WRITTEN QUESTION E-3540/98

by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) and Pedro Marset Campos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(25 November 1998)

Subject: Industrial accidents in Spain

Industrial accidents have assumed scandalous proportions in Spain: there were 626 881 accidents in 1995, 655 575 in 1996, and 676 644 in 1997. The figures are continuing to rise, and the trade unions have calculated that they increased by 23 % in the third quarter of 1998.

In the coal-mining industry in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias and Castile and Léon, 16 people in all (10 in Asturias and 6 in Castile and Léon) have died this year. In the latter Community, Castile and Léon, 54 people had been killed in accidents in all branches of industry by August 1998, and the final toll for the year could consequently exceed the 99 deaths which occurred in 1997.

The reasons for the high number of fatal industrial accidents are to be found in the use of casual labour, the subcontracting practised by many firms, the total neglect of safety and health at work, and the careless attitude to labour inspections.

In view of the blatant failure to comply not only with Spanish legislation on safety and health at work, but also with Council Directives 89/391/EEC(1) and 89/654/EC(2):

1. Is the Commission aware of the situation?

2. Does it consider the Spanish Government to be at fault from the Community point of view?

3. What action has the Commission taken to date in this matter, especially where mining is concerned?

Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(11 January 1999)

1. The Commission would inform the Honourable Member that the data for the years in question have not yet been published by Eurostat.

As regards the data relating to coal mines, the methodology employed by ESAW (European Statistics on Accidents at Work) does not for the moment consider the extractive industries to be one of the branches considered. Nevertheless, under the powers invested in the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and Other Extractive Industries (SHCMOEI), work has begun on harmonising statistics in this domain.

2. The Commission can only deplore an increase in the number of industrial accidents in Spain as indicated by the Honourable Member. However, the responsibility for analysing this situation and for drawing the necessary conclusions lies with the national authorities, notably those reponsible for implementing the national legislation transposing the relevant Community directives.

For its part, the Commission ensures that the Member States transpose the Community directives into their national legislation, and it institutes infringement procedures against any Member States which fail to do so. At present, Spain has transposed all of the "safety and health" directives.

3. Under the powers invested in SHCMOEI, the Spanish authorities perform detailed follow-ups of fatal accidents and the more serious accidents, through the establishment of specific reports.

The analysis of these reports by SHCMOEI may lead to the issuing of recommendations to Member States with a view to improving safety conditions in the extractive industries and avoiding any repetition of such accidents.

(1) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 393, 30.12.1989, p. 1.