Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a Council Directive amending for the second time Directive 89/655/EEC concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work (2nd individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 of Directive 89/391/EEC)'
Date: 1999-03-25
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: industrial equipment, occupational health, occupational safety, protective equipment, safety standard, working conditions

C 138/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

18.5.1999

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Council Directive
amending for the second time Directive 89/655/EEC concerning the minimum safety and health
requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work (2nd individual Directive
within the meaning of Article 16 of Directive 89/391/EEC)’

(1999/C 138/10)

On 18 December 1998, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 118a of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 4 March 1999. The rapporteur was Ms Polverini.

At its 362nd plenary session (meeting of 25 March 1999) the Economic and Social Committee adopted
the following opinion by 81 votes to 22 with 14 abstentions:

1.

Introduction

2. General comments

1.1.
The Commission’s proposal for a directive amends
Directive 89/655/EEC (1) on minimum safety and health
requirements for the use of work equipment by workers, with
a view to incorporating a number of aspects relating to the
equipment in question that were not included when the
Directive was first amended by Council Directive 95/63/EC (2).

1.2.
The aim of the proposal, based on Article 118 of the
Treaty, is to improve health and safety standards in the use of
equipment for temporary work at a height, and thus contribute
to a substantial reduction in the number of falls. Statistics on
accidents involving falls from a height (accounting for 10 % of
occupational accidents) have confirmed that this type of work
exposes workers to a high degree of risk.

The Commission states that ladders and scaffolding are
1.3.
the equipment most frequently used in performing temporary
work at a height and that worker safety depends on the way
the work is planned,
the
equipment, and procedures and instructions for its use.

the technical specifications of

1.4.
On the basis of the above, the annexe to the proposal
gives details on the choice and use of work equipment enabling
access to and presence at working places at a height, with
particular detail on the use of ladders and the assembly and
dismantling of scaffolding.

2.1.
The Economic and Social Committee endorses the
Commission proposal and its declared intention to protect
workers who use equipment for temporary work at a height,
given the seriousness of the problem of falls.

2.2.
However, the ESC has a number of suggestions to
make with a view to improving the terminology, which in
some instances is imprecise. The chief aim of the proposals
remains however that of ensuring proper worker protection,
by means of higher safety standards in work planning, on the
basis of specific technical requirements for the equipment used
and of safe working procedures.

2.2.1.
To that end, the Committee maintains that to cut the
number of accidents drastic action must be taken with regard
to work planning, first and foremost by establishing more
precise ‘written working procedures’ giving specific equipment
requirements (portable ladders and scaffolding) and mandatory
instructions for use.

In this context, and echoing Directive 89/391/EEC(3)
2.3.
on improvements in the safety and health of workers at work,
the Committee would stress that only workers who have
received proper training should be employed to use equipment
that presents a specific risk, such as that used for work at a
height (scaffolding, etc.).

2.4.
The ESC recommends that the Commission urge the
Member States to prepare an incentive scheme to help small
and medium-sized firms to implement health protection
measures effectively, with a special focus on training staff to
use work equipment.

(1) OJ L 393, 30.12.1989, p. 13 — ESC opinion: OJ C 318,

12.12.1988, p. 26.

(2) OJ L 335, 30.12.1995, p. 28 — ESC opinion: OJ C 397,

(3) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1 — ESC opinion: OJ C 175, 4.7.1988,

31.12.1994, p. 13.

p. 22.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 138/31

2.5. More specifically,
in view of the intensive use of
scaffolding by building, demolition and maintenance com-
panies, the Committee calls on the Commission to draw up
more detailed planning guidelines. Plans should contain a
technical statement, instructions and assembly diagrams.

2.5.1.

The statement could cover:

— a description of the scaffolding components, their dimen-

sions and tolerance limits, and a general plan;

— the strength properties of the materials used and safety

factors applying to individual materials;

— details of the load tests that the various components have

undergone;

— design calculations for the scaffolding under various

working conditions;

— instructions for scaffolding load tests;

— instructions for the assembly, use and dismantling of the
scaffolding, in order to avoid the risk of falling, falling
objects, work load injuries and other risks;

— standard scaffolding plans, indicating maximum overload
capacity and scaffolding heights and minimum allowable
deck widths, where calculations are unnecessary for every
individual application.

3. Specific comments (1)

3.4.

Point 4.1.4: Amend paragraph as follows:

‘Depending on the type of work equipment chosen on the basis
of the foregoing requirements, the appropriate precautions to
reduce the risks inherent (to which it gives rise) in its use shall
be determined. (If necessary) Provision shall be made, as a
priority, for the installation of collective fall risk protection
measures or safeguards. These shall be of suitable configuration
and of sufficient strength to prevent or arrest falls from a height
and, as far as possible, to preclude injury to workers. They may
be interrupted only at points of ladder or stairway access.’

It is also worth referring to Article 6 of Framework
3.4.1.
Directive 89/391/EEC on the priority to be given to ‘collective
protection measures’, which gives
individual protection
measures a supplementary role only.

3.5.

Point 4.1.5: Add the following new paragraph:

‘For reasons of health and safety, instructions for assembling,
using and dismantling the necessary scaffolding and ladders must
be made available to the workers using them. These instructions
must be continually updated.’

ANNEXE point 4.1.1,

3.1.
‘adequate’ with ‘appropriate’.

first paragraph: Replace

3.6.

Point 4.2.1: Amend paragraph as follows:

Clearly, to eliminate the risk factor, safety standards
3.1.1.
for worker protection must be ‘appropriate’ rather than just
‘adequate’.

Point 4.1.1: second paragraph: this amendment to the
3.2.
wording of the Italian language version does not affect the
English version.

3.3.

Point 4.1.2: Amend paragraph as follows:

‘The use of portable (2) ladders (may be used) as working
places for work at a height (only under) shall be strictly
limited to circumstances in which the use of other, safer work
equipment is not justified in view of the short duration of use
and low level of risk.’

3.3.1.
It should be stressed that portable ladders are not
intended for use as working places, but only as a means for
going up or down.

(1) N.B.: proposed amendments to the Commission document are
given in bold italics. The words removed or replaced are shown
in brackets.

(2) Equipment for access to upper or lower working levels.

‘Ladders shall be so positioned as to ensure their stability during
use. Portable ladders shall rest on a stable, strong, immobile and
horizontal footing. Suspended ladders, other than rope ladders,
shall be fixed in a secure manner to ensure that they cannot be
displaced or swing (and prevent swinging).’

3.7.

Point 4.2.2: Amend paragraph as follows:

‘Before portable ladders are brought into service, their feet shall
be prevented from slipping by securing the uprights at or near
their upper or lower ends, by any anti-slip device or by (any)
another arrangement of equivalent effectiveness. As a priority,
ladders should be secured firmly using all possible means.
If this is totally impossible, the lower end should be held
by another person. Ladders should be long enough for
their uprights to protrude sufficiently beyond the access
platform. Ladders in several sections shall be so used as to
ensure that they are secure (that the sections are prevented
from moving relative to each other). Portable (Mobile) ladders
shall be immobilised before any person steps onto them.’

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18.5.1999

3.7.1.
It is often impossible to attach or secure a ladder; in
such cases, to prevent falls, the ladder must be held by another
worker while anyone is going up or down.

3.8.

Point 4.3.2: Amend paragraph as follows:

‘Depending on the complexity or height of the scaffolding
chosen, an assembly, use and dismantling plan shall be drawn
up by a competent staff member. It may be in the form of a
standard plan, supplemented by items relating to specific details
of the scaffolding in question.’

3.8.1.
Scaffolding should be erected in accordance with
plans provided by the manufacturer or, when using other
scaffolding designs, using predetermined plans drawn up by a
competent staff member, who should also draw up a safety
procedures plan.

Point 4.3.3: Insert the following sentence after ‘effec-

3.9.
tiveness’:

‘Scaffolding shall be braced both lengthways and cross-
wise.’

3.10.

Point 4.3.4: Amend paragraph as follows:

‘The dimensions of scaffold decks shall be appropriate to the
nature of the work to be performed and shall allow passage
without danger. They shall be of a thickness such that they are
entirely safe, having regard to the distance between two supports
and the loads to be withstood. The planks forming the
scaffold deck shall be secured against movement and
properly attached to each other and to the construction.
All outward facing sides of scaffold decks shall be
provided with guardrails. (Scaffold decks shall be so assembled
that their components cannot move in normal use.) There shall
be no dangerous gap between the deck components and the
vertical collective safeguards. Both guardrails and toeboard
should be attached on the inside of the uprights. A gap is
permitted between the scaffold deck and the brickwork,

Brussels, 25 March 1999.

but this shall not be such as to expose workers to the risk
of a fall.’

In order to protect workers effectively and reduce
3.10.1.
the risk of falls, requirements relating to the use of scaffold
decks, planking and guardrails should be specified in detail in
order to avoid arbitrary interpretation by companies.

3.11.

Point 4.3.6: Amend paragraph as follows:

‘Scaffolding shall be assembled, dismantled or (significantly)
altered only under the supervision of a competent person and
only by workers who are trained in this type of work. Such training
shall include interpretation of the assembly and dismantling
plan, safety during assembly, dismantling or alteration of the
scaffolding (concerned), prevention of the risk of persons’ or
objects’ falling, working procedures for the use of individual
protection safeguards, the effects of changing or adverse
weather conditions, load factors and any other risks which the
operations may entail. During the work, (the) a competent
person (in charge) and the workers concerned shall have available
the assembly and dismantling plan mentioned in the present
Annex (4.3.2.), as well as the assembly, usage and
dismantling instructions.’

3.11.1.
It is necessary to reiterate the need for the assembly
and dismantling of the scaffold to be carried out by qualified
in accordance with the
staff, coordinated by a supervisor,
procedures and the assembly plan.

3.12.

Point 4.3.7: Amend paragraph as follows:

‘When the performance of a particular task requires a collective
fall prevention safeguard to be removed temporarily, effective
alternative (compensatory) measures shall be taken and safe
working procedures adopted’.

In all dangerous operations — where the work
3.12.1.
requires the collective fall prevention safeguard measures to be
reduced, the employer shall adopt ‘written working pro-
cedures’ concerning the use of individual safeguards (e.g. safety
harnesses for tasks exposing workers to the risk of falling) to
reduce risk.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI