Brussels, 20/02/2007
The results of the Fourth European Working Conditions Surveys (2005), conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, show that poor working conditions have a negative impact on the health of millions of workers in Europe. The upwards harmonisation of working conditions is consequently a key priority for Community action. The European Union's latest enlargement to 27 countries has sharply increased the gaps between Member States.
The ETUC will be commenting at a later date on the content of the new strategy for health and safety at work. Indeed, in contrast with the normal procedures applied since the first Community action plan (1978), this time the ETUC was kept in the dark about the draft versions of the communication presented today. In the past, a wide informal consultation always preceded the adoption of these programmes, with the Commission distributing a preliminary draft to the national authorities, trade unions and employers. However, for the first time, the preparation of the 2007-2012 strategy took place in the greatest secrecy. Even the Community agencies specialising in health and safety at work were kept out of the process, to say nothing of the trade union organisations and, apparently, BusinessEurope.
The ETUC considers it crucial to give the Community strategy a new impetus. The strategy implemented between 2002 and 2006 was noted for the blocking of initiatives announced by the Commission in two essential areas: the prevention of cancers of occupational origin, which each year cause many more deaths than fatal accidents in the workplace, and the prevention of repetitive strain injury (RSI), linked primarily to the organisation - and in particular the intensification - of work. RSI affects nearly one third of European workers
These issues will test the credibility of the new strategy. The ETUC calls for the revision of the existing directive on carcinogens, the adoption of binding limit values on the principal carcinogens, in particular crystalline silica, and for the adoption of a comprehensive directive on repetitive strain injury, not limited to the simple coordination of existing provisions that have already been demonstrated to be insufficient.