The celebration of the 1st of May has been this year devoted to the workers struggle for safer working conditions all over the world.

Committed to this endeavour, this issue ofJECH is very much focused on occupational health. Several papers from Spain and Sweden highlight, with examples, the potential clues and the challenges in expanding the kind of research needed for modern occupational health.

The society of the 21st century, greatly shaped by new information technologies, has a conflict between the current high rates of occupational hazards and the widespread societal values of high quality and accuracy. Bad luck or random variables do not cause occupational injuries. The old objective of only compensate or cure the worker's illness has been overcome in recent years by the more ambitious idea of preventing occupational risks and promoting …