On 15 December 2011, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution on the mid-term review of the European strategy 2007-2012 on healthy and safety at work. The aim of this recommendation is notably to reinforce the EU legislation on health and safety at work. The Parliament first asked the Commission to insure a proper implementation of the EU legislation, to take swift action when infringements are detected and to reinforce sanctions where necessary.
Chemicals...
Regarding chemicals, the EP underlined the importance of implementation of REACH (Regulation 1907/2006) and of the need for greater synergy between REACH and occupational health and safety (OHS) policies. It notably called on the Commission to propose a revision of Directive 2004/37 on carcinogens and mutagens by the end of 2012 in order to include substances toxic for reproduction by analogy with the substances of very high concern (SVHC) under REACH, and to strengthen the application of the substitution principle.
Additionally, MEPs considered that risks from carcinogens principally affect workers in the industrial, crafts and agricultural sectors and therefore, an impact assessment must be carried out regarding the exposure of agricultural workers to chemicals.
New Technologies & Nanomaterials...
Concerning new technologies and nanomaterials, MEPs stressed that progress of research in the health sector, the constant evolving of socio-economic conditions, developments in new technologies and changes in the labour market required vigilance at EU and national level regarding the emergence of new occupational hazards and the timely updating of the relevant legislation.
In this regard, the EP requested an impact assessment of the potential risks from new technologies, harmful substances and risk factors including work organisation in the workplace as well as legislative actions to ensure that nanomaterials are fully covered by the current European OHS regulation. This means that the different legislation related to health and safety at work will have to be modified in order to include provisions on nanomaterials. In this regard, it should be recalled that the Commission recently adopted a recommendation on the definition of nanomaterial (see our previous alerter issued on this topic), which should be used for all regulatory purposes.
Specific categories of workers...
As far as specific categories of workers are concerned, MEPs pointed out that it was particularly important to ensure the protection of the health of older workers and those with disabilities and that Member States should also take into account, in their national strategies, of the gender dimension (men and women being affected to differing degrees) and the hazards associated with different types of employment contract (i.e. temporary or part-time jobs) and asked the Commission to rapidly adopt implementing legislation regarding protection of workers from risks arising from electromagnetic fields.
The EP also considered that workers who warn of OHS unacknowledged risks should be protected to prevent any pressure being exerted on them and asked the Commission to propose a new directive in this regard. Regarding stress at work, MEPs called on the Commission to take the necessary measures to ensure that the Framework Agreement on Work-related Stress (of 8 October 2004) is duly implemented in every Member State and asked social partners to raise awareness on the need to reduce work-related stress. The EP also called on the Commission to submit a proposal to the EP and the Council in 2012 seeking to ban smoking everywhere at the workplace.
