On 8 and 9 November 2022, esteemed representatives of the EU, the MEM, NHC, several Chinese enterprises as well as German federal OSH institutions participated in the 12th EU-China Dialogue, this year serendipitously discussing Work Safety. While the first day focused primarily on OSH policy and newest developments and their implications for policymakers and enterprises, on the second day representatives of the DGUV, the MEM, NIOHP and also EU shared their experiences with this particular project.
The project discussion started with welcome addresses by Feng Xin, the Director of the Department of Investigation, Assessment and Statistics of the MEM, Zhang Hongbo, the Chief Inspector of the Department of Occupational Health of the NHC, Maria Iglesia Gomez, the acting Director of the Working Conditions and Social Dialogue within the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission, Dr. Gregor Kemper, the Director of International Relations of the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) Germany, and Adrian Bazavan, the Project Manager in the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments of the Delegation of the European Union to China. Feng Xin and Matthias FRITZ, Socio-Economic Analyst at the Health and Safety at Work unit within the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission then presented how to use data for evidence based policy making in China and the EU.
The technical discussion then started with Wang Yi, the DGUVs Project Manager, and Christian Hecht, Statistical Expert of the Directorate Office of the DGUV, Fan Shao, Section Chief of the Energy & Safety Division within the Information Institute of MEM (IIEM), Wang Shaoying, General Manager of the Guangxi Liuzhou Construction Engineering Group, Zhang Meibian of the National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control (NIOHP) within the China CDC, and Nie Yunfeng of the Hunan Prevention and Treatment Institute for Occupational Diseases sharing their experiences with the pilot project so far.
The day then concluded with an assessment and outlook on the project, presented by Maria Iglesia Gomez and Yin Mingyu, Deputy Director-General for Bilateral Cooperation at the Department of International Cooperation and Rescue within the MEM.
The Dialogue can be considered a full success as every participant was very pleased with the exchange. In fact, several presenters on the Chinese side even shared their experience of how their teams working with the DGUV as part of this project have initiated studies into how the cooperation can help with their own work, such as:
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Nie Yunfeng of the Hunan Prevention and Treatment Institute for Occupational Diseases reporting on Research Progress on Early Symptom Monitoring and Risk Assessment Methods of Occupational Health Hazards in Hunan,
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Zhang Meibian of the National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control (NIOHP) within the China CDC reporting on the paper-based Pretest conducted by NIOHP after development of the methodology,
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Wang Shaoying of Guangxi Liuzhou Construction Engineering Group indicating an interest to spread the expertise obtained through the new methodology by explaing that the Guangxi Liuzhou Construction Engineering Group sends their staff to the trainings with the plan for these staff to transfer the obtained knowledge to other staff.
