WRITTEN QUESTION E-0971/01

by Alejandro Cercas (PSE) to the Commission

(30 March 2001)

Subject: Accidents at work

The steady increase in the number of work-related accidents occurring in Spain is a cause for concern. A recent report by the Economic and Social Council indicates not only that the situation is serious (1133 deaths and 935 000 injuries last year) but also more worryingly that it is getting worse from year to year, particularly on account of the growth in precarious forms of employment in which the accident rate is increasing significantly. The final conclusion put forward in the report is that the Spanish Government is not doing all that it should in order to deal with the problem.

According to its reply to an earlier Question (E-0625/00), the Commission merely processes the data it receives from the Spanish Government (the most recent of which date from 1996) and to launching legislative and non-legislative initiatives which leave it to the Member States' governments to devise policies designed to reduce the number of work-related accidents.

The legal framework may well be very limited in scope, but when a Member State (Spain) records an accident rate which is twice the EU average and when appropriate action to remedy such a serious problem is not taken, some additional initiative is called for. If the statistics in question were economic ones (inflation, exchange rate, etc.) rather than ones relating to fatal accidents, the Commission would surely seek some way of improving them.

Does the Commission not think that, in view of the seriousness of the situation and the increasing number of work-related accidents in Spain, the moment has come to draw up a more active strategy based on an on-the-spot appraisal of the situation and to help the Spanish Government seek remedies which it appears incapable of finding by itself?

Answer given by Ms Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(30 May 2001)

The Commission unreservedly shares the Honourable Member's concerns with regard to work-related accidents in Spain.

The latest data available, from 1998(1), show an improvement at European level in both the rate of accidents entailing more than three days' sick leave (4 089 accidents per 100 000 employees in 1998, compared to 4 229 in 1996 and 4 539 in 1994) and the fatal work-related accident rate (3,5 fatal accidents per 100 000 employees in 1998 compared to 3,6 in 1996 and 3,9 in 1994).

The same data for Spain show a slight improvement in the fatal accident rate between 1994 and 1998, but an increase in the rate of accidents entailing more than three days' sick leave.

These statistical indicators show that the European-level application of Community health and safety at work legislation has had a positive impact on working conditions by reducing the accident rate and does therefore, when correctly applied, improve the health and safety of workers.

The Commission takes the view that it is for the Member States to promote and ensure the correct and effective application of the national provisions transposing the Community directives. For its part, the Commission plans, depending on the results of ongoing evaluation work, to propose awareness-raising activities for the various players in its new health and safety at work strategy, in order to reinforce the measures taken in this area so far.

(1) ESAW data (European Statistics of Accidents at Work) from Eurostat.