1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 1
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►B COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of12June1989
ontheintroductionofmeasurestoencourageimprovementsinthesafetyandhealthofworkersat
work
(89/391/EEC)
(OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1)
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 275, 5.10.1990, p. 42 (89/391/EEC)
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COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of12June1989
on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements inthe
safetyandhealthofworkersatwork
(89/391/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 118a thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), drawn upafter
consultation with the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene andHealth Protection at Work,
In cooperation with the European Parliament (
2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (3),
Whereas Article 118a of the Treaty provides that the Council shall
adopt, by means of Directives, minimum requirements for encouraging
improvements, especially in the working environment, to guarantee a
better level of protection of the safety and health of workers;
Whereas this Directive does not justify any reduction in levels of
protection already achieved in individual Member States, the MemberState being committed, under the Treaty, to encouraging improvementsin conditions in this area and to harmonizing conditions while main-taining the improvements made;
Whereas it is known that workers can be exposed to the effects of
dangerous environmental factors at the work place during the course
of their working life;
Whereas, pursuant to Article 118a of the Treaty, such Directives must
avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints whichwould hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;
Whereas the communication from the Commission on its programme
concerning safety, hygiene and health at work(
4) provides for the adop-
tion of Directives designed to guarantee the safety and health of
workers;
Whereas the Council, in its resolution of 21 December 1987 on safety,
hygiene and health at work(5), took note of the Commission's intention
to submit to the Council in the near future a Directive on the organiza-tion of the safety and health of workers at the work place;
Whereas in February 1988 the European Parliament adopted four reso-
lutions following the debate on the internal market and workerprotection; whereas these resolutions specifically invited the Commis-sion to draw upa framework Directive to serve as a basis for more
specific Directives covering all the risks connected with safety and
health at the work place;
Whereas Member States have a responsibility to encourage improve-
ments in the safety and health of workers on their territory; whereastaking measures to protect the health and safety of workers at workalso helps, in certain cases, to preserve the health and possibly thesafety of persons residing with them;
Whereas Member States' legislative systems covering safety and health
at the work place differ widely and need to be improved; whereas1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 141, 30. 5. 1988, p. 1.
(2) OJ No C 326, 19. 12. 1988, p. 102, and OJ No C 158, 26. 6. 1989.
(3) OJ No C 175, 4. 7. 1988, p. 22.
(4) OJ No C 28, 3. 2. 1988, p. 3.
(5) OJ No C 28, 3. 2. 1988, p. 1.
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national provisions on the subject, which often include technical speci-
fications and/ or self-regulatory standards, may result in different levelsof safety and health protection and allow competition at the expense of
safety and health;
Whereas the incidence of accidents at work and occupational diseases
is still too high; whereas preventive measures must be introduced or
improved without delay in order to safeguard the safety and health ofworkers and ensure a higher degree of protection;
Whereas, in order to ensure an improved degree of protection, workers
and/ or their representatives must be informed of the risks to theirsafety and health and of the measures required to reduce or eliminatethese risks; whereas they must also be in a position to contribute, bymeans of balanced participation in accordance with national laws and/
or practices, to seeing that the necessary protective measures are taken;
Whereas information, dialogue and balanced participation on safety and
health at work must be developed between employers and workers and/
or their representatives by means of appropriate procedures and instru-
ments, in accordance with national laws and/ or practices;
Whereas the improvement of workers' safety, hygiene and health at
work is an objective which should not be subordinated to purelyeconomic considerations;
Whereas employers shall be obliged to keep themselves informed of
the latest advances in technology and scientific findings concerningwork-place design, account being taken of the inherent dangers in theirundertaking, and to inform accordingly the workers' representativesexercising participation rights under this Directive, so as to be able to
guarantee a better level of protection of workers' health and safety;
Whereas the provisions of this Directive apply, without prejudice to
more stringent present or future Community provisions, to all risks,
and in particular to those arising from the use at work of chemical,
physical and biological agents covered by Directive 80/1107/EEC (
1),
as last amended by Directive 88/642/EEC (2);
Whereas, pursuant to Decision 74/325/EEC (3), the Advisory
Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work isconsulted by the Commission on the drafting of proposals in this field;
Whereas a Committee composed of members nominated by the
Member States needs to be set upto assist the Commission in makingthe technical adaptations to the individual Directives provided for inthis Directive.
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
SECTION I
GENERALPROVISIONS
Article 1
Object
1. The object of this Directive is to introduce measures to encourage
improvements in the safety and health of workers at work.
2. To that end it contains general principles concerning the preven-
tion of occupational risks, the protection of safety and health, theelimination of risk and accident factors, the informing, consultation,balanced participation in accordance with national laws and/ or prac-tices and training of workers and their representatives, as well asgeneral guidelines for the implementation of the said principles.1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 327, 3. 12. 1980, p. 8.
(2) OJ No L 356, 24. 12. 1988, p. 74.
(3) OJ No L 185, 9. 7. 1974, p. 15.
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3. This Directive shall be without prejudice to existing or future
national and Community provisions which are more favourable toprotection of the safety and health of workers at work.
Article 2
Scope
1. This Directive shall apply to all sectors of activity, both public
and private (industrial, agricultural, commercial, administrative,service, educational, cultural, leisure, etc.).
2. This Directive shall not be applicable where characteristics pecu-
liar to certain specific public service activities, such as the armedforces or the police, or to certain specific activities in the civil protec-tion services inevitably conflict with it.
In that event, the safety and health of workers must be ensured as far
as possible in the light of the objectives of this Directive.
Article 3
Definitions
For the purposes of this Directive, the following terms shall have the
following meanings:
(a) worker: any person employed by an employer, including trainees
and apprentices but excluding domestic servants;
(b) employer: any natural or legal person who has an employment rela-
tionshipwith the worker and has resp onsibility for the undertakingand/ or establishment;
(c) workers' representative with specific responsibility for the safety
and health of workers: any person elected, chosen or designated inaccordance with national laws and/ or practices to representworkers where problems arise relating to the safety and healthprotection of workers at work;
(d) prevention: all the steps or measures taken or planned at all stages
of work in the undertaking to prevent or reduce occupational risks.
Article 4
1. Member States shall take the necessary steps to ensure that
employers, workers and workers' representatives are subject to the legalprovisions necessary for the implementation of this Directive.
2. In particular, Member States shall ensure adequate controls and
supervision.
SECTION II
EMPLOYERS'OBLIGATIONS
Article 5
General provision
1. The employer shall have a duty to ensure the safety and health of
workers in every aspect related to the work.
2. Where, pursuant to Article 7 (3), an employer enlists competent
external services or persons, this shall not discharge him from his
responsibilities in this area.
3. The workers' obligations in the field of safety and health at work
shall not affect the principle of the responsibility of the employer.
4. This Directive shall not restrict the option of Member States to
provide for the exclusion or the limitation of employers' responsibilitywhere occurrences are due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances,beyond the employers' control, or to exceptional events, the conse-quences of which could not have been avoided despite the exercise ofall due care.1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 4
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Member States need not exercise the option referred to in the first
subparagraph.
Article 6
General obligationsonemployers
1. Within the context of his responsibilities, the employer shall take
the measures necessary for the safety and health protection of workers,
including prevention of occupational risks and provision of information
and training, as well as provision of the necessary organization andmeans.
The employer shall be alert to the need to adjust these measures to take
account of changing circumstances and aim to improve existing situa-tions.
2. The employer shall implement the measures referred to in the
first subparagraph of paragraph 1 on the basis of the following generalprinciples of prevention:
(a) avoiding risks;
(b) evaluating the risks which cannot be avoided:
(c) combating the risks at source;
(d) adapting the work to the individual, especially as regards the design
of work places, the choice of work equipment and the choice of
working and production methods, with a view, in particular, to alle-
viating monotonous work and work at a predetermined work-rateand to reducing their effect on health.
(e) adapting to technical progress;
(f) replacing the dangerous by the non-dangerous or the less
dangerous;
(g) developing a coherent overall prevention policy which covers tech-
nology, organization of work, working conditions, social
relationships and the influence of factors related to the workingenvironment;
(h) giving collective protective measures priority over individual
protective measures;
(i) giving appropriate instructions to the workers.
3. Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Directive, the
employer shall, taking into account the nature of the activities of theenterprise and/ or establishment:
(a) evaluate the risks to the safety and health of workers, inter alia in
the choice of work equipment, the chemical substances or prepara-tions used, and the fitting-out of work places.
Subsequent to this evaluation and as necessary, the preventive
measures and the working and production methods implementedby the employer must:
— assure an improvement in the level of protection afforded to
workers with regard to safety and health,
— be integrated into all the activities of the undertaking and/ or
establishment and at all hierarchical levels;
(b) where he entrusts tasks to a worker, take into consideration the
worker's capabilities as regards health and safety;
(c) ensure that the planning and introduction of new technologies are
the subject of consultation with the workers and/ or their represen-
tatives, as regards the consequences of the choice of equipment, the
working conditions and the working environment for the safety andhealth of workers;
(d) take appropriate steps to ensure that only workers who have
received adequate instructions may have access to areas wherethere is serious and specific danger.1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 5
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4. Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Directive, where
several undertakings share a work place, the employers shall cooperatein implementing the safety, health and occupational hygiene provisions
and, taking into account the nature of the activities, shall coordinate
their actions in matters of the protection and prevention of occupationalrisks, and shall inform one another and their respective workers and/ orworkers' representatives of these risks.
5. Measures related to safety, hygiene and health at work may in no
circumstances involve the workers in financial cost.
Article 7
Protective andpreventive services
1. Without prejudice to the obligations referred to in Articles 5 and
6, the employer shall designate one or more workers to carry out activ-ities related to the protection and prevention of occupational risks forthe undertaking and/ or establishment.
2. Designated workers may not be placed at any disadvantage
because of their activities related to the protection and prevention ofoccupational risks.
Designated workers shall be allowed adequate time to enable them to
fulfil their obligations arising from this Directive.
3. If such protective and preventive measures cannot be organized
for lack of competent personnel in the undertaking and/ or establish-
ment, the employer shall enlist competent external services or persons.
4. Where the employer enlists such services or persons, he shall
inform them of the factors known to affect, or suspected of affecting,the safety and health of the workers and they must have access to the
information referred to in Article 10 (2).
5. In all cases:
— the workers designated must have the necessary capabilities and the
necessary means,
— the external services or persons consulted must have the necessary
aptitudes and the necessary personal and professional means, and
— the workers designated and the external services or persons
consulted must be sufficient in number
to deal with the organization of protective and preventive measures,
taking into account the size of the undertaking and/ or establishment
and/ or the hazards to which the workers are exposed and their distri-
bution throughout the entire undertaking and/ or establishment.
6. The protection from, and prevention of, the health and safety risks
which form the subject of this Article shall be the responsibility of one
or more workers, of one service or of separate services whether from
inside or outside the undertaking and/ or establishment.
The worker(s) and/ or agency(ies) must work together whenever neces-
sary.
7. Member States may define, in the light of the nature of the activ-
ities and size of the undertakings, the categories of undertakings inwhich the employer, provided he is competent, may himself takeresponsibility for the measures referred to in paragraph 1.
8. Member States shall define the necessary capabilities and apti-
tudes referred to in paragraph 5.
They may determine the sufficient number referred to in paragraph 5.1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 6
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Article 8
First aid, fire-fighting and evacuation of workers, serious and
imminentdanger
1. The employer shall:
— take the necessary measures for first aid, fire-fighting and evacua-
tion of workers, adapted to the nature of the activities and the sizeof the undertaking and/ or establishment and taking into accountother persons present,
— arrange any necessary contacts with external services, particularly
as regards first aid, emergency medical care, rescue work and fire-fighting.
2. Pursuant to paragraph 1, the employer shall, inter alia, for first
aid, fire-fighting and the evacuation of workers, designate the workersrequired to implement such measures.
The number of such workers, their training and the equipment available
to them shall be adequate, taking account of the size and/ or specifichazards of the undertaking and/ or establishment.
3. The employer shall:
(a) as soon as possible, inform all workers who are, or may be,
exposed to serious and imminent danger of the risk involved andof the steps taken or to be taken as regards protection;
(b) take action and give instructions to enable workers in the event of
serious, imminent and unavoidable danger to stopwork and/ or
immediately to leave the work place and proceed to a place of
safety;
(c) save in exceptional cases for reasons duly substantiated, refrain
from asking workers to resume work in a working situation wherethere is still a serious and imminent danger.
4. Workers who, in the event of serious, imminent and unavoidable
danger, leave their workstation and/ or a dangerous area may not beplaced at any disadvantage because of their action and must be
protected against any harmful and unjustified consequences, in accor-
dance with national laws and/ or practices.
5. The employer shall ensure that all workers are able, in the event
of serious and imminent danger to their own safety and/ or that of other
persons, and where the immediate superior responsible cannot becontacted, to take the appropriate steps in the light of their knowledgeand the technical means at their disposal, to avoid the consequences ofsuch danger.
Their actions shall not place them at any disadvantage, unless they
acted carelessly or there was negligence on their part.
Article 9
Variousobligationsonemployers
1. The employer shall:
(a) be in possession of an assessment of the risks to safety and health
at work, including those facing groups of workers exposed to parti-cular risks;
(b) decide on the protective measures to be taken and, if necessary, the
protective equipment to be used;
(c) keepa list of occup ational accidents resulting in a worker being
unfit for work for more than three working days;
(d) draw up, for the responsible authorities and in accordance with
national laws and/ or practices, reports on occupational accidentssuffered by his workers.
2. Member States shall define, in the light of the nature of the activ-
ities and size of the undertakings, the obligations to be met by thedifferent categories of undertakings in respect of the drawing-up of1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 7
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the documents provided for in paragraph 1 (a) and (b) and when
preparing the documents provided for in paragraph 1 (c) and (d).
Article 10
Workerinformation
1. The employer shall take appropriate measures so that workers
and/ or their representatives in the undertaking and/ or establishment
receive, in accordance with national laws and/ or practices which maytake account, inter alia, of the size of the undertaking and/ or establish-
ment, all the necessary information concerning:
(a) the safety and health risks and protective and preventive measures
and activities in respect of both the undertaking and/ or establish-
ment in general and each type of workstation and/ or job;
(b) the measures taken pursuant to Article 8 (2).
2. The employer shall take appropriate measures so that employers
of workers from any outside undertakings and/ or establishments
engaged in work in his undertaking and/ or establishment receive, in
accordance with national laws and/ or practices, adequate informationconcerning the points referred to in paragraph 1 (a) and (b) which isto be provided to the workers in question.
3. The employer shall take appropriate measures so that workers
with specific functions in protecting the safety and health of workers,
or workers' representatives with specific responsibility for the safety
and health of workers shall have access, to carry out their functionsand in accordance with national laws and/ or practices, to:
(a) the risk assessment and protective measures referred to in Article 9
(1) (a) and (b);
(b) the list and reports referred to in Article 9 (1) (c) and (d);
(c) the information yielded by protective and preventive measures,
inspection agencies and bodies responsible for safety and health.
Article 11
Consultationandparticipationofworkers
1. Employers shall consult workers and/ or their representatives and
allow them to take part in discussions on all questions relating to safetyand health at work.
This presupposes:
— the consultation of workers,
— the right of workers and/ or their representatives to make proposals,— balanced participation in accordance with national laws and/ or
practices.
2. Workers or workers' representatives with specific responsibility
for the safety and health of workers shall take part in a balanced way,
in accordance with national laws and/ or practices, or shall beconsulted in advance and in good time by the employer with regard to:
(a) any measure which may substantially affect safety and health;
(b) the designation of workers referred to in Articles 7 (1) and 8 (2)
and the activities referred to in Article 7 (1);
(c) the information referred to in Articles 9 (1) and 10;
(d) the enlistment, where appropriate, of the competent services or
persons outside the undertaking and/ or establishment, as referredto in Article 7 (3);
(e) the planning and organization of the training referred to in Article
12.
3. Workers' representatives with specific responsibility for the safety
and health of workers shall have the right to ask the employer to takeappropriate measures and to submit proposals to him to that end tomitigate hazards for workers and/ or to remove sources of danger.1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 8
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4. The workers referred to in paragraph 2 and the workers' represen-
tatives referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 may not be placed at adisadvantage because of their respective activities referred to in para-
graphs 2 and 3.
5. Employers must allow workers' representatives with specific
responsibility for the safety and health of workers adequate time off
work, without loss of pay, and provide them with the necessary means
to enable such representatives to exercise their rights and functionsderiving from this Directive.
6. Workers and/ or their representatives are entitled to appeal, in
accordance with national law and/ or practice, to the authority respon-sible for safety and health protection at work if they consider that themeasures taken and the means employed by the employer are inade-quate for the purposes of ensuring safety and health at work.
Workers' representatives must be given the opportunity to submit their
observations during inspection visits by the competent authority.
Article 12
Trainingofworkers
1. The employer shall ensure that each worker receives adequate
safety and health training, in particular in the form of information andinstructions specific to his workstation or job:
— on recruitment,
— in the event of a transfer or a change of job,
— in the event of the introduction of new work equipment or a change
in equipment,
— in the event of the introduction of any new technology.
The training shall be:
— adapted to take account of new or changed risks, and
— repeated periodically if necessary.
2. The employer shall ensure that workers from outside undertakings
and/ or establishments engaged in work in his undertaking and/ orestablishment have in fact received appropriate instructions regardinghealth and safety risks during their activities in his undertaking and/or establishment.
3. Workers' representatives with a specific role in protecting the
safety and health of workers shall be entitled to appropriate training.
4. The training referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3 may not be at the
workers' expense or at that of the workers' representatives.
The training referred to in paragraph 1 must take place during working
hours.
The training referred to in paragraph 3 must take place during working
hours or in accordance with national practice either within or outside
the undertaking and/ or the establishment.
SECTION III
WORKERS'OBLIGATIONS
Article 13
1. It shall be the responsibility of each worker to take care as far as
possible of his own safety and health and that of other persons affected
by his►C1acts or omissions ◄at work in accordance with his
training and the instructions given by his employer.
2. To this end, workers must in particular, in accordance with their
training and the instructions given by their employer:
(a) make correct use of machinery, apparatus, tools, dangerous
substances, transport equipment and other means of production;1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 9
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(b) make correct use of the personal protective equipment supplied to
them and, after use, return it to its proper place;
(c) refrain from disconnecting, changing or removing arbitrarily safety
devices fitted, e.g. to machinery, apparatus, tools, plant and build-
ings, and use such safety devices correctly;
(d) immediately inform the employer and/ or the workers with specific
responsibility for the safety and health of workers of any work
situation they have reasonable grounds for considering representsa serious and immediate danger to safety and health and of anyshortcomings in the protection arrangements;
(e) cooperate, in accordance with national practice, with the employer
and/ or workers with specific responsibility for the safety andhealth of workers, for as long as may be necessary to enable anytasks or requirements imposed by the competent authority to
protect the safety and health of workers at work to be carried out;
(f) cooperate, in accordance with national practice, with the employer
and/ or workers with specific responsibility for the safety and
health of workers, for as long as may be necessary to enable theemployer to ensure that the working environment and workingconditions are safe and pose no risk to safety and health withintheir field of activity.
SECTION IV
MISCELLANEOUSPROVISIONS
Article 14
Healthsurveillance
1. To ensure that workers receive health surveillance appropriate to
the health and safety risks they incur at work, measures shall be intro-duced in accordance with national law and/ or practices.
2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall be such that each
worker, if he so wishes, may receive health surveillance at regular
intervals.
3. Health surveillance may be provided as part of a national health
system.
Article 15
Riskgroups
Particularly sensitive risk groups must be protected against the dangers
which specifically affect them.
Article 16
Individual Directives — Amendments —General scope of this
Directive
1. The Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission based on
Article 118a of the Treaty, shall adopt individual Directives, inter alia,
in the areas listed in the Annex.
2. This Directive and, without prejudice to the procedure referred to
in Article 17 concerning technical adjustments, the individual Direc-tives may be amended in accordance with the procedure provided forin Article 118a of the Treaty.
3. The provisions of this Directive shall apply in full to all the areas
covered by the individual Directives, without prejudice to more strin-gent and/ or specific provisions contained in these individualDirectives.1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 10
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Article 17
Committee
1. For the purely technical adjustments to the individual Directives
provided for in Article 16 (1) to take account of:
— the adoption of Directives in the field of technical harmonization
and standardization, and/ or
— technical progress, changes in international regulations or specifica-
tions, and new findings,
the Commission shall be assisted by a committee composed of the
representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representativeof the Commission.
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the
committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit
which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the
matter.
The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148
(2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is requiredto adopt on a proposal from the Commission.
The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the
committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The
chairman shall not vote.
3. The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in
accordance with the opinion of the committee.
If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the
committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall, withoutdelay, submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to betaken. The Council shall act by a qualified majority.
If, on the expiry of three months from the date of the referral to the
Council, the Council has not acted, the proposed measures shall be
adopted by the Commission.
Article 18
Finalprovisions
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by31 December 1992.
They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of
the provisions of national law which they have already adopted oradopt in the field covered by this Directive.
3. Member States shall report to the Commission every five years on
the practical implementation of the provisions of this Directive, indi-
cating the points of view of employers and workers.
The Commission shall inform the European Parliament, the Council,
the Economic and Social Committee and the Advisory Committee onSafety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work.
4. The Commission shall submit periodically to the European Parlia-
ment, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee a report onthe implementation of this Directive, taking into account paragraphs 1
to 3.
Article 19
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 11
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ANNEX
Listofareasreferred toinArticle 16(1)
— Work places
— Work equipment
— Personal protective equipment
— Work with visual display units— Handling of heavy loads involving risk of back injury— Temporary or mobile work sites— Fisheries and agriculture1989L0391 — EN — 19.06.1989 — 000.001 — 12