IMOSHION · IMproving Occupational Safety & Health in European SMEs with help of simulatION and Virtual Reality

5,720 people die yearly in the European Union as a consequence of work-related accidents, according to EUROSTAT figures (2005). Beside human losses, these incidents cost SMEs time and the availability of specific human expertise which directly translates into money and competitiveness.Moreover, to reduce time to market, shorter decision times and high speed productivity are demanded, and this might potentially lead to more risks for safety and health. On the other hand, and although occupational safety and health (OSH) regulations are obligatory and enforced by legal authorities, SMEs have limited resources in time, money and personnel, so it tends to be not regarded as a priority.Therefore, it seems necessary to stimulate awareness and to provide European SMEs with modern and user-friendly tools to support their understanding and compliance of OSH regulations. The IMOSHION project will establish novel methods to enhance SMEs productivity at both organisational and technological levels through better integration of OSH into their daily workflow. The project is targeting all manufacturing sectors (e.g. construction, machine building, metal working, aerospace, food industry) for which OSH concerns are the most challenging.Initial work will be carried out to elicit the technological requirements of SMEs by providing the RTD performers with a further definition of the tools to be developed. The RTD performers in collaboration with the SME associations will develop the set of OSH-related tools of the IMOSHION project. This will include (a) an OSH knowledge and learning management system, (b) a workplace simulation for experimenting and training on OSH issues, (c) an immersive training and learning tool for OSH procedures, and (d) a planning tool for OSH prevention at workstation and workplace levels. The SME associations will support validation, training as well as dissemination activities to transfer the project results to their SME members and beyond.