17. 6. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 159/49 
Opinion on Training, Safety and Protection of the Environment 
(91/C 159/15) 
On 29 May 1990 the Economic and Social Committee, acting under the fourth paragraph of 
Article 20 of its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an Opinion on Training, Safety and 
Protection of the Environment. 
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 11 April 1991. The 
Rapporteur was Mr Nierhaus. 
At its 286th plenary session (meeting of 24 April 1991), the Economic and Social Committee 
unanimously adopted the following Opinion. 
1. Importance of vocational qualifications for improv­
ing safety at work and the quality of the environ­
ment 
1.1. All human activity has an impact on nature 
which places a strain on the environment. In view of the 
pollution caused by, inter alia, the industrial division of 
labour, a more discriminating use of natural resources 
is becoming increasingly important. Environmental 
protection must become the watchword both for man­
agement, which must exercise firmer control over the 
industrial use and processing of materials, and workers, 
who must carry out their tasks in the same spirit. All 
those working in production and administration need 
to have a thorough knowledge of environmental causes 
and effects if industrial society is to develop in an 
environmentally acceptable manner. Although manage­
ment bears a special responsibility in this, the involve­
ment of workers is essential. If they are better educated 
in this respect, workers will be able to put their ideas 
and knowledge regarding the environment to practical 
use; this should happen right from the training stage. 
1.2. There will be an all-round improvement in 
industrial safety and the environmental acceptability of 
products if staff are qualified in this way. A comprehen­
sive knowledge of the environment contributes to 
environmental innovation in products and production 
processes. Manufacturing, using and handling products 
in an environmentally responsible manner is the 
bounden duty of employers, workers and consumers. 
They cannot manage this, however, without proper 
education and training. By the same token, safety in 
the manufacture, distribution and use of products is the 
responsibility of employers, workers and consumers, 
who require the appropriate education and training. 
Hence instruction in environmental and safety matters 
is a strategically important element in environment-
and safety-conscious management, whatever the size of 
the firm. 
1.3. Individuals should be encouraged to assume 
more personal responsibility for the natural environ­ment by action to increase their environmental know­
ledge and skills. In its Opinion on the proposed Council 
Decision on preventing environmental damage by the 
implementation of education and training measures 
[COM(88) 202 final of 10 May 1988—CES 952/88 of 
29 September 1988] the Committee stressed that the 
inculcation of interdisciplinary knowledge and skills 
can lead to greater commitment. Environmental edu­
cation should therefore be aimed at various target 
groups and should broaden and deepen knowledge of 
the environment through the use of appropriate teach­
ing aids and methods. 
1.4. The aforementioned proposal for a Council 
Decision calls on the Member States to promote the 
training of specialists in the various disciplines relating 
to the environment by introducing ecological subjects 
into training programmes. The aim is to encourage 
greater awareness of the need to conserve natural 
resources and protect the environment. In its Opinion 
on the proposal the Committee urged the Commission 
to set up pilot projects in the Member States in cooper­
ation with the European Centre for the Development 
of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) and the European 
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Work­
ing Conditions. The measures proposed by the Com­
mission for the training of environmental specialists 
is just one of the questions looked at in the present 
Opinion. 
1.5. ^N£o one now disputes the need for a comprehen­
sive environmental education. In addition to regulatory 
measures and economic incentives, selective action must 
be taken to safeguard the natural environment and 
future generations by encouraging environmental 
awareness. This means alerting people to the import­
ance of environmental protection both in school and at 
the workplace, in handling both manufactured and 
natural products. This is best done by making environ­
mental studies an integral part of vocational training, 
including in agriculture. 
1.6. A work-related environmental education makes 
it possible to bring theoretical knowledge and skills 
No C 159/50 Official Journal of the European Communities 17. 6. 91 
systematically to bear on environmental causes and 
effects. This integrated approach can also pinpoint the 
areas of conflict between, on the one hand, intervention 
in nature and its effects on the environment and, on 
the other, technical requirements and economic inter­
ests. Such a constructive approach to the tensions 
between ecology and economy, to the interaction 
between nature and work, can speed up the introduc­
tion of preventive environmental measures based on a 
thorough knowledge of the environment. Many people 
will learn to recognize earlier the warning signs of 
threats to the environment. To this extent environmen­
tally aware and skilled workers are an important sine 
qua non for improving the quality of the environment 
at and outside the workplace. 
2. The environment as a new component of training 
for all occupations 
2.1. The subject of environmental protection, unlike 
that of safety, has hitherto played hardly any role in 
training in the EC Member States. Such knowledge 
must become an integral part of the qualifications for 
all occupations if environmental awareness is to be 
strengthened and more people are to acquire environ­
mental skills. The Member States should take steps to 
include environmental objectives in all stages of train­
ing. An interdisciplinary approach is needed under 
which environmental problems are looked at in their 
totality and from a practical angle. Suitable teaching 
aids are required for this. 
The use of vocational skills in the interests of environ­
mental protection should be an examination require­
ment, so that the new subject is taken seriously by both 
teachers and pupils. 
Exams should test the ability of workers to carry out 
their tasks without environmentally harmful conse­
quences. 
2.2. If environmental skills are successfully intro­
duced into vocational training, workers will be environ­
mentally-aware and able to use their knowledge and 
experience to help industry make a more effective con­
tribution to environmental protection and to avoid 
mistakes in production which damage the environment. 
For industry this opens up the possibility of avoiding or 
reducing the costs which it would incur for eliminating 
pollution under the polluter-pays principle. The 
inclusion of general, work-related environmental stud­
ies in vocational training will therefore also help to 
avoid unnecessary costs and conserve natural resources. 
A precise cost-benefit analysis can show whether and 
to what extent the extra training costs incurred are offset by reduced environmental costs. To this extent 
an early environmental education will also help to 
secure corporate objectives (markets, profits, jobs, etc.) 
and improve the company's public image. 
3. Specialists in environmental protection 
3.1. If the complex ecological problems facing a firm 
or comparable organization are to be tackled more 
successfully, what is needed—besides an environmental 
component in the vocational training of all staff—is 
opportunities for further on-the-job training. Workers 
who already have some training could do additional 
courses so as to qualify as specialists in environmental 
protection and act in this capacity for part of their 
working time. The selection and training of these 
specialists, in collaboration with workers' representa­
tives, would be a priority for management. They would 
be responsible, along with the technical environmental 
specialists (eg. those supplying and disposing of 
materials), for providing detailed environmental infor­
mation for individual departments and occupations. 
They should contribute to their firm's compliance with 
environmental laws and requirements and, in the inter­
ests of preventive environmental protection, develop 
proposals with other employees for making production 
processes and products more environmentally accept­
able; these proposals should be compatible with the 
firm's production goals. 
These environmental specialists, working in one depart­
ment of a firm but taking a multi-disciplinary approach 
to environmental problems, could possibly in this way 
contribute to the prevention of environmental damage 
without thereby lessening the responsibility of individ­
uals or the ultimate responsibility of the firm's manage­
ment. 
3.2. For practical purposes especially, safety at work 
and protection of the environment are closely connec­
ted. Like the industrial safety officers already found 
in many firms in Member States, the environmental 
specialist could help to monitor the environmental per­
formance of equipment and workers, motivate the lat­
ter, and form a link with line management as well as 
with the industrial safety officer and the industrial 
environmental officer of the firm concerned where such 
posts exist. Because protection of the environment and 
of safety have a number of common features, it is 
both sensible and necessary for industrial safety and 
environmental experts to cooperate closely. Small and 
medium-sized businesses, whose production volume 
17. 6. 91 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 159/51 
and size of the workforce would not justify the employ­
ment of separate environmental health and industrial 
safety officers, could cover themselves by providing 
additional training (in environmental protection or 
industrial safety). In this way one employee could be 
responsible for both areas. 
3.3. If these proposals are implemented, manage­
ment should also have the opportunity to use environ­
mental knowledge in quality circles to develop environ­
ment-friendly products and production processes. This 
will facilitate the introduction by management of Qual­
ity Assurance applied to environmental protection. 
This does not exclude the possibility of a firm seeking 
outside environmental advice. 
Done at Brussels, 24 April 1991. 
1. Preliminary comments 
1.1. The Committee notes the difficult situation on 
the agricultural markets caused by the continuing 
increase in production, stationary or declining con­
sumption, reduced export opportunities, rising imports 
of cereal substitutes and of calves for fattening. 3.4. Environmental work should be handled separ­
ately, i.e. by an internal department separate from the 
safety and health committees. 
The quality circles referred to in 3.3 would undoubtedly 
be an appropriate place. While safety is directly relevant 
to all of a firm's workers, the environment affects not 
only the firm and its workers but also the outside world, 
e.g. sub-contractors, suppliers, customers and, of 
course, the final consumer. 
3.5. If the above proposals are implemented, atten­
tion will have to be paid to the danger of a distortion 
of competition affecting small and medium-sized busi­
nesses (SMB). Consideration should also be given to 
economic and social cohesion, especially in cross-border 
situations. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Francois STAEDELIN 
1.2. This difficult situation is reflected in falling pro­
ducer prices and falling or stagnant farm incomes, 
growing surpluses held in stock, rising expenditure on 
export refunds and intervention. 
1.3. As a result the budget guidelines laid down by Opinion on the Commission Proposals on the prices for agricultural products and on related 
measures (1991/1992) 
(91/C 159/16) 
On 14 March 1991 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposals. 
The Section for Agriculture and Fisheries, which was responsible for preparing the Comittee's 
work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 11 April 1991. The Rapporteur was 
Mr Schnieders. 
At its 286th plenary session (meeting of 25 April 1991), the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion by a large majority with 2 votes against and 8 abstentions.