With the final conference of their joint EU-funded project, held from 16-18 June 2025, the European sectoral social partners in Personal Services – UNI Europa and Coiffure EU – have marked a new chapter in improving occupational health and safety (OSH) in one of Europe’s most fragmented service sectors.
The conference brought together employers and trade unionists from across Europe, representatives from DG EMPL, industry stakeholders, as well as economists, labour sociologists, experts on circular economy and occupational health. Their shared goal: to assess what’s been achieved, what’s next and how the hairdressing sector can remain both safe and sustainable.
Hairdressers – largely young women working in small or micro-enterprises – face daily exposure to chemical substances, poor ventilation and physically repetitive work. In response, UNI Europa and Coiffure EU have led the implementation of a Framework Agreement supported financially and institutionally by the European Commission over the past ten years. This has demonstrated that autonomous social dialogue can deliver fast, targeted results.
The project, which was set up to monitor and further the implementation of the Framework Agreement, produced a comprehensive action plan containing tangible tools: multilingual health and safety guidelines tailored for small businesses, sector-specific ergonomic standards and personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines, including chemical-resistant gloves now recognised as Category III PPE under EU law. Initiatives like SafeHair and ERGOHair were integrated into the EU-OSHA Healthy Workplaces Campaign, and added to OSHwiki – extending their impact across sectors.
Scientific collaboration was central. Research revealed that standard consumer risk models underestimate the real daily exposure of professionals. Based on this evidence, the social part
ners submitted new recommendations to the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). The hairdressing glove standard, developed at both European (CEN) and international (ISO) levels and currently awaiting a positive vote, sets specific requirements for protective gloves to safeguard hairdressers from occupational exposure to harmful substances.
At the conference, Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, congratulated the work of the social partners: “There is no workplace too fragmented to protect, and no work too unimportant. Social dialogue and collective bargaining simplify EU regulation and strengthen our resilience. If we empower social partners to negotiate solutions close to the workplace, they can respond immediately – not years later.”
As the EU faces major transitions – green, digital, demographic – and with psycho-social risks and labor shortages on the rise, it must support flexible, worker-driven policy tools. UNI Europa and Coiffure EU are ready to tackle the next frontier.
Further resources:
Guido de Jongh – Protective Gloves for Hairdressers
EU-OSHA – Developments in Hairdressers’ Health and Safety
Stephanie Hodgson – Craft, care and circularity: Rethinking a just transition for hairdressing
Maximilian Weiß – Determinants of Pricing in the Hairdressing Sector in Response to Large Cost and Demand Shocks