WRITTEN QUESTION E-1865/00 by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission. Risks to the safety of workers and citizens as a result of applying national rules on health and safety in the workplace to public works tunnel building operations.
Date: 2000-06-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European social policy, Spain, occupational health, occupational safety, tunnel

C 72 E/136

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.3.2001

Since fishing in this way is extremely destructive of Mediterranean fish stocks, with protected species also
being caught, how does the Council intend to require of the governments of the States concerned that they
adopt appropriate measures and comply with Community fisheries regulations?

Will the Council sanction those countries which fail to comply with the regulations?

Reply

(28 September 2000)

The Honourable Member(cid:146)s attention is drawn to Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 2847/93 establishing a
control system applicable to the common fisheries policy, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2846/98,
which lays down that it is for the Member States to take the necessary measures to monitor all fishing
activity within their territory and their coastal waters. Pursuant to Article 29 of the same Regulation, it is
the Commission which verifies application of the Regulation by the Member States. It may conduct on-the-
spot visits and carry out verifications without prior notice.

This question should therefore be put to the Commission.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1626/94, the minimum size for red tuna is 70 cm or 6,4 kg. These
measures have been maintained for the year 2000 by the Regulation fixing TACs and quotas (Regulation
(EC) No 2742/1999).

(2001/C 72 E/172)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1865/00

by Luis Berenguer Fuster (PSE) to the Commission

(9 June 2000)

Subject: Risks to the safety of workers and citizens as a result of applying national rules on health and

safety in the workplace to public works tunnel building operations

Commissioner Diamantopoulou(cid:146)s reply of 3 April 2000 claims that an examination of Spanish legislation
has shown that the application of the provisions laid down for the mining sector with regard to tunnel
building increases the level of protection for workers provided for by Directive 92/57/EEC.

The claim, however, flatly contradicts the conclusions which the majority of Member States appear to have
reached. In the cases of Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, UK, France and Germany, at least, none of the
laws transposing Directive 92/104/EEC apply to public works under construction in general, nor to civilian
tunnelling and underground public work in particular. The Spanish Ministry of Development appears to
have reached the same conclusion; in response to the safety risks to workers and the general public posed
by the legal provisions applicable to mining, it approved the Order of 19 November 1998 laying down
specific provisions for planning, building and using underground constructions for road and rail transport
(technical regulation IOS 98), excluding the application of provisions concerning mining in the planning,
building and use of underground and submarine public works, on which the Ministry has drafted a
document which has been forwarded to the sectors concerned for information and consultation.

Furthermore, accident statistics in the mining sector indicate a situation which flatly contradicts the
Commissioner(cid:146)s statements. Between 1984 and 1999, 741 people were killed in working accidents in
mining. Over the same period, and before the adoption of the Spanish legislation contrary to Directive 92/
57/EEC, contained in Royal Decree 1389/97, there was one single serious accident in the extremely
numerous public works tunnel building operations which have been carried out as part of Spanish
infrastructure operations over the last 15 years.

6.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 72 E/137

What is the technical basis for the Commission(cid:146)s claim that the application to public works tunnelling
operation (non-military) of rules on protecting workers in the mining sector increases the level of
protection afforded to workers employed in tunnel building?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(28 July 2000)

The Commission would remind the Honourable Member that, already in its reply to Written Question
E-467/00 (1), it pointed out that application of the rules enshrined by Real Decreto 1389/1997, which
transposes Directive 92/104/EEC (2) on surface and underground mineral-extracting industries, to tunnel
building, irrespective of their nature, is without prejudice to the provisions transposing Directive 92/57/
EEC (3) on temporary or mobile work sites, namely Real Decreto 1627/1997.

Pursuant to Article 137(5) of the EC Treaty (ex-Article 118), Member States are authorised to maintain or
introduce more stringent protective measures than those provided for in the Community instrument.

Hence the application of certain provisions of Directive 82/104/EEC to tunnel building effectively
reinforces the minimum levels of protection established by Directive 92/57/EEC. This applies in particular
to the minimum rules set out in part A of the Annex to Directive 92/104/EEC and which concern
protection from fire hazards (point 4.4), explosives and initiating devices (point 5), means of evacuation
and escape (point 10), safety drills (point 11), first-aid facilities (point 12) and the minimum provisions
provided for in part C, which concern support and ground stability (point 6), ventilation (point 7), fires,
combustions and heatings when the use of hydraulic fluids which are difficult
to ignite for the
transmission of hydrostatic and/or hydrokinetic mechanical energy in the machinery is necessary to avoid
lighting (point 13), underground workforce accounting
the risk of fire and its spread (point 11.3),
(point 14) and rescue organisation, so as to take appropriate and rapid action in the event of any major
incident (point 15).

All these minimum rules supplement and reinforce the level of health and safety of workers involved in
tunnel building within the meaning of Directive 92/57/EEC and notably those referred to in point 10 of
Annex IV, Part B.

As regards the statistics mentioned by the Honourable Member, it should be pointed out that the total
includes (cid:129) according to the
number of workers who died in the extractive industries (1984-1999)
information provided by the Spanish authorities (4) (cid:129) victims of fatal accidents both in underground and
surface workings and in ancillary surface installations. As from 1996 the data on accidents in tunnels have
been indicated separately.

Hence, contrary to the data cited by the Honourable Member, the statistics provided by the Spanish
authorities show that, for the 1996-1999 period alone, nine fatal accidents and four serious accidents
occurred in tunnel building work.

(1) OJ C 330 E, 21.11.2000, p. 167.
(2) OJ L 404, 31.12.1992.
(3) OJ L 245, 26.8.1992.
(4)

Informe de Actividad de la Comisi(cid:243)n de Seguridad Minera, Direcci(cid:243)n General de Minas, Ministerio de Industria y
Energ(cid:237)a (junio 1999).

(2001/C 72 E/173)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1870/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(9 June 2000)

Subject: Prisons and the (cid:145)third pillar(cid:146)

The recent incidents in the Sassari district prison (Sardinia) and the subsequent action by the judicial
authorities highlight the critical situation in Italian prisons, which is adversely affecting the conditions in