HOSPEEM October Newsletter is published

In this October 2022 Newsletter edition, you will read about the newly HOSPEEM-EPSU updated Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention, as the social partners are encouraging initiatives across Europe to strengthen the health workforce.

You will find also more information on:

  • EU Social Partners Cross-ectoral Work Programme 2022-2024
  • EC European Care Strategy
  • Prevention of third-party violence and harassment in the heath sector
  • Upskilling and reskilling the European healthcare workforce
  • International recruitment of health staff (UK)
  • Guidance to access health data (DK)

This newsletter also includes events and publications relevant for hospital employers:

4 October 2022: HOSPEEM Newsletter 2022 – Issue 3

Webinar 5: Protection and compensation of victims of violence or harassment

The webinar is the fifth of a series of events as part of our joint project with EPSU, CEMR, CESI, ETUCE, EUPAE, ETF, UITP, and ETNO on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at workIt took place on Friday 4 March 2022– 10:00-12:30 CET.

Draft Agenda (As of 11th February)

Presentations

Zoom recording

TPV – Webinar 5: Protection and compensation of victims of violence or harassment, 4 March 2022 – YouTube

Report

Report of the Webinar 5 – 4 March 2022

Interpretation was provided in: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian and Hungarian

EPSU also set up a page with the project-related information.

This project has received financial support from the European Union

Webinar 4: Digitalisation and third-party violence and harassment: challenges and risks

The webinar is the fourth of a series of events as part of our joint project with EPSU, CEMR, CESI, ETUCE, EUPAE, ETF, UITP, and ETNO on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at workIt took place on Thursday, 16 December 2021 – 10:00-12:30 CET.

The webinar explored the connections between digitalisation and third-party violence and harassment and aims to answer questions, including:

•           Does digitalisation or how it is implemented increase or decrease the risks of TPV?

•           How widespread is cyberviolence/harassment/bullying at work?

The project will examine and discuss the prevalence, causes and impact of third-party violence and harassment at work in the partners’ respective sectors and recent legislative and social partners’ responses to this major health and safety matter of common concern. It will aim to assess the application at the national level of 2010 Multi-sectoral Guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work and whether further actions might be needed to make its implementation more effective.

The project will focus on the following sectors: hospitals, prison services, employment services, front line workers in local and regional government, secondary schools, urban public transport as well as telecoms.

Interpretation was be provided to and from English, French, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish.

Agenda and report

Draft agenda (as of 02 December 2021)

Report Webinar 4

Presentations

Recap of Webinar 3 + Update on TPV survey, with a focus on digitalisation – Jane Pillinger, Project Consultant
Digital violence and harassment – Tim Tregenza, Senior Network Manager, EU OSHA
Upgrading protection against cyberbullying – Mathias Wouters, Postdoctoral researcher, KU Leuven

Zoom recording

EPSU also set up a page for this event

*** Back to the Joint Project Page ***

This project has received financial support from the European Union

Webinar 3: Risk assessment, an EU health and safety obligation

The webinar is the third of a series of events as part of our joint project with EPSU, CEMR, CESI, ETUCE, EUPAE, ETF, UITP, and ETNO on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at workIt will take place on Monday, 25 October 2021 – 14:00-16:30 CET.

The webinar aims to understand implementing preventative risk assessment culture regarding third-party violence and harassment at work and provides good practice examples from national social partners.

The project will examine and discuss the prevalence, causes and impact of third-party violence and harassment at work in the partners’ respective sectors and recent legislative and social partners’ responses to this major health and safety matter of common concern. It will aim to assess the application at the national level of 2010 Multi-sectoral Guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work and whether further actions might be needed to make its implementation more effective.

The project will focus on the following sectors: hospitals, prison services, employment services, front line workers in local and regional government, secondary schools, urban public transport as well as telecoms.

Interpretation will be provided to and from English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Agenda and report

Draft agenda (as of 04 October 2021)

Report Webinar 3

*** Back to the Joint Project Page ***

This project has received financial support from the European Union

Webinar 2: Gender-based violence and harassment

The webinar was the second of a series of events as part of our joint project with EPSU, CEMR, CESI, ETUCE, EUPAE, ETF, UITP, and ETNO on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work took place on 24 September 2021 – 14:00-16:30 CET.

The webinar aimed to better understand gender-based violence and its consequences on workers, to discuss prevention and management measures at the workplace while sharing initial views on the potential update of the Guidelines.

The project  examined and discussed the prevalence, causes and impact of third-party violence and harassment at work in the partners’ respective sectors and recent legislative and social partners’ responses to this major health and safety matter of common concern.

It aimed to assess the application at the national level of 2010 Multi-sectoral Guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work and whether further actions might be needed to make its implementation more effective.

The project focuses on the following sectors: hospitals, prison services, employment services, front line workers in local and regional government, secondary schools, urban public transport as well as telecoms.

Interpretation was provided to and from English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Presentations

Overview of survey responses and overview of measures against domestic violence at the workplace, Jane Pillinger, Project consultant

Ending violence and harassment in the world of work, ILO Convention 190 and Recommendation 206, presentation by Manuela Tomei, ILO

Agenda and report

Draft agenda (as of 31 August 2021)

Report webinar 2 

Materials

*** Back to the Joint Project Page ***

This project has received financial support from the European Union

Webinar 1: Setting the scene: definitions, impact and role of social dialogue  

The webinar is the first of a series of events as part of our joint project with EPSU, CEMR, CESI, ETUCE, EUPAE, ETF, UITP, and ETNO on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work will take place on Tuesday 15 June 2021 – 14:00-16:30 CET.

The webinar’s objective is to review definitions, legal frameworks, latest data available & kickoff discussion on the role of sectoral social dialogue.

The project examines and discusses the prevalence, causes and impact of third-party violence and harassment at work in the partners’ respective sectors as well as recent legislative and social partners’ responses to this major health and safety matter of common concern.

It will aim to assess the application at the national level of 2010 Multi-sectoral Guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work and whether further actions might be needed to make its implementation more effective. 

The project focus is on the following sectors: hospitals, prison services, employment services, front line workers in local and regional government, secondary schools, urban public transport as well as telecoms. 

Interpretation was provided to and from English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Presentations:

Project overview by Jane Pillinger, Project consultant

Evidence on violence and harassment at work from the European Working Conditions Survey, by Agnes Parent Thirion with Julie Vanderleyden, Eurofound

Draft agenda (as of 07 May 2021)

Webinar 1 report

*** Back to the Joint Project Page ***

This project has received financial support from the European Union

The year 2020 at a glance : HOSPEEM Activity report

2020 has been an eventful year ensuring that the views of hospital and healthcare employers are being heard at the highest level. The HOSPEEM Activity Report 2020 is published and presents the main activities carried out during the year (page 3,4,5) as well as relevant information on the structure and membership of HOSPEEM.

Firstly, HOSPEEM published a collection of challenges and lessons learnt in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, providing a first insight into hospital and healthcare employers’ experiences. HOSPEEM believes that long-term investments are of vital importance to sustaining a resilient healthcare system and society as a whole.

Secondly, the Eurofound representativeness study for the Hospital Sector was published, confirming that HOSPEEM remains the most representative hospital employer association on the EU level. HOSPEEM called for political support from European institutions to strengthen capacity building of sectoral social partners to be represented in the European sectoral social dialogue.

Thirdly, HOSPEEM and the signatories of the Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence (TPV) and harassment related to work published a statement on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the guidelines in 2020.

Download the report 2020

CALL FOR TENDER – Subcontracting external expertise

Open call for tender for research on the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work

Date of publication on the project partners’ website: 02 March 2021
Deadline for submissions: closed

Download the Call for Tender

TENDER SPECIFICATIONS FOR SUBCONTRACTING EXTERNAL EXPERTISE

1. Background

The research being contracted is part of a project entitled The role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work, which has received financial support from the European Commission under budget line 04.03.01.08 and which runs until 28 February 2023.

The project is coordinated by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and involves HOSPEEM, CEMR, CESI as co-applicants and ETF, ETNO, ETUCE, EUPAE, UITP as associated organisations. The project aims to assess the effectiveness at the national level of the EU Multi-sectoral social partners’ guidelines to tackle and prevent third-party violence and harassment related to work (2010), hereafter the Guidelines.

It will identify areas for improvements and explore possibilities for reviewing the Guidelines’ content and nature considering recent legislative developments and the ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment (2019). It will also aim to be an awareness-raising tool on a gender-sensitive approach to violence and harassment at the workplace.

It will include a mix of capacity-building among EU sectoral social partners and evidence-based policy recommendations addressed to the project partners, their members, and public authorities. It will consist of two European conferences with sectoral break-out discussions and seven webinars. The project focuses on public services, i.e., government, hospitals, education, public transport, supported by examples drawn from the private sector (telecoms), allowing to compare sectoral specificities and produce general policy recommendations. All are signatories to the Guidelines except public transport and telecoms, which have their sectoral agreements.

2. Purpose of the contract

Support is being sought from a researcher or a team of researchers to help facilitate the project run by the EU social partners EPSU, HOSPEEM, CEMR and CESI (project applicants). The contractor(s) will carry out comparative research on the prevalence and causes of third-party violence and harassment in the targeted sectors across the EU, legislative and social partner responses and assessment of the Guidelines’ effectiveness. The research will help social partners draw up their conclusions on how to improve the Guidelines’ implementation and, if necessary, based upon evidence, the guidelines’ content and nature. They will be in close contact with the project applicants via the Steering Group to ensure that the appropriate initial research is prepared and presented in due course. The final research report is useful for European organisations and their affiliates to improve preventive and response measures. The researchers will also assist with the organisation of the project webinars and conferences and with the coordination of the project to ensure practical outcomes.

3. Tasks to be performed by the contractor

The role and responsibilities of the researcher(s) and the preferred methodology for executing the tasks will be described in the following sections:

3.1 Research outline

The research will provide an overview of the current situation and draw up recommendations in close consultation with the project partners. It will examine:

  • Effectiveness and usefulness of the Guidelines in the abovementioned sectors and comparing with the situation in the two sectors which apply other sectoral instruments;
  • Relevant legislative, collective agreements and other instruments such as the ILO Convention 190;
  • The relationship between external and internal violence and harassment and whether both should be tackled separately;
  • Risk factors, e.g., human and material resources, dealing with vulnerable citizens, handling cash, quality and availability of services, discrimination (real or perceived), type of employment contracts, social cohesion at the workplace, working alone, digitalisation, sparse social dialogue, outsourcing, broader socio-economic factors;
  • Protection of and compensation for victims of violence and harassment and sanctions of perpetrators;
  • Preventive instruments, such as legislation, collective bargaining, data collection, risk assessments, reporting and follow-up, training of workers and management, health and safety and labour-related bodies.

3.2 Description of tasks

  • Participating in the project partners’ Steering Group meetings, the seven webinars and two conferences;
  • Assisting in the organisation of the webinars and conferences. This may include the moderation of various sessions during the events.
  • Liaising with the project partners in exploring and finding direct or indirect potential contacts from relevant employers’ organisations and trade unions in targeted countries and sectors to conduct comparative research;
  • Contacting representatives from national social partner organisations in the targeted sector and providing information on the project in cooperation with the respective project partners;
  • Drafting the survey addressed to national social partner organisations in the sector in the targeted countries after liaising with the project partners;
  • Identifying good practices from national social partners after liaising with the project partners;
  • Conducting targeted interviews/ testimonials with key opinion leaders of targeted sectors after liaising with the project partners;
  • Collecting and organising responses to the survey;
  • Drafting the content of the research report based on three main outcomes: 1.) responses collected via the survey, 2) information provided by participants and speakers during the webinars and conferences and 3) desk research;
  • Presenting the draft research report at the first conference;
  • Finalising the research report in coordination with project partners;
  • Presenting the final research report at the second conference.

3.3 Guidance and indications on tasks execution and methodology

The project will consist of comparative research on the prevalence and causes of third-party violence and harassment at work in the targeted sectors across the EU, legislative and social

partner responses and assessment of the Guidelines’ effectiveness. The researchers are expected to conduct quantitative research, such as a working-population based survey taking into account national specificities of the various sectors, as well as already

existing European databases, such as the European Working Conditions Survey and the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks.

The project partners foresee that the targeted countries be spread across the European Union, with two countries per region (North, East, South, Central and West). The targeted sectors correspond with those covered by the project partners, such as education (i.e. secondary schools), hospitals, prisons, employment services, urban public transport and administrative functions in local regional governments, after consultation with the researchers. Further to the quantitative analysis, the researcher should conduct at least four semi-structured or open-ended interviews with key opinion leaders in their respective sectors, which will provide direct examples of affected sectors. The interviews will be for communication purposes of the project applicants.

4. Expertise required

  • At least three years of experience in the fields of occupational safety and health, including psychosocial risks, third-party violence and harassment at work, and gender equality, preferably with an understanding of national and European social dialogue;
  • Familiar with the Multi-sectoral Guidelines, ILO Convention 190 and other relevant  European and international instruments regarding prevention of violence and harassment at work;
  • The researchers should be or be able to become familiar with the project partners’ publications on third-party violence.

5. Timetable

The project duration is from 1 March 2021 until 28 February 2023. The draft research report must be made available no less than two weeks before the first conference. The researchers will present and test initial findings at the mid-term technical conference on 19 November 2021 (date TBC). They will use them to finetune research angles and carry out targeted interviews of project delegates. The researcher should finalise the draft of the research four weeks before the political conference on 25 November 2022 and finalise the report by 1 December 2022, taking into account the proceedings of the webinars and both conferences.

6. Price

The total budget for the research is 35 000,00 EUR (all taxes and charges included). The contractor’s travel and accommodation expenses to attend any of the project events and meet with the project partners will be covered separately from the project’s overall travel and accommodation budget.

7. Payments

EPSU will sign a contract with the subcontracted researcher(s). Payments will be made in three instalments depending on the contractors carrying out the relevant stages of the work in accordance with the contract. The first payment of 20% of the contract value on the contract’s signature, a further payment of 40% of the contract value on completion of initial findings of the research two weeks before the mid-term technical conference on 19 November 2021, and a final payment of 40% upon completion of the research report by 1 December 2022.

8. Selection criteria:

  • Verifiable expertise, experience and skills, as required and described above;
  • Proven knowledge/ evidence/track record of research (supported by publications, academic articles etc.) on sectoral social dialogue, in particular focusing on the targeted sectors;
  • Respect of the budgetary constraints and timeline.

9. Award criteria

The contract will be awarded to the tenderer whose offer represents the best value for money – taking into account the selection criteria. The principles of transparency and equal treatment to avoid any conflict of interest will be respected. It should be noted that the contract will not be awarded to a tenderer who receives less than 70% on the selection criteria.

10. Content and presentation of the bids

Tenders must be written in English. They must be signed by the tenderer or duly authorised representative and legible so that there can be no doubt about words and figures. Tenders must be clear and concise, demonstrating that they are able to meet the requirements of the specifications. All tenders must include at least two sections:

i) Technical proposal

The technical proposal must provide all the information needed for awarding the contract, including:

  • Description of relevant professional experience with an emphasis on the specific fields covered by invitation to tender;
  • All information and documents necessary to enable the project partners to appraise the bid based on the selection and award criteria set out above;
  • A detailed CV of the expert(s) involved in the project activities;
  • Specific information concerning the proposed methodology for delivering the tasks listed in part 2.

ii) Financial proposal

Prices of the financial proposal must be quoted in euros, including if the sub-contractor is based in a country that is not in the euro-area. As far as the tenderers of those countries are concerned, they cannot change the bid’s amount because of the exchange rate evolution. The tenderers choose the exchange rate and assume all risks or opportunities relating to the rate fluctuation. Prices shall be fixed and not subject to revision during the performance of the contract.

11. Selection of the bids

Offers must be received within 30 days of the date of publication of this call for tender by EPSU, i.e., by 2 April 2021. This call for tender is closed.

EPSU also has set up a page for this call for tender.

This project has received financial support from the European Union

*** Back to the main project webpage ***

Multi-sectoral project on “the role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work

HOSPEEM, EPSU, CEMR, CESI as co-applicants and ETF, ETNO, ETUCE, EUPAE, UITP as associated organisations have been provided with financial support from the European Commission for a joint project in the field of social dialogue: “The role of social partners in preventing third-party violence and harassment at work” in the years 2021 and 2023 (VS/2021/0046).

Aims and objectives

The project aims to assess the effectiveness at the national level of the EU Multi-sectoral social partners’ guidelines to tackle and prevent third-party violence and harassment related to work (2010), hereafter the Guidelines. It will identify areas for improvements and explore possibilities for reviewing the Guidelines’ content and nature considering recent legislative developments and the ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment (2019). It will also aim to be an awareness-raising tool on a gender-sensitive approach to violence and harassment at the workplace.

It will include a mix of capacity-building among EU sectoral social partners and evidence-based policy recommendations addressed to the project partners, their members, and public authorities. It will consist of two European conferences with sectoral break-out discussions, seven webinars.

The project focuses on the public services sector, i.e., government, hospitals, education, public transport, supported by examples drawn from the private sector, allowing to compare sectoral specificities and produce general policy recommendations.

Implementation of the action

The project will run for 24 months. This will allow the delivery of a full project cycle, including preparatory activities, implementing the work plan, and disseminating results. The project foresees the organisation of  webinars and conferences.

Webinar 1: 15 June 2021 on setting the scene of the project

Webinar 2: 24 September 2021 on gender-based violence and harassment

Webinar 3: 25 October 2021 on risk assessment, an EU health and safety obligation

Webinar 4: 16 December 2021 on digitalisation and third-party violence and harassment: challenges and risks

Webinar 5: 4 March 2022 on protection and compensation of victims of violence or harassment

Webinar 6: 13 June 2022 : Brainstorming on how to improve the 2010 social partner multisectoral guidelines on prevention of third-party violence and harassment

Final conference: 25 November 2022, Madrid

Documentation

Call for tender (Closed)

Project description

EPSU will also set up a page with the project-related information.

This project has received financial support from the European Union

Commitment to the WHO Charter on Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety

Brussels, 16 November

HOSPEEM expresses its commitment to the World Health Organizations’ Charter on Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety. We agree that the health, safety, and well-being of health workers is a prerequisite for an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides the already mentioned key measures, HOSPEEM commits to the following:

1. Establish synergies between health worker safety and patient safety policies and strategies.

Aim to ensure the health workers’ safety when implementing the HOSPEEM-EPSU Joint Declaration on CPD and LLL for All Health Workers in the EU, which has been adopted in 2016.

2. Develop and implement national programmes for better occupational health and safety of health workers.

Updating the HOSPEEM-EPSU Framework of Actions on Recruitment and Retention (2010) with lessons’ learnt from COVID-19 and previous joint projects on occupational safety and health.

3. Protect health workers from violence in the workplace.

Promote the implementation of the Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work, signed in 2010 and reaffirmed in 2020.

4. Improve mental health and psychological well-being of the health workforce.

Collect lessons learnt from national sectoral social partners in the hospital sector in the context of COVID-19 and create space for the exchange of good practices on improving mental health and the psychological well-being of the health workforce.

5. Protect health workers from physical and biological hazards.

Monitoring the developments of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive 2004/37/EC concerning the inclusion of hazardous medicinal products and cytotoxic substances as well as the development of non-binding measures in this regard.

Active participation as Official Campaign Partner in the EU-OSHA Healthy Workplace Campaign Lighten the Load (2020-2022).

Promoting the implementation of the Medical Sharps Directive 2010/32/EU in the European Member States by strengthening synergies with other relevant stakeholders.

Aim to ensure availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), relevant to the roles and tasks performed, in adequate quantity, of appropriate fit and acceptable quality.

Download the HOSPEEM committment to the WHOs’ Charter on Health Worker Safety (Pdf)

Nb: WHO invites all Member States, intergovernmental organizations, international organizations and relevant stakeholders to support and endorse this charter by signing up.

WHO technical resources – useful links:

Image credits: Courtesy of the World Health Organisation, 2020