Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work (second individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (Codified version) COM(2006) 652 final — 2006/0214 (COD)
Date: 2007-02-15
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: codification of EU law, dissemination of information, in-service training, occupational health, occupational safety, worker participation

C 97/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.4.2007

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council concerning the minimum safety and health requirements
for the use of work equipment by workers at work (second individual Directive within the
meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (Codified version)

COM(2006) 652 final — 2006/0214 (COD)

(2007/C 97/06)

On 22 November 2006, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee,
under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned 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 22 January 2007. The rapporteur was
Mr Verboven.

At its 433rd plenary session, held on 15 and 16 February 2007 (meeting of 15 February), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 181 votes to 2, with 11 abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

1.1
The Committee essentially supports the proposal, but
calls on the Commission to take account of the two reservations
the recitals
raised in this regard and to amend the text of
accordingly. It hopes to see the swift approval of the proposal
by the Parliament and the Council.

2. Background

2.1 Gist of the Commission proposal

2.1.1
The purpose of this proposal is to undertake a codifica-
tion of Council Directive 89/655/EEC of 30 November 1989
concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the
use of work equipment by workers at work. The new Directive
will supersede the various acts incorporated in it (1); according
to the Commission, this proposal fully preserves the content of
the acts being codified and hence does no more than bring
them together with only such formal amendments as are required
by the codification exercise itself.

2.2 Comments

Compliance with health and safety regulations in the
2.2.1
use of work equipment is an important aspect of prevention
measures. Since 1989 these measures have been the subject of a
minimum harmonisation. The directive of 30 November 1989
has been amended several times so as to cover a large number
of work situations (mainly related to work at a height) and to
incorporate a broad approach to safety at work by referring to
ergonomic principles. These various revisions may cause difficul-

Brussels, 15 February 2007.

ties for the intended users of this legislation even though the
Commission has initiated an unofficial coordination of
the
applicable regulations.

A codification may not make any changes to the
2.2.2
content. Having examined the proposal, the Committee believes
that
in question fully upholds this basic principle,
subject to the following reservations:

the text

— recitals (10) and (11) of Directive 2001/45/EEC drew atten-
tion to the need for specific training for workers required to
use equipment to perform work at a height. The Committee
would hope that such a recommendation is not omitted
from the recitals of the proposed codification;

— the Committee believes that the present proposal should be
submitted for consultation to the Advisory Committee on
Safety and Health at Work in accordance with Council Deci-
sion 2003/C 218/01 of 22 July 2003. This consultation
the directive in
should be mentioned in the recitals of
accordance with the practice applied hitherto.

2.2.3
Subject to the comments set out above, the Committee
believes that the Commission proposal combines the provisions
currently in force in a logical manner and makes them clearer
and does not pose any major problem.

2.2.4
The Committee essentially supports the proposal, but
calls on the Commission to take account of the two reservations
the recitals
raised in this regard and to amend the text of
accordingly. It hopes to see the swift approval of the proposal
by the Parliament and the Council.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

(1) Directive 89/655/EEC of

the
Council and Directive 2001/45/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council.

the Council, Directive 95/63/EC of