According to Jukka Takala, director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, over 450 Europeans die every day from work-related causes and six per cent of European GDP is lost because of work accidents and ill health.

Ms Takala was speaking after the conclusion of the latest workplace health and safety campaign organised by the agency which saw record levels of involvement across all the EU member states.

"With over 450 Europeans dying every day from work-related causes, and with six per cent of European GDP being lost because of work accidents and ill health, it is vital that we continue to focus on workplace health and safety," she said.

The campaign came to an end on November 17.

Throughout the campaign, the agency closely cooperated with its network of national focal points, as well as employer and worker groups, health and safety institutions, and professional organisations with which it works throughout Europe.

The risk assessment campaign, which has had backing at the highest level in Europe, emphasised the fact that the regular assessment of workplace risks is the key to health and safety management. But risk assessment is not something that needs to be complicated, bureaucratic or left to experts: rather it is something that organisations of all sizes can carry out (as the law requires them to do).

With the agency's new Risk Assessment Tools Database, which makes checklists, guidance documents and other resources, either generic or branch/risk-specific, freely available across Europe, it is now even easier to carry out risk assessments simply and efficiently. The tool is accessible at: http://osha.europa.eu/en/practical-solutions/risk-assessment-tools .

The next campaign to raise awareness on the importance of maintenance for safe and healthy workplaces will take place between 2010 and 2011 and will be officially launched on April 28 on the World Day for Safety and Health at Work.