Brussels Puts Mental Health on the Safety Agenda as Employers Count the Cost of Ignored Stress
Published on 10/21/2026 at 10:01 | Editorial boerse-global.de
European institutions are moving workplace mental health from the margins of occupational safety policy to its centre. On 13 October 2026, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) launches a three-year campaign in Brussels covering 2026 to 2028, built around a shared push for mental wellbeing at work. The European Week for Safety and Health at Work, running from 19 to 24 October 2026, will accompany the initiative.
The timing reflects a hard number: roughly 45 percent of employees across the European Union report risks to their psychological wellbeing on the job, according to EU-OSHA surveys. The agency's campaign therefore concentrates on three areas — systematically assessing and managing psychosocial hazards, protecting workers from violence and harassment, and linking physical and mental health factors inside the organisation.
A trillion-dollar bill for unaddressed strain
Globally, the economics are stark. International SOS, in a white paper, urges employers to analyse workplace hazards systematically rather than relying on traditional sickness-absence records alone. Depression and anxiety account for around twelve billion lost working days every year, the publication states, translating into a worldwide productivity loss of about one trillion US dollars.
Relying on absenteeism figures falls short, in International SOS's assessment, when work-related stressors go unnoticed beforehand. Firms that respond only once absences become visible create avoidable costs for employers and health systems alike.
Figures from the International Labour Organization (ILO) underline the scale. Psychosocial risk factors are linked to more than 840,000 deaths and almost 45 million lost healthy life years (DALYs) annually, with an estimated global cost equal to 1.37 percent of world gross domestic product. Beyond direct psychological harm, sustained psychosocial strain raises the risk of musculoskeletal disorders and, over the longer term, cardiovascular disease.
Senior staff under pressure, and still at their desks
Exhaustion and insufficient recovery cut across hierarchy levels, according to the HanseMerkur management health report, based on an Ipsos survey of 500 full-time executives in Germany conducted in August 2026. Among those questioned, 53 percent said they keep working even when they are not fit to do so. Exactly 33 percent — around one in three — had already considered giving up their leadership role.
Asked about the main burdens, respondents cited staff shortages at 42 percent, constant availability at 33 percent and high workload intensity at 30 percent. The findings suggest that prevention efforts inside companies will have to adjust organisational structures if they are to cut absence effectively and safeguard employee health over the long run.
