Desde la primera Conferencia Internacional de Enfermería en Salud Ocupacional, celebrada en 1986 en Edimburgo, y otros eventos ocurridos en la pasada década, se evidenció el deseo de las Asociaciones de Enfermería en Salud Laboral europeas de trabajar juntas. Es en el año 1993 cuando se toma, en Windsor, la decisión de formar FOHNEU, marcando el comienzo formal de éste movimiento en Europa.

Consecuentemente la Federación ha sido reconocida por la Comisión Europea, poniendo en marcha un primer programa de actuación, que fue asumido por los miembros del Parlamento y de la Comisión Europea. Posteriormente ha sido nombrado Grupo Especializado del Comité Permanente de Enfermería en la Unión Europea

La FOHNEU ha entregado al Comité Asesor de Formación de Enfermería un núcleo curricular común para la formación de la Enfermería en Salud Laboral en los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea.

The formation of the Federation of Occupational Health Nurses within the European Union (fohneu), representing as it does some 45.000 nurses in Member States, is the culmination of a decade of striving to bring closer together those whose concern is the health and safety of people in the workplace.

Since the first International Occupational Health Nursing (ohn) conference in 1986 in Edinburgh, and a number of other events the past decade has been characterised by the growing desire of ohn's to work more closer together. In 1993 the decision at Windsor, England, to form fohneu marked the formal beginning of this European movement. Subsequently fohneu's recognition by the European Commission (CEC) together with funding for a programme of action, encouragement from Euro-Members of Parliament and Commissioners, including the office of Jacques Santer President of the cec, clearly shows that significant progress has been made. More recently fohneu has become a Specialist Group of the pcn (the Standing Committee of Nurses in the Eu) further demonstration what has been achieved in just over two years

The report to dg v of the cec, on fohneu's first action programme, draws attention to the specialist Common Core Curriculum presently being considered by actn (the Advisory Committee on Nurse training) This could provide a mechanism for basic ohn education and training in most Member States and in other European countries. The pcn put particular emphasis on the latter in its concern for a "Wider Platform for Nurses in Europe".

The first major European ohn congress, to take place in September 1997 in Brussels, will give further confirmation of fohneu's developing significance. The fundamental aim of the Federation is to contribute to improving the health care of people at work. The information shared about conditions of work and the extent to which Europe's nurses can and are playing a part in raising standards will be the ultimate measure of our success.