Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Improving quality and productivity at work: Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work COM(2007) 62 final
Date: 2008-05-29
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European Employment Strategy, employment policy, labour inspectorate, occupational health, occupational safety, productivity

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EN

Official Journal of the European Union

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Communication from the
Commission to the European Parliament,
the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Improving quality and productivity at work:
Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work

the Council,

COM(2007) 62 final

(2008/C 224/21)

On 21 February 2007 the European Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social
Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social
Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Improving quality and productivity at work: Community strategy
2007-2012 on health and safety at work.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 7 May 2008. The rapporteur was Ms Cser.

At its 445th plenary session, held on 28 and 29 May 2008 (meeting of 29 May 2008), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 80 votes to 20 with 8 abstentions.

1. Executive summary

1.6
Priority target groups — workers with disabilities,
women, older workers, young workers and migrant workers —
need specific regulation, policies and support.

Healthy and safe work for European citizens

as
1.1
employees is an essential precondition for achieving the objec-
tives of the renewed Lisbon strategy on increased productivity
and competitiveness. Community legislation together with
national measures ensure the health and safety of employees at
work. This is what the new 2007-2012 Community strategy on
health and safety at work must put into practice.

1.2
Health and safety at work should be seen as a key factor
for economic growth and productivity. It involves considerable
costs and the losers are not just businesses and workers but
society as a whole. These costs need to be better analysed. This
is important in that it would show how much insufficient safety
at work and a bad working environment cost all the parties
concerned and thus reduce productivity.

1.3
The EESC welcomes the goal to cut accidents at work by
25 %; a comparable target for reducing occupational illnesses
should also be set. Special attention should be paid to work
related cancers. A specific action plan, with measurable objec-
tives and credible and comparative reporting mechanisms,
should be introduced, checked and adjusted.

1.4
The rights of employees must be respected and effectively
applied, bearing in mind new forms of employment and the
need to ensure that legislation and therefore inspection covers
irrespective of the type of work or the form of
all workers,
employment: Failure to do so would amount to a violation of
fundamental rights.

1.5
The EESC supports appropriate implementation of Com-
munity legislation, in particular through the development and
implementation of national strategies.

1.7
In order to implement and monitor the strategy, specific
minimum standards concerning the number of labour inspec-
tors are needed to ensure effective and standardised Community
and national supervision/inspection (1).

The Senior Labour Inspectors Committee (SLIC) staffing
1.8
levels and the staff of the relevant national and EC authorities
should not be cut, but increased in line with the working and
total population of the enlarged EU.

1.9 Member States should promote social dialogue at Com-
munity, national,
local and employer levels, as an essential
instrument in ensuring health and safety at work for individual
employees.

Cooperation between Member States must be stepped
1.10
up. In particular, requisite provision must also be made in EU
budgetary policy to secure the systematic and effective imple-
mentation of the Community strategy on health and safety at
work.

By means of coordinating Community policies

1.11
to
develop a culture of risk prevention, training programmes must
be launched and stepped up, building on local, regional and
national experience, while taking risk prevention into account
in educational programmes — starting from nursery education,
and including basic and vocational training — and ensuring
coordination with public health policies.

(1) At least one inspector per 10 000 employees is needed (in many EU

Member States the ratio is lower than this).

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Crucial

1.12
to the success of prevention efforts are the
health and safety culture in the workplace and the health and
safety bodies and persons responsible for health and safety in
workplaces. It is important to ensure that health and safety
training in the workplace is up to date. Key target groups are
superiors and staff responsible for health and safety. They must
be provided with adequate training, allowed sufficient time to
carry out their health and safety responsibilities and given the
opportunity to influence the development of, inter alia, work
processes. Here the social partners have a major role to play in
terms of reaching agreements and practical implementation in
the workplace.

1.13
SMEs, which employ over 80 % of workers, are at an
immense disadvantage compared to multinational companies in
terms of financial resources and possibilities. Such companies
are highly vulnerable and need special support, on condition
that they undertake to respect social dialogue and comply with
social agreements on occupational health and safety.

the European social model. The past has been characterised by
the need to restore trust and support on the part of the Euro-
pean public (3).

2.2
An ambitious and sensitive social policy not only contri-
butes to greater productivity and growth, but also promotes
social cohesion, and thereby social harmony and political stabi-
lity, without which there can be no lasting or sustainable devel-
opment. In other words, social policy is a factor which influ-
ences productivity (4). Thus, health and safety at work are not
just ends in themselves; in the long-term, expenditure in this
area will not only be recouped but can also have a definite posi-
tive influence on economic performance.

1.14
New and rapidly changing forms of work organisation
and new technologies bring new risks, which require a response
at Community level. According to the Scientific Committee on
Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL) health criteria-based
exposure limits should be adopted. The Committee welcomes
that the social partners have made a significant contribution to
improving the mental health of workers through their agree-
ments on stress, and violence and harassment which should be
implemented at national level.

2.3 Working conditions are especially important for health,
given that adults spend one-third of their lives at the workplace.
Hazardous and unhealthy conditions at work cost 3-5 % of
GNP. Prevention, general healthcare expenditure and employ-
ment-related healthcare expenditure are to be seen as invest-
ments. In response to demographic changes, sustainable devel-
opment must be taken into account (5), as Europe needs more
investment and more jobs ensuring individual health.

1.15
the place of existing and future legal rules.

CSR is to be welcomed as a method, but it cannot take

Especially in view of globalisation,

1.16
the problems
targeted by Community policies cannot be solved only within
the EU. Fair globalisation and decent work for all employees
guarantee that EU objectives are achieved at international level.
EU institutions must encourage Member States to ratify ILO
conventions.

2.4
A comprehensive occupational health and safety frame-
work must continue to be developed and properly implemented
throughout the EU, reaching out to vulnerable groups not yet
adequately covered, who experience difficulties with exercising
their rights in the area of safety at work, including, in particular,
those in precarious employment and in a high-risk work envir-
onment or put at risk for short-term competitive advantage.

2. General comments

In the context of the Lisbon strategy, Member States have
2.1
acknowledged the significant contribution of policies on health
and safety at the workplace to economic growth and employ-
ment (2). Improving health and safety at work is also part of

(2) See EESC opinion of 26.9.2007 on ‘Promoting sustainable productivity
(OJ C 10 of
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?

in the European workplace’. Rapporteur: Ms Kurki
15.1.2008).
uri=OJ:C:2008:010:0072:0079:EN:PDF.

2.5
Promoting health and safety at work and ensuring it on
a permanent basis is one of the conditions for protecting and
preserving employees' health. It is also cost-effective. Prevention
is one of the main means of achieving this. Prevention — as the
approach which offers the best return on investment –, together
with proper standards of protection in all workplaces, yields
including for major
significant long-term returns or savings,
healthcare
insurance
accident
and
systems
premiums for companies or other costs directly or indirectly
related to the effects of accidents at work. The quality of

and welfare

(3) See COM(2005) 33 final and European Council Conclusions in March
2007. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/press-
Data/en/ec/93135.pdf.

(4) As stated by Anne-Marie Sigmund in: ‘The European Social Model’, 26-

27 June 2006, Joint EESC and ILO conference.

(5) See ILO: Demographic change — Facts, Scenarios and policy responses

(April 2008).

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preventive services, employee health and safety training, better
and more effective safety standards, competent ongoing inspec-
tions and cooperation with the social partners are essential and
interdependent aspects in ensuring health and safety at work.

2.11
mented at national
monitoring must be ensured at national
that
welcomes the fact
reports on the implementation of directives.

For Community policy and legislation to be imple-
level and to be effective, application and
level. The EESC
the Member States produce regular

agreements,

The PROGRESS programme states that the main objec-
2.6
tive of European social policy is the constant improvement of
working conditions, while listening to employees and their
representatives, and involving them in the decision-making
process. Community-level social dialogue across all sectors
should guarantee equal rights in all Member States. Social
(for
dialogue
example on teleworking, on
combating violence at
the workplace and on work-related
stress), need to be consolidated and followed by effective
the type of work or the form of
measures,
employment. For public sector employees, despite the use of
social dialogue, there are huge inequalities not only in legislation
but also in practice. A specific institutional feature of social
dialogue is involvement of a permanent employee representative
in regular monitoring and managing of health and safety risks
at work.

irrespective of

the

The

EESC supports

2.12
European Commission's
proposal on Community statistics on public health and health
and safety at work (COM(2007) 46 final), and cannot suffi-
ciently emphasise the importance of joint definitions and recog-
nition systems (7). Uniform legislation is needed to ensure that
appropriate, differentiated data can be compiled so that stan-
dards and indicators can be put in place.

3. Specific comments

2.7
The EESC recommends that the Member States take a
serious approach to penalising infringements of the rules and
that an analysis be carried out of expenditure on health and
safety at work, given that the consequences of occupational acci-
dents and illnesses represent a burden on society as a whole and
that they also affect productivity and consequently competitive-
ness.

3.1
The Commission's communication has set the goal of
improving the quality of work and productivity for the 2007-
2012 period as the basis of the Community strategy on health
and safety at work, following on from the 2002-2006 Com-
munity strategy based on framework directive 89/391/EEC.

2.8
Despite general improvements in health and safety at the
workplace in recent years, in both the number and the serious-
illnesses, occupational
ness of accidents and occupational
hazards have not been reduced in a uniform way. For certain
sectors, certain categories of workers and certain types of
companies the situation remains worrying, with figures well
above average (6). Evaluation shows that national programmes
fail to take into account certain vulnerable groups for example
false self-employed. This has to be changed.

2.9
Although the previous strategy offered scope for devel-
oping a culture of prevention, this has not become widespread.
SMEs in particular should benefit more from regular financial
support, on condition that they undertake to respect social
agreements on occupational health and safety.

In connection with inspections, the EESC stresses the
2.10
fact that companies also have an obligation to a carry out in-
house monitoring on their own initiative.

(6) The rate of accidents in the construction industry is twice the average.
The figures in the services sector show an upwards tendency which
calls for closer analysis; the numbers are also growing in healthcare and
education. This has mainly to do with violence, stress, and musculoske-
letal disorders.

An evaluation report has been produced on the imple-
3.2
mentation and impact of the objectives set by the strategy for
2002-2006 (8). During this period ten new Member States
joined the EU. In the absence of statistics and information, the
situation in the ten new Member States was not included in this
evaluation, and also the new strategy was prepared on the basis
of 1999 figures. In view of this, the EESC is very disappointed
that, although the new Member States arrived halfway through
the strategy, the Commission did not take the chance to plan on
a rolling basis and to adapt the strategy accordingly.

One positive point is that the Community strategy has
3.3
set an objective of reducing occupational accidents by 25 %. A
specific action plan with measurable objectives and indicators
and with credible and comparative reporting mechanisms as
well as monitoring mechanisms will be needed to implement
this goal. Consideration should also be given to internal causes
of work accidents, such as pressure of time and short delivery
times, and extraneous causes, due to negligence arising,
for
example, from domestic stress. In addition to work-related acci-
dents, it is equally important to address the much larger propor-
tion of work-related illnesses. The first step towards prevention
illnesses and to up-date the
is to acknowledge occupational

(7) See EESC opinion of 25.10.2007 on ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on
public health and health and safety at work’. Rapporteur: Mr Retureau
(OJ C 44 of 16.2.2008). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUri-
Serv.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:044:0103:0105:EN:PDF.

(8) SEC(2007) 214.

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figure should,

definition of such illnesses. If the causes of illnesses are known
in good time, timely action can be taken to eliminate them. A
specific target
the
number of persons employed in hazardous work conditions, as
this has a decisive impact on the number of future occupational
illnesses; equally, the number of occupational illnesses should be
quantified.

therefore, also be set

for

3.4 Legislation and monitoring

3.4.1
The EESC emphasises the need for a balanced health
and safety strategy of legislative and non-legislative measures,
depending on which is the most effective in terms of practical
implementation. It would especially be useful to focus on new
and altered working conditions. The impact of those changes on
health and safety has to be considered systematically. On the
basis of research it must be considered whether appropriate
measures should be developed in response to widespread and
exponential changes in the circumstances and conditions of
work, and in particular the faster and more intensive pace of
work. The EESC would point out that all employees have the
same rights and that those rights should be respected at EU and
national level.

them, given that

3.4.2
In the course of implementing the new strategy, young
people, migrant workers, women, elderly employees, and
persons with disabilities are in need of specific regulation and
policies to support
they are groups most
exposed to risks as well as occupational accidents and illnesses.
The lack of
failure to
provide work induction and guidance as well as inadequate
language skills all present risks. In the case of migrant workers,
language skills are an important factor in ensuring prevention
treatment must be
and disseminating information;
ensured.

training, retraining and information,

equal

3.4.3
Sufficient funding and staff must be provided to ensure
coordination and monitoring of the directives. But despite the
2004 enlargement, job cuts are planned at the Senior Labour
Inspectors Committee (SLIC). There should be no cuts here or
in the number of representatives to the Committee. Also in the
relevant European Commission authority there are only 26 staff
working, 4-5 of which deal with implementing legislation. This
was already criticised in an EESC opinion of 2002, at which
time there were only 15 Member States, whereas now there are
27. This situation definitely needs to be improved. Reductions
in the number of inspectors at Member State level must also be
prevented.

3.4.4
The main objective should be to ensure compliance
with legislation on protecting employees. Inspections by compe-
tent authorities need to be stepped up as
regards both
employers' and employees' health and safety obligations. A more
widespread culture of occupational health and safety needs to be
nurtured through education,
training and a more accessible
regulatory framework.

Besides monitoring compliance with safety rules,
3.4.5
national
inspectorates can play a positive role by
labour
providing employers with advice and consultancy. Adequate
funding is needed to ensure that national labour inspections are
effective and independent.

3.4.6
As long ago as 2002, the Senior Labour Inspectors
Committee (SLIC) decided to improve the effectiveness of work-
place inspections, given that one of the main instruments is the
development of indicators enabling evaluation of the quality of
inspections. The EESC supported this decision in a previous
opinion (9). The EESC agrees with the SLIC's conclusions and
backs its proposals, and is therefore disappointed that they have
been left out of the strategy.

3.5 Implementation and national strategies

3.5.1
Social dialogue on health and safety at work must be
encouraged, and European-level measures developed by the
social partners are needed. Candidate countries should be
supported — not least financially — through EU social funds,
and twinning relations between old and new Member States. In
the case of candidate and potential candidate countries, the
transposing of legislation has begun together with the strength-
ening of workplace inspections.

3.5.2
Doctors and healthcare professionals are aware of the
identification of phenomena caused by working conditions, but
what needs to be considered is the generally costly healthcare
situation. The costs of prevention should not be imposed on
employees, given that due to financial reasons many would
neglect their illnesses, which subsequently might result in higher
In relation to employee health promotion,
treatment costs.
employers offer a wide range of measures drawn up jointly with
employees to promote a healthy lifestyle. These include for
example
cessation
as well
programmes, advice on healthy eating and exercise, and stress
prevention (10).

screening,

smoking

free

as

The strategy calls for significant measures to improve
3.5.3
the rehabilitation and reintegration of workers excluded from
labour markets because of an occupational illness or disability.
The EESC agrees with the Commission's ideas, but Community
policy has not put in place the necessary financial conditions
for this to happen.

(9) See EESC opinion of 17.7.2002 on ‘Communication from the
Commission — Adapting to change in work and society: a new Com-
munity strategy on health and safety at work 2002-2006’. Rapporteur:
Mr Etty (JO C 241 of 7.10.2002). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/
LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2002:241:0100:0103:EN:PDF.

(10) Link to the homepage of the European Network for Workplace Health

Promotion: http://www.enwhp.org/index.php?id=4.

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3.5.4
The EESC concurs with the point of view of the Euro-
pean Commission that with regard to mainstreaming health and
safety issues into other EU policies much work remains to be
done, for example on measures to be developed jointly with
public healthcare systems.

conditions (11). The Committee therefore urges the Member
States
to take concrete action to reduce the number of
employees exposed to carcinogens.

The EESC supports the work of the group comprising
3.5.5
several organisational entities from DG Employment, Social
Affairs and Equal Opportunities,
in order to ensure synergies
and achieve specific results.

3.6.7
The EESC feels that there is a need to develop a general
culture of health to achieve greater awareness of health among
employees. For this to happen, support must be provided not
only by employers, but also at national and European level, and
employees should be educated about their rights in this field
under national, Community (EU) and international (ILO) law.

3.6 Prevention, education and training

3.6.1
Developing the protection of health and safety at work
at national level is an integral part of a general culture of health.
It is also in the interests of Member States. Besides, employees
can benefit from continuous participation in training and educa-
tion on this subject;
In
complying with their obligation to keep employees constantly
informed and cooperate with them, employers are also key
players in shaping and developing a national culture. Collective
bargaining agreements are also an important instrument here.

indeed, they are required to do so.

The EESC would remind Member States and the social
3.6.2
partners of
the importance of prevention, education and
training, and of their responsibilities in this field. Health and
safety issues should be introduced or developed in nurseries,
primary schools, vocational education, tertiary education, adult
education and further training.

3.6.8
At Community and national level, a conscious effort
must be made to develop preventive policies and to provide
adequate support from budgets/social security. For a stronger
culture of prevention, a comprehensive and preventive approach
must be developed. Steps must be taken to ensure that all
employees have access to training so that the vulnerability of
certain groups can be reduced. In view of changing forms of
employment, this is particularly important for employees who,
through no fault of their own, are often not covered by training
and further training on employee safety, medical examinations
at the workplace, prevention and checks.

3.6.9
The EESC recommends that particular attention be
paid to the influence of the mass media when it comes to better
informing the public of the need to observe regulations relating
to health and safety at work. More use should be made of Euro-
pean Commission campaigns, the European Agency for Safety
and Health at Work,
the ILO and trades unions (including
events such as the International Commemoration Day for Dead
and Injured Workers).

Education, training and further training must take the
3.6.3
needs of the various target groups into account; the EESC is
pleased that the new strategy and preventive approach take life-
long learning into account.

3.7 New risks

in primary education or

In general, health and safety at work is not taken into
3.6.4
in the context of
account either
retraining, and therefore the EESC is pleased that
lifelong
learning has been included in the new strategy and the preven-
tive approach.

3.6.5 With regard to particularly dangerous workplaces,
where most accidents and occupational illnesses occur, the EESC
recommends that national strategies pay particular attention to
new risks when identifying or preventing dangers. It would also
be very helpful to set up sectoral databases.

3.6.6
The Committee believes that illnesses caused by carci-
nogens in the workplace are a significant problem. Some 2,3
million new cases of cancer were diagnosed across the EU's 25
Member States in 2006 alone, which means that they are the
principal cause of early death. It is estimated that approximately
9,6 % of all cancer-related deaths are linked to working

3.7.1
The EESC suggests that scientific methods be used to
assess new work-related risks, such as occupational stress or
new arduous conditions. The psychosocial and physical reper-
cussions of new fields of work and conditions on employees
must be examined using scientific methods; to this end, new
indicators must be developed. The EESC feels that all occupa-
tional physicians should be given training to help them diagnose
mental stress arising from working conditions and the resulting
problems.

The EESC agrees with the Commission in its expecta-
3.7.2
tions of a more health-conscious attitude on the part of
employees; however, there is no chance of this happening in the
absence of the requisite conditions. Precarious and fixed-term
contracts, actual working time and constant stress due to fear of

(11) Report by Hämäläinen P., Takala J. for the ILO

http://osha.europa.eu/OSH_world_day/occupational_cancer/view?
searchterm=occupational %20cancer

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losing one's job,
information on
ignorance of and lack of
employees' rights and the disadvantageous situation of migrant
workers when they use healthcare services are among the
problems which stand in the way of promoting the right atti-
tudes.

3.7.3
In the course of implementing its 2002-2006 strategy
for well-being at work, the EU has not yet fulfilled its tasks with
regard to ensuring a workplace in which mental health is not
threatened by stress and depression. The EESC deplores this and
urges the Commission to come up with specific proposals.

3.8 Protecting health at international level

3.8.1
The EU is responsible not only for the working condi-
tions of its own citizens, but also for those of people living
outside its borders. As the previous strategy already pointed out,
respect for fundamental labour rights also has to be taken into

in external

account
trade and development policies, even
though there are possible conflicts in these fields with the prin-
ciple of free markets (12).

In international policies, adoption of

ILO measures/
3.8.2
recommendations must be
encouraged together with EU
achievements such as REACH. Policies and legislation on redu-
cing hazards and illnesses caused by asbestos, carcinogenic
materials, and silicon must be developed.

3.8.3
In providing State or public services, Member States
should set a good example by favouring companies which
comply with legislation on employees' health and safety at work
(as suggested in the 2002-2006 strategy on health and safety at
work).

3.8.4
ILO conventions.

All EU Member States must be urged to ratify existing

Brussels, 29 May 2008.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Commit

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

(12) Dr. Jukka Takala, EP 390.606v01-00

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APPENDIX

to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee

The following amendments were rejected, although they did receive at least a quarter of the votes cast:

Point 2.4

‘A comprehensive occupational health and safety framework has already been created must continue to be developed and must be
properly implemented and monitored throughout the EU. This applies particularly to reaching out to vulnerable groups not yet
adequately covered, who experience difficulties with exercising their rights in the area of safety at work and those, including, in
particular, those in precarious employment and in a high-risk work environment or put at risk for short-term competitive advan-
tage.’

Reason

Self-explanatory.

Voting

For: 41 Against: 45 Abstentions: 10

Point 3.3

‘One positive point is that the Community strategy has set an objective of reducing occupational accidents by 25 %. A specific
action plan with measurable objectives and indicators and with credible and comparative reporting mechanisms as well as moni-
toring mechanisms will be needed to implement this goal. Consideration should also be given to internal causes of work accidents,
such as pressure of time and short delivery times, and extraneous causes, due to negligence arising, for example, from domestic
stress. In addition to work-related accidents, it is equally important to address the much larger proportion of work-related illnesses.
The first step towards prevention is to acknowledge occupational illnesses and to up-date the definition of such illnesses. If the
causes of illnesses are known in good time, timely action can be taken to eliminate them. A specific target figure should, therefore,
also be set for the number of persons employed in hazardous work conditions, as this has a decisive impact on the number of
future occupational illnesses; equally, the number of occupational illnesses should be quantified.’

Reason

Self-explanatory.

Voting

For: 46 Against: 48 Abstentions: 12