August 9, 2026

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The European Post

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August 9, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • Strategic Insight

LATEST
New EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before AntalyaNew EU Gas Market Rules Take Effect With Consumer SafeguardsDeforestation Regulation Holds Its December Deadline Despite CutsDigital Omnibus Delays Europe’s High-Risk AI Deadline to 2027Europe’s Schools Confront a Widening Basic Skills GapRule of Law Report Finds Progress but Trust Still LagsIRIS2 Gains 66 Satellites as Brussels Signs the Rollout DealNature Restoration Plans Come Due as Member States Race a DeadlineECB Rates Hold at 2.25 Percent as Frankfurt Waits on the DataEU Budget Talks Turn to Cohesion as Ireland Takes OverWildfire Response Stretches Europe’s Emergency Fleet ThinCan Europe’s Quantum Plan Match Its Big Ambitions?Armenia Edges West as Moscow’s Grip Slips AwayEurope Inherits the World’s Aid Bill It Cannot Fully PayAir Passenger Rights Get Their First Overhaul in Two DecadesErasmus Opens a 5 Billion Euro Round for Skills and MobilityCeuta Crisis Pushes the EU Toward Faster Migrant ReturnsBulky Parcels Face a Packaging Crackdown From August 12Can Europe Build Its Drone Wall Before 2030 Arrives?Indonesia’s Trade Deal With Europe Nears Its Final SignatureEurope Leans on Beijing to Keep Climate Talks Alive Before Antalya

Mental health at work moves to top of new occupational safety drive

Florent Hadergjonaj
Legislative Analyst, Social Affairs and Employment

Bilbao: The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work unveiled its new Healthy Workplaces Campaign for 2026 to 2028 on the occasion of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, with the central theme Together for Mental Health at Work. The campaign, the latest in a long-standing series that has shaped occupational safety priorities since the 2000s, responds to evidence that psychosocial risks have become the single most prevalent category of work-related health issue in the European Union.

EU-OSHA’s data show that mental health complaints — including stress, burnout, anxiety and depression linked to work — affect a significant share of the European workforce. The economic costs of mental ill health at work, measured through absenteeism, presenteeism, healthcare costs and reduced productivity, run into hundreds of billions of euros annually across the bloc. The campaign’s strategic objective is to make mental health a mainstream concern of occupational safety and health management, comparable to the long-established attention given to physical hazards.

The campaign frames mental health as a shared responsibility of employers, workers, social partners, occupational health services, and public authorities. Practical guidance documents support employers in identifying psychosocial risks through workplace assessments, implementing preventive measures, and providing appropriate support for affected workers. The materials emphasise that psychosocial risk management is required under the existing OSH Framework Directive, even where specific psychosocial risk standards have not yet been adopted at EU level.

The campaign’s positioning links directly to the broader policy framework. The Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021 to 2027, the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the EU comprehensive approach to mental health and the Council Recommendation on building bridges for effective European health workforce planning together provide the policy infrastructure within which the campaign operates. The framework’s coherence has been reinforced by the integration of psychosocial dimensions into recent legislative initiatives — including the Platform Work Directive’s provisions on algorithmic management and the renewed attention to telework arrangements.

The campaign’s three-year timeline allows progressive deepening of the strategic priorities. The first year focuses on awareness-raising and the identification of psychosocial risks. The second year emphasises practical implementation of prevention measures in workplaces of all sizes. The third year addresses the integration of mental health into broader OSH management systems and the operationalisation of the workplace-level reforms developed during the campaign. National focal points across all 27 Member States, plus EFTA-EEA countries, will coordinate national activities under the EU-OSHA framework.

Specific subgroups have been identified for targeted attention. Young workers, workers in atypical employment relationships, healthcare workers, education professionals and platform workers face elevated psychosocial risks and benefit from differentiated guidance. The campaign provides sector-specific resources for these populations, complementing the horizontal materials that apply across employment contexts.

The campaign’s launch coincides with broader policy attention to mental health in EU agendas. The Commission’s comprehensive approach to mental health, adopted in 2023, identified workplaces as one of the primary settings for mental health promotion. The European Year of Mental Health and Wellbeing, observed in 2024, established political momentum that the Healthy Workplaces Campaign now extends into operational practice. The integration of mental health considerations into the Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work, into Erasmus+ priorities for teacher training, and into platform work governance illustrates the cross-cutting policy direction that the campaign reflects.

EU-OSHA has signalled that the campaign will be reviewed against measurable indicators of impact. The agency will track workplace-level adoption of psychosocial risk assessments, sectoral implementation rates, and indicators of mental health awareness among workers and employers. The results will inform the development of subsequent campaigns and will provide an evidence base for legislative discussions on whether the existing framework requires reinforcement to address psychosocial risks adequately.

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