Occupational Health Plan: publication of a White Paper entitled “For a national research strategy on occupational health”
Occupational health research plays a central role in improving knowledge of workplace risks, preventing adverse effects on the health of workers and supporting the development of public policies.
Since the first Occupational Health Plan was introduced in 2005, significant progress has been made, including the creation of the National Research Programme for Environmental and Occupational Health (PNR EST) in 2006, the establishment of the national doctoral course in occupational health (PDNST) in 2016, and increased coordination between institutional stakeholders and prevention bodies.
Nevertheless, many issues still call for further reflection and action, for example with regard to prioritisation, coordination, funding and visibility of this field of research, in a professional world marked by the rise of new forms of employment related to the development of digital technologies and artificial intelligence and the impact of climate change. This finding, set out in Objective 7 of the fourth Occupational Health Plan (2021–2025), gave rise to the production of this White Paper.
Coordinated by ANSES, this work brought together a multidisciplinary, inter-institutional group comprising several ministries (Labour, Health, Agriculture, Civil Service), the National Research and Safety Institute (INRS), the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (ANACT), Santé publique France (SPF) and DARES, as well as academic partners – the School for Advanced Studies in Public Health (EHESP) for the PDNST course, the International Research Chair in Comparative Studies on Occupational Health (CIECST), and the Study Group on Work and Occupational Health (GIS GESTES).
These efforts helped to establish an overview of the challenges facing French occupational health research, including researcher training, coordination, the identification of priorities, funding, evaluation, dissemination and access to data.
Based on its discussions, the group put forward several recommendations focusing on five main lines of action:
- reinforce the collective structuring of this field of research, in particular by establishing a permanent coordination body and developing interdisciplinary scientific ecosystems,
- secure the long-term future of the PDNST,
- promote easy and secure access to occupational health data,
- ensure long-term and transparent research funding,
- develop common dissemination strategies to improve the national and international visibility of French work on the subject.
Through these recommendations addressed to the public authorities, funding bodies, research institutions and all prevention stakeholders, this White Paper seeks to establish occupational health as a more structured and attractive field of scientific research that is better able to anticipate emerging workplace risks.
Several of these recommendations will be implemented through the new 2026–2030 Occupational Health Plan with regard to the effective structuring of occupational health research in response to new challenges in this area.
Find out more about the French occupational health strategy