A4-0050/99

Resolution on the 21st annual activity report of the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work - 1996 (COM(97)0728 - C4-0189/98), the activity report of the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and Other Extractive Industries - 1996 (COM(97)0729 - C4-0190/98) and the mid-term report on the Community Programme concerning Safety, Hygiene and Health at Work (1996-2000) (COM(98)0511 - C4-0041/99)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 118 of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to the 21st annual activity report of the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work - 1996 (COM(97)0728 - C4-0189/98),

- having regard to the activity report of the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and Other Extractive Industries - 1996 (COM(98)0729 - C4-0190/98),

- having regard to the mid-term report on the Community Programme concerning Safety, Hygiene and Health at Work (1996-2000)(COM(98)0511 - C4-0041/99),

- having regard to its resolution of 18 November 1998 on the Commission communication on the Social Action Programme 1998 - 2000, ((Minutes of that sitting, Part II, Item 12.))

- having regard to its resolution of 23 May 1996 embodying its opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision adopting a programme of non-legislative measures to improve health and safety at work, ((OJ C 166, 10.6.1996, p. 172.))

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy, the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy and the Committee on Women's Rights (A4-0050/99),

A. whereas the promotion of health and safety at work is one of the Community's activities whose effects impinge most directly on citizens' lives, and therefore plays a major role in encouraging acceptance of the EU among ordinary people,

B. whereas the protection of workers is of particular importance in view of the alarming number of accidents at work and of the prevalence of occupational diseases,

C. whereas it is in no-one's interest for poor working conditions to be used as a means of competition in the internal market, since this leads to perceptible financial losses both for firms and for the economy, while at individual level the losses cannot even be measured in money terms,

D. whereas working life is undergoing major changes, particularly as a result of new technology and the re-organisation of work, and whereas this change also causes new types of problems in health and safety at work,

E. whereas the average age of the working population is continually increasing and the proportion of women on the labour market is also continuing to grow,

F. whereas the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam will mean a strengthening of the European Parliament's position and a more effective social dialogue in activities relating to health and safety at work,

G. whereas, moreover, enlargement presents the European Union with a serious challenge: it must help the applicant states to bring their standards of health and safety at work up to Community level while at the same time maintaining and developing the high standard of health and safety at work in the present Member States,

1. Stresses that committees have an important role as specialised bodies and as promoters of cooperation on the tripartite principle, and that for this reason they must be guaranteed sufficient resources and it must be possible to make wider and more varied use of their expertise;

2. Considers it important that the Advisory Committee and Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs should strengthen their bilateral cooperation and exchange information, e.g. by holding joint meetings;

3. Is concerned that women make up only a small proportion of the committees' members, and recommends that the appointment procedure be changed so that both sexes are equally represented;

4. Urges the Commission to monitor closely the implementation and application of legislation and proposes that the social partners should be involved in this connection; the Commission should give proper consideration to the impact of such legislation on industry;

5. Proposes a plan for the harmonisation and evaluation of activities of Member States' authorities, as suggested inter alia by the Senior Labour Inspectors Committee (SLIC), and a recommendation for competence criteria and training for employees in the workplace;

6. Calls on the Commission, together with the advisory committee, to draft a strategy and guidelines for the application of the directives;

7. Asks the Commission to inform the European Parliament better about the implementation and application of health and safety legislation;

8. Stresses the importance of all three parts of the 'health and safety triangle¨ of the Union and therefore urges that the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work in Bilbao be given a guaranteed place as a source of information on health and safety at work and a role in disseminating best practice, particularly to SMEs, that the research resources of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin be retained, and that care be taken that the Commission has adequate resources to develop an active policy;

9. Is disappointed that the SAFE programme, as originally proposed, has not been adopted and urges the Commission to investigate the possibility of adopting it within the framework of the Amsterdam Treaty or to propose an amendment to make adoption possible when the Treaty is next reviewed;

10. Supports the Commission's activities to increase the provision of information to SMEs in this area, and to increase the effectiveness of the authorities' guidelines;

11. Considers that the simplification of legislation must not lead to the lowering of standards or the relaxation of requirements;

12. Calls on the Commission to investigate how cooperation with NGOs can be developed and better use made of their know-how;

13. Calls on the Commission to take decisive action:

a) to promote the best working practice with regard to asbestos as laid down in existing directives and to call for a ban on the marketing, production and use of asbestos in all its forms in the near future,

b) to broaden the scope of the cancer directive gradually so as to cover the substances listed as potentially carcinogenic by the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer),

c) to expedite the directives on physical factors, scaffolding and on minimum requirements in the transport sector;

d) to draft a proposal on the protection of outdoor workers from factors causing skin cancer;

14. Calls urgently for the ratification of ILO Convention 176 and the related Recommendation 183;

15. Supports the Commission's plans to help the applicant states to develop their legislation and monitoring systems, and urges that separate resources be set aside for this purpose;

16. Is concerned that the applicant countries' adoption of the acquis communautaire in the safety, hygiene and health sphere in the course of the enlargement process may not be receiving due attention and calls for a new working party of the Advisory Committee to be set up to focus on this problem;

17. Believes, therefore, that the mechanisms which the Advisory Committee needs to enhance its structure and operations with a view to the accession of the applicant countries should be put in place, thus enabling those countries to bring themselves into line with European regulations on safety, health and hygiene at work;

18. Considers that work must be adapted to people's abilities and needs and not vice-versa, and notes that by preventing a disparity from arising between the demands of work and the capacities of workers it is possible to retain employees until retirement age; considers that new technologies should be used in order to achieve these aims;

19. Supports the Commission's view that working environments should be developed to take greater account of the special needs of disabled and older workers; considers that groupings within the working population that have a short active life must not be put at a disadvantage;

20. Proposes that the procedures developed in Finland in terms of activities to maintain working capacity be included among the 'good practices' to be made known in the Member States;

21. Urges the Commission to investigate the new problem areas which are not covered by current legislation: i.e. stress, burn-out, violence and the threat of violence by customers and harassment at the workplace;

22. Notes that muscular-skeletal diseases and psycho-social factors constitute the greatest modern threat to workers' health;

23. Draws attention to the problems resulting from a lack of autonomy at the workplace, monotonous and repetitive work and work with a narrow variety of content, all features which are typical of women's work in particular; and calls for attention to be paid to the importance of ergonomics to the improvement of health and safety conditions at the workplace;

24. Proposes that statistics be developed so that they can be used more effectively to identify the special problems of women, though without discriminating against women on the labour market;

25. Draws attention to the health and safety at work of groups which now largely fall outside the scope of legislative protection, such as homeworkers and the self-employed;

26. Recalls that some types of atypical working conditions and subcontracting have led to an increase in workplace accidents; urges the Commission to stress to the Member States that the directives must be complied with in these cases too, and to monitor such compliance closely;

27. Recommends the principle of safety management whereby the management of the risks of the working environment and development of the safety and welfare of workers are regarded as part of the normal activity of the workplace, and that this should be done in cooperation with the management and workforce;

28. Considers that health and safety at work research ought to be allocated its own budget heading in the EU's research programme;

29. Is of the opinion that high safety and health protection standards are vital achievements which are not to be lowered under the pretext of facilitating the free movement of goods;

30. Stresses that health and safety at work should be given a central place among the international agreements signed by the European Union;

31. Considers that it is not enough to take a purely legalistic approach to implementation of directive-based law and that sufficient examination should be made of legal technical customs as well as collectively bargained structures which exist in the EU in terms of practice and effect;

32. Calls for funding to be allocated to the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and Other Extractive Industries as the sole means of guaranteeing its independence and effectiveness;

33. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Economic and Social Committee, the European social partners, the platform of European Social NGOs and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.