The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has invited nominations for the sixth European Good Practice Awards. The 2005 award scheme will recognize companies or organizations that have made outstanding and innovative contributions to the prevention of risks from noise at work, this year's central theme of the Agency-run annual safety and health awareness campaign.

Good practice examples are implemented solutions to prevent or reduce risks from noise to workers' safety and health. All entries should show good management, particularly the effective use of risk assessment and implementation of its findings, and be focused on successful prevention of risks to workers. Entries are invited from all European Union Member States: they can be submitted by individual enterprises (SMEs' participation is especially much welcome) or by intermediary organizations, including chambers of commerce, trade and professional associations and trade unions. The area covered is quite broad and may range from control and elimination of loud noise from the workplace and sound management methods used to enable effective communication in noisy environments (e.g. by emergency services), to training schemes and awareness-raising education programmes.

This is the sixth year of the awards, which come under the umbrella of the annual European Week for Safety and Health at Work. The Agency will announce the winners at the campaign’s closing event in December this year in Bilbao. The awards will provide the winners with European recognition for their role in improving working conditions in Europe, and the awarded examples will be presented in an Agency booklet to be distributed across Europe.

Further information about the awards will be available on-line at ew2005.osha.eu.int/.