WRITTEN QUESTION E-1772/01

by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission

(15 June 2001)

Subject: Conditions at the workplace

In recent years there has been a considerable improvement in a number of Member States in the legal requirements governing safety at work. In other Member States the standards are very low or there is widespread indifference about compliance with the standards.

Here, at the heart of the EU's administration, the city of Brussels, we are daily witness to working conditions which should be totally unacceptable in Europe in this day and age. Everywhere in the city, scaffolding work can be seen to flout northern European safety standards, and it is only necessary to look out of the windows of Parliament's buildings to see construction work on the new railway station in progress with total disregard for normal safety requirements. Workers cutting flagstones with angle grinders without protective goggles, without ear or respiratory protection, crawling around on a slippery, curved glass roof with no safety harness.

Clearly the savings to be made on the costs directly associated with work at height are so great that firms which make their employees work under such conditions gain a competitive edge. In the light of this situation, it seems understandable that despite the EU's rules on tendering, in practice virtually all firms working in the building sector in Brussels are Belgian.

Will the Commission provide details of the nationality of those companies which have carried out the EU's major building projects, including Parliament's buildings and the Council of Ministers' Justus Lipsius Building?

Poor working conditions cause extensive damage to health which is not compensated by those employers who gain competitive advantages by disregarding safety at work. Different safety standards in the working environment are therefore a serious factor in distorting competition.

It is unacceptable for the EU, which claims it is working for a better working environment, not to ensure that safety at work is improved in those countries which do not meet the high standards set in other Member States.

What is the Commission doing to ensure that all workers in the EU enjoy the same conditions in their places of work?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(3 September 2001)

As regards major building works or exterior renovations, the Commission does not hire contractors or subcontractors directly, but engages the developer or the owner of the building to organise the works. In the case of the Berlaymont building, the company hiring contractors is Berlaymont 2000; for the Charlemagne, another major Commission building, it was Cofinimmo. The Honourable Member's question would therefore be better addressed to these companies.

As regards the buildings of the Parliament and the Council, the Commission is of the opinion that the question ought to be put to these Institutions.

With a view to improving the health and safety of workers in the Community and to reducing the number of occupational accidents and diseases, the Community acting on proposals from the Commission has put in place a major corpus of legislation since 1989. This corpus consists of the directives adopted on the basis of Article 137 of the EC Treaty (ex-Article 118a) laying down minimum requirements for the protection of workers' health and safety at work. Pursuant to

Article 137 (5) the provisions adopted pursuant to this Article shall not prevent any Member State from maintaining or introducing more stringent protective measures compatible with the EC treaty. In particular, the Commission wishes to draw the Honourable Member's attention to Council Directive 89/391/EC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work(1), and in particular the thirteenth recital, which states that the improvement of workers' safety, hygiene and health at work is an objective which should not be subordinated to purely economic considerations.

These directives have to be transposed into the legal order of the Member States and it is for the Member States themselves to see to the correct and effective enforcement of the national provisions transposing the Community instruments. Hence, monitoring and surveillance of workplaces, and in particular building sites, is a matter for the national authorities.

The latest statistics on accidents at work(2), dating from 1998, show an improvement at European level both as regards the incidence of accidents at work requiring sick leave for over three days, namely 4 089 accidents per 100 000 workers in 1998 as compared with 4 229 in 1996 and 4 539 in 1994, and on the incidence of fatal accidents at work, namely 3,5 fatalities per 100 000 workers in 1998 by comparison with 3,6 in 1996 and 3,9 in 1994.

These statistical indicators show that the enforcement of Community legislation on health and safety of workers at work has helped improve working conditions and reduce the accident rate throughout Europe. Hence this legislation, when correctly enforced at national level, improves the health and safety of workers at work.

For its part, the Commission is currently evaluating the situation and intends to propose measures to raise awareness among the parties involved, so as to enhance the effectiveness of actions taken in this area up to now, in the context of a future strategy in the field of protection of the health and safety of workers at work.

(1) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989.

(2) ESAW European statistics on accidents at work.