14. 10. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 269/1 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision on an Action Programme for the European 
Year of Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work (1992) (l) 
(91/C 269/01) 
At its plenary session of 18 December 1990 the Economic and Social Committee unanimously 
adopted an Opinion on the abovementioned proposal. 
In view of the time limits which had been set for drawing up this Opinion, on 17 December 
1990 the ESC Bureau proposed drawing up an Additional Opinion in accordance with Article 
20, third paragraph, of the Rules of Procedure. 
The Section for Social, Family, Educational and Cultural Affairs, which was responsible for 
preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 13 June 1991. The 
Rapporteur was Miss Maddocks. 
At its 288th plenary session (meeting of 3 July 1991), the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion unanimously. 
1. General comments 
1.1. On 18 December 1990, the Committee wel­
comed the proposal, notably the emphasis on aware­
ness, training and prevention, and suggested that the 
Economic and Social Committee should be fully associ­
ated "with the European Year and have a seat on the 
Steering Committee. This point is reiterated and should 
be implemented. 
The Committee continues to support the proposal, 
especially in the context of 1992 and the necessary 
accompanying social dimension, subject to the follow­
ing proposals. 
1.2. The Committee also expresses its concern over 
the delay in obtaining the Council Decision to launch 
the year, and would urge reconsideration of the target 
date together with extra provision being made for the 
(!) OJ No C 60, 8. 3. 1991. preparatory stages. The proposed funding for the Year 
(ECU 12 million) is judged to be inadequate, and there 
is an imbalance in terms of the proposed provision 
for Commission promotional activities at the possible 
expense of practical actions in the field. 
1.3. The prime goal of the Year must be to promote 
and enhance the concrete application of existing EC 
measures for safety, hygiene and health protection at 
work. This requires a more rigorous attempt to target 
the key groups concerned and to get the message and 
information across at the workplace. A general pub­
licity budget for EC-level initiatives is important in this 
connection, but the Year will only be a success if more 
emphasis and a more substantial financial commitment 
are put on practical actions directly at the work place 
through transnational, national or local channels. This 
in turn requires effort to maximize the use of available 
resources, to avoid duplication of effort, and to link up 
the work of National Committees both with health 
and safety practitioners, including recognized worker 
representatives, active in the field and with their rel­
evant EC counterparts familiar with the broad range 
No C 269/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 14. 10. 91 
of Directives already adopted, but not yet adequately 
applied. 
1.4. A considerable number of EC Directives on 
the protection of workers from the risks related to 
exposure to chemical, physical and biological agents 
at work have already been adopted (specifically 
concerning vinyl chloride, lead, asbestos, noise, ben­
zene, the banning of 2-naphthylamine, of 4-aminodi-
phenyl and of 4-nitrodiphenyl, protection against 
certain other carcinogens, biological agents, etc.). 
Other Directives to encourage improvements in the 
safety and health of workers at work have also been 
adopted (specifically concerning workplace arrange­
ments, equipment, personal protective equipment, 
manual handling of loads, screen work, safety signs, 
etc.). Draft Directives concerning temporary and 
mobile work sites and the protection of workers in 
extractive industries, plus the updating of previous 
Directives on asbestos and safety signs, are also 
published and might possibly be adopted by June 
1991. In addition, a proposal to set up a European 
Agency for Safety and Health at Work will shortly 
be promoted. All this amounts to a considerable 
'package' of EC measures, the latest batch of which 
has been helped by the use of the new legal base—Art­
icle 118a—with qualified majority voting in Council. 
1.5. A further aim of the European Year could be to 
promote new health and safety measures. The Com­
mission, for example, might consider the option of 
occupational medicine in the context of the four desig­
nated themes for the Year, with the view to exchanging 
knowledge and information and reaching a broad con­
sensus of professional opinion necessary for the formu­
lation of EC framework proposals which could be 
drawn up at the close of the Year. In this context, the 
Committee would point out that such a consensus was 
already achieved in its Own-initiative Opinion on the 
subject which called for an EC Directive with clear 
provisions ensuring appropriate occupational health 
services for all workers in all sectors and undertakings. 
The Committee would therefore urge the Commission, 
together with its Advisory Committee, to set up a 
working group on occupational medicine, in close liai­
son with the national committees responsible for the 
Year, in order to examine the question and possibly 
use as a basis the various definitions proposed and 
agreed upon in the Opinion of the Economic and Social 
Committee. The on-going research of the European 
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Work­
ing Conditions should also be valuable in launching 
occupational medicine as a key theme throughout the 
Year and in carrying out support studies of the costs 
and benefits (including costs to workers and to the 
Community as well as to employers) of accidents and prevention respectively in order to support the case for 
higher standards of health and safety management. 
1.6. The Committee would stress the need fully to 
involve the social partners and the Economic and Social 
Committee itself in the various transnational, national 
and local channels of actions envisaged. 
2. Specific comments 
2.1. Article 1 
The Committee would reiterate the need for a more 
substantial sum than ECU 12 million in order success­
fully to meet the running costs of the Year. Consider­
ation might also be given to the idea of setting up a 
reserve fund for new and/or additional projects arising 
from the Year and likely to run beyond 1993. 
2.2. Annex: A — Actions to be financed entirely by 
the Community budget 
2.2.1. Possibly, actions 1 and 6 (European colloquia 
for the launching and closing of the Year) could be more 
ambitious and be planned as major events, especially 
if EC framework proposals on occupational medicine 
became a key theme. 
2.2.2. The Committee considers that the film festival 
envisaged in action 3 is inadequately explained and 
would not be an efficient use of resources, given the 
probable limited coverage or audience, and would most 
likely fail to reach the key target groups at the work­
place. It would therefore urge the Commission to drop 
this action and redeploy the resources for the pro­
duction of appropriate advertisements and films for use 
on TV, easy-access videos, poster campaigns and a 
widely distributed EC Guide of Good Occupational 
Health and Safety Practices. 
2.3. Annex: B — Actions to be co-financed by the 
Community budget 
2.3.1. The proposal should explain in more detail 
what sort of criteria should be applied for the selection 
of actions to be co-financed, with appropriate safegu­
ards to ensure geographical equilibrium in view of 
varying standards throughout the Member States. 
2.3.2. Prevention measures envisaged in Action 1 
should not be based solely on 'information' but 
14. 10. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 269/3 
also on participation, as set out in the Framework 2.4. Annex: C — Actions without financial impli-
Directive. cations for the Community budget 
2.3.3. Actions 2 to 5 are also readily endorsed. The Committee endorses the actions proposed. 
Done at Brussels, 3 July 1991. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francis STAEDELIN 
Opinion on the Green Paper on the Urban Environment 
(91/C 269/02) 
On 17 July 1991 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the European Economic Community Treaty, on the Green Paper on the 
Urban Environment. 
The Section for Protection of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, which 
was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, appointed Mr Boisseree 
as rapporteur. It adopted the Opinion on 4 June 1991. 
At its 288th plenary session, (meeting of 3 July 1991), the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion unanimously 
1. Preliminary comments: content and significance of 
the Green Paper 
1.1. After involving experts and taking into account 
specialized conferences in various European cities, the 
Commission issued on 6 July 1990 a 'Green Paper on 
the Urban Environment' as a Communication to the 
Council and Parliament. In accordance with Article 198 
of the EEC Treaty, the Commission requested the Opin­
ion of the ESC. 
1.2. The Green Paper contains a presentation of' 
the problems affecting the urban environment and a 
comprehensive analysis of the causes of urban decay. 
In a second chapter the targets and guidelines for urban 
environmental improvement are formulated. Possible 
instruments for Community action are presented, and 
the following areas for action at Community level are 
listed: 
— urban planning, 
— urban transport, — protection and enhancement of the historical heri­
tage of European towns, 
— protection and enhancement of the natural areas 
within towns, 
— water management, 
— urban industry, 
— urban energy management, 
— management of urban waste, 
— comparative information on the state of the urban 
environment, 
— inititatives in the information field, 
— social initiatives, 
— inter-regional cooperation. 
In these fields, lines of action are suggested for the 
Community: these are not to be regarded as plans 
for implementation, but as examples of possible or 
necessary measures. Recognizing the limited remit of 
the Community in this field, the Commission produces