/WorkingTogether.pdf 
112 Darmody et al (2010): https://www.into.ie/app/uploads/2019/07/Wellbeing_Classroom.pdf 
113 Medmark (2022): https://www.medmark.ie/teachersna/ 
114 European Commission. (2021). https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/italy_en 

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Figure 5: Italian education sector scores on key ESENER 2019 measures 

A recent legal and policy mapping survey was conducted for an EU OSHA study (2021) that produced 
an  Overview  Report  on  the  European  Survey  for  New  and  Emerging  Risks  (ESENER).  The  survey 
collected basic feedback, e.g. ‘Yes/No’ answers, from national OSH authorities to identify national policy 
characteristics.  

The survey results provide some further contextual information that may help to interpret the scores for 
the education sector on the ESENER 2019 measures, for example:  

•  OSH  authorities  provide  online  tools  for  micro,  small  and  medium  sized  enterprises  to  ease 

• 

completion of risk assessments 
Inspectorates  do  not  always  offer  free  of  charge  advisory  support  on  OSH  compliance  to 
establishments  

•  Team  leaders  and  line  managers  are  obliged  to  undertake  training  on  OSH  to  comply  with 

minimum legal requirements 

•  Establishments of all size categories are mandated to appoint OSH employee representatives 

that are elected by employees themselves 

•  Establishments across size categories are legally mandated to use procedures for dealing with 

• 

difficult or abusive external persons as well as cases of staff bullying or harassment 
Inspectorates provide tools and guidance to support the inclusion of psychosocial risks in risk 
assessments  and  inspections  set  strong  focus  on  the  inclusion  of  psychosocial  risk 
management in workplace risk assessments 

The Italian regulatory framework thus creates a good legal basis for effective OSH management and 
may in part explain why Italy has scored above average on multiple indicators. 

Risks and their sources 
Primary and secondary level: Psychosocial risks were identified as the primary type of risks concerning 
occupational safety and health within the educational sector. The interviewees agreed that the primary 
sources of psychosocial risk are high workload and time pressure, and it is common that teachers feel 
that they do not have enough time (or lack the proper tools) to do their job appropriately. Especially at 
the  primary  and  secondary  levels,  the  problem  is  exacerbated  by  the  large  size  of  classes  and  the 
growing problem of behavioural disorders among pupils (which have been accentuated during COVID-
19 lockdowns). 

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As identified by the interviews, education and “caring” institutions (such as elementary schools) must 
deal with risk factors that stem from both the workload and the relational aspect of teaching. The latter 
does not only refer to the employer-employee relationship but also to the teacher-pupil relationship. The 
daily interaction with pupils that may have behavioural disorders – and the lack of tools and knowledge 
to  handle  such  specific  situations  –  is  likely  to  increase  the  chances  of  emotional  overload  or 
breakdowns for teachers.  

However,  emotional  demands  do  not  impact  all  the  three  education  levels  to  the  same  extent.  For 
instance, OSH risks at the tertiary  level differ from the other two levels, namely that lecturers do not 
experience high emotional demands as an issue. However, besides high workload and time pressure, 
teachers at this level do struggle with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) as a primary risk, caused by 
prolonged sitting and standing. 

Nonetheless, the digitalisation of services was reported to have a less severe impact on workers in the 
tertiary education for mainly two reasons: 1) in light of their minor emotional involvement with students, 
they were quicker in adapting to the extensive usage of digital tools (driven by the COVID-19 pandemic); 
2) because of their double role as teachers and researchers, the increasing usage of digital tools allowed 
them  to  combine  more  efficiently  the  two  commitments  while  cutting  costs  and  saving  time  (e.g., 
transport). 

Digitalization  has  instead  largely  impacted  staff  at  primary  and  secondary  levels.  Besides  the 
administrative staff (who normally spend about 90% of their working time in front of a screen, handling 
repetitive tasks, e.g., data-entry), teachers have had to deal since the mid-2010s with the introduction 
of digital tools such as the digital school register – aimed at automating the record-keeping of pupils’ 
performance  electronically  and  the  school-family  communication.  This  added  up  to  a  second 
“digitalization wave” promoted by the launch of the Italian National Plan for Digital Education  (Piano 
Nazionale  Scuola  Digitale)  in  2015  by  the  Ministry  of  Education,  which,  according  to  interviewees, 
contributed to the depersonalisation of educational services, and which met a large amount of opposition 
by  the  school  staff  (traditionally  old  and  less  prone  to  learn  about  and  adapt  to  digital  tools).  The 
opposition  comes  from  the  perception  of  the  digital  tools  as  a  radical  distortion  of  the  traditional 
relationship between teachers and pupils, and teachers and families. 

According to all the interviewees, in the mid-term, the provision of the National Recovery and Resilience 
Plan (PNRR) about the school’s class sizes will entail a reduced workload for teachers and will generate 
more meaningful teacher-pupil relationships. 

For the case of tertiary education, interviewees agreed that the risks faced by university professors are 
not comparable to those faced by primary and primary/secondary teachers. The former, for instance, do 
not  have  to  deal  with  the  responsibility  of managing  minors,  with  the  strict  compliance  with  teaching 
schedules,  or  with  students’  families.  This  in  turn  makes  their  work  less  burdensome  from  a 
psychological point of view. Furthermore, university teachers are able to organise independently their 
class  schedules  (within  the  limit  of  hours  defined  per  each  semester)  and  are  not  subjected  to  strict 
surveillance  from  their  superiors.  However,  some  interviewees  argued  that  female  university  staff  is 
more likely to be exposed to stressful situations linked to employee-employee relations and workload. 
Consequently, females in the sector are often more frustrated (due to the perception of stress and the 
resulting incidence of physical disorders) compared to their male colleagues. 

OSH Management; drivers and barriers 
The main driver for OSH management is that both schools and other educational institutions generally 
want  to  comply  with  the  law.  Like  every  other  enterprise  with  at  least  one  employee,  schools  must 
complete a yearly risk assessment. The regulatory reference for OSH management in the workplace is 
Law  Decree  81/2008,  which  also  foresees  significant  penalties  for  those  who  do  not  comply  with  it 
(transgressors face up to 4 months of imprisonment or up to €4,384 fine) . The regulation obliges every 
enterprise to draw up a Risk Assessment Document (DVR) – i.e., a document that identifies, analyses 
and  evaluates  potential  risks  to  workers’  health  and  safety  in  the  workplace.  Following  the  DVR,  a 
detailed prevention and protection plan needs to be implemented with the aim of removing, or at least 
reducing, the chances of dangerous situations.  

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

The person in charge of the drafting of the DVR is the employer who usually relies on in-house experts 
in the field of work safety for targeted advice. The DVR is used to assess the probability of occurrence 
of an event harmful to workers, calculate the extent of the damage that can result and suggest concrete 
prevention and protection measures. Failure to comply strictly with the regulation may result in significant 
penalties  for  the  employer,  who  faces  fines  for  a  maximum  of  EUR  15,000  (in  addition  to  prison 
sentences). 

As emphasized by interviewees, in primary and secondary education legal compliance works as a driver, 
especially for managers and employers to avoid the risk of sanctions rather than to prevent accidents 
at work (this is also mirrored in Figure 5, showing that 99% of all respondents from Italy answered that 
they regularly conduct risk assessments). 

According to interviewees, another element that encourages the completion of risk assessment is that 
the  head  of  the  prevention  and  protection  service  (the  so-called  Responsabile  del  Servizio  di 
Prevenzione e Protezione – RSPP), who works as a main counselor of the headteacher/employer in the 
field of health and security, is a member of the school’s teaching staff (as stated in one of the provisions 
of Law Decree 81/2008). This means that the RSPP is familiar with the environment under assessment 
and can provide insightful information towards the enhancement of the workplace. 

At primary and secondary education levels, one of the main barriers in addressing and managing OSH 
is  the  excessive  bureaucratization  of  the  system  which  affects  schools  across  all  departments  (e.g., 
teaching and administrative staff). This in turn affects mainly three areas: 1) workload and autonomy of 
teachers – who besides their normal activities have to comply with several legal requirements; 2) the 
supervisor-employee  relationship  –  which  in  light  of  the  legal  obligations  is  mostly  characterized  by 
monitoring and compliance checks; and 3) the sustainability of teachers’ working life.   

When it comes to the employee-employee relations, bullying and harassment, as well as violence, the 
main barrier to OSH management is constituted by the degrading school environments (e.g., families 
who often stand by and support their children even when responsible for serious acts against their peers 
or  teachers),  and  the  progressive  lack  of  authority  of educational  institutions  (especially  primary  and 
secondary schools) within civil society. 

Finally, an economic barrier has been identified by interviewees concerning access to support in the 
management of OSH, especially related to psychological risks. For instance, it is often the case that 
forms  of  psychological  support  (e.g.,  internal  psychological  services)  do  not  receive  regular  and 
significant funding during the school year. 

For what concerns tertiary education, no major obstacles seem to be detected. The offices predisposed 
to the  identification and  evaluation of occupational risks are regarded  as “well-functioning” and more 
independent from professors than they are in primary/secondary education. 

As is evident from the five key questions from the ESENER 2019 survey, compared to the average of 
the EU countries, Italy scores high. Findings from the legal mapping survey showed that this could be 
due to the  legal requirements in Italy as  well as good access to information  and help. However, this 
analysis revealed that mostly primary and secondary education teachers are primarily struggling with 
psychological risks. These risks have notably been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 
digitalization of educational services (especially in the primary and secondary education). 

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Education – evidence from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) 

The  European  Agency  for  Safety  and 
Health at Work  (EU-OSHA) contributes  to 
making Europe a safer, healthier and more 
productive  place  to  work.  The  Agency 
researches,  develops,  and  distributes 
reliable,  balanced,  and  impartial  safety 
and health information and organises pan-
European  awareness  raising  campaigns. 
Set up by the European Union in 1996 and 
based  in  Bilbao,  Spain,  the  Agency  brings 
the 
together 
European  Commission,  Member  State 
governments,  employers’  and  workers’ 
organisations, as well as leading experts in 
each  of  the  EU-27  Member  States  and 
beyond. 

representatives 

from 

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work 

Gran Vía 33, 48009 Bilbao, Spain 
Тel. +34 944794360 
Fax +34 944794383 
E-mail: information@osha.europa.eu

http://osha.europa.eu 

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