Resolution of the European Coal and Steel Community Consultative Committee concerning the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and other Extractive Industries
Date: 1996-03-14
Institutions: Consultative Committee of the European Coal and Steel Community
Subjects: ECSC, EU body, coal, mining industry, occupational health, occupational safety













EUR-Lex - 31996Y0509(01) - EN






Avis juridique important




|



31996Y0509(01)

Resolution of the European Coal and Steel Community Consultative Committee concerning the Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and other Extractive Industries  


Official Journal C 138 , 09/05/1996 P. 0010 - 0011 





RESOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEEconcerning the  Safety and Health Commission for the Mining and other Extractive Industries(96/C  138/06) (Adopted unanimously at the 328th session of 14 March 1996)THE EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL  COMMUNITY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE, Having taken note of the Community programme concerning safety, hygiene and health at work (1996 to  2000) set out in document COM(95) 282 final, Having regard to- the existence of an ad hoc group of the Safety and Health Commission for the  Mining and other Extractive Industries (SHCMOEI) which is considering cooperation with the Advisory  Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work, and of- the presence of SHCMOEI  observers at meetings of the Advisory Committee, CALLS ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT the Community's extractive industry, and more  particularly coal mining, is still an important sector for the EU and its energy policy.  Furthermore, the EU's coal industry is a very special sector, with its own specific problems (the  fact that over 80  % of mines are underground, the presence of 'firedamp` (methane) etc.) and  consequent high accident risk; AFFIRMS that the work carried out by the safety and Health Commission has been highly positive from  all points of view. The strictness with which it has carried out its analyses and accident  assessments has led to both a significant reduction in the number of industrial accidents and thus  in the sector's accident rate and to substantial improvements in miners' working conditions, which,  indirectly but incontrovertibly, has made a contribution to improving the profitability of EU coal  mines; NOTES that cooperation between these two bodies (the Safety and Health Commission and the Advisory  Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work) is desirable and of enormous value from  the point of view of exchanges of experience. Nevertheless, the specific aspects referred to above,  along with the efficiency of the Safety and Health Commission, would make it counter-productive to  merge it with another body at present, given that coal mining still has considerable importance as  a strategic sector in the EU; OBSERVES that, even though the Safety and Health Commission does not come under the ECSC Treaty, it  obviously has strong links with the coal industry which does derive from the Treaty. Accident  studies produced by the Safety and Health Commission have provided and still do provide the  European Commission with information which is crucial for the drafting of proposals for directives  which have led and will continue to lead to the avoidance of numerous accidents throughout the  Community's mining sector; IS AWARE of the European Commission's budgetary difficulties, but integrating or merging the Safety  and Health Commission with the Advisory Committee cannot be acceptable as a way of saving budgetary  funds, since the fundamental problem is to reduce the number of accidents which, unfortunately, are  in many cases fatal. On the basis of all the above, the ECSC Consultative Committee, (a) CONSIDERS AND RECOMMENDS to the European Commission that, since the ECSC Treaty will expire in  2002 and the bodies that come under that Treaty are due to be disbanded at the same time, it would  be desirable for the Safety and Health Commission (SHCMOEI), with its indirect links with the ECSC,  to remain in existence as an inde pendent body at least until the ECSC Treaty expires, which would  be the appropriate time at which to address the problem of a possible merger; (b) THEREFORE REQUESTS the European Commission at least to uphold the present responsibilities of  the Safety and Health Commission, thus preventing its disappearance and the merger and integration  of that Commission with the Advisory Committee referred to above, given that, as has been stated,  both the safety and the lives of many European miners are at stake.