Work and Health Risk Groups and Trends Scenario Report Commissioned by the Steering Committee on Future Health Scenarios

Will the present high work pace and the strong time pressure continue to exist in the coming 20 years? In the year 2010 will there be even more employees working under their level of education and suffering from health problems due to stress at work than is the case at the moment? Will the physical workload of employees be reduced to a minimum over the next 20 years as a result of further application of ergonomic principles? Will the health risks due to working with chemicals increase or decrease? And will sickness absenteeism and work disability have increased, as a result of these kinds of developments, around the year 2010 or will they have been mostly brought under control? These and similar questions are dealt with in this book about the quality of the work, health and wellbeing of employees in the year 2010, carried out by the TNO Institute of Preventive Health Care (NIPG/TNO) in Leiden, assisted by the Scenario Committee. Using trend analysis the researchers demonstrate that many aspects of working life have improved in the Netherlands in the last 15 years. Needless to say, not the past but the exploration of the future of the quality of working life takes a central place in this book. Finally the top 20 measures are presented, aimed at halving the rate of sickness absenteeism and work disability in the Netherlands, suggested by the panel of 88 Dutch experts.