Debate: Limit values for lead and its inorganic compounds and diisocyanates
Date: TUESDAY, 6 FEBRUARY 2024
Speaker: Nicolas Schmit
Language: EN

Ensuring safe workplaces is a continuous objective of the Commission, as it has been ever since the first European Community. The swift agreement on stricter rules preventing exposure from lead and diisocyanates at work will contribute to achieving this goal. The amending directive also delivers on the commitment made under the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan and the EU’s Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work (2021-2027). The political agreement debated today will benefit about 100 000 workers exposed to lead in the EU, and 4.2 million workers exposed to diisocyanates.  Concerning lead, significantly reduced limit values will help prevent damaging health effects, including those affecting reproductive functions and foetal development. As regards diisocyanates, the first ever EU exposure limits will prevent cases of occupational asthma and other respiratory diseases, and complement existing EU measures under the REACH Regulation. The directive also addresses workers with historic exposure and aims to improve the protection of women of childbearing age.  Both substances will be critical in the industrial processes needed to advance the EU’s transition to climate neutrality, and the new legislation will help promote a green transition closely connected to safety and health at work, which seems to me absolutely indispensable – we do not want to save the planet and at the same time make people sick and threaten their health and safety.  Moreover, the Commission working closely with EU agencies – European Chemicals Agency and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – will provide guidelines to facilitate the implementation of the directive, covering aspects such as on the effects of exposure to a combination of substances and on health surveillance and biological monitoring.  Let me just mention that the Commission has submitted a statement in relation to the institutional prerogatives of the Commission and the well-established procedure in the area of occupational safety and health.  I commend the excellent collaboration on this agreement. Once approved, the new directive will contribute to healthier workplaces. Now we need to make sure these new provisions are effectively implemented, and I count on your continuous support in our collective effort to protect workers and society at large.  “The Commission recalls that the right of initiative accorded to it under the Treaties includes the right to decide whether or not to submit a legislative proposal and, including, as the case may be, to determine the subject-matter, objective, content and timeline of such proposal and/or related action. The provisions of the Directive which request the Commission: to review the limit values for lead and its inorganic compounds and for diisocyanates, to develop guidelines on health surveillance and biological monitoring regarding lead,  to assess the effects of exposure to a combination of substances with a view to develop Union guidelines,  to assess the appropriateness of including endocrine disruptors within the scope of the Directive  must thus be understood as being without prejudice to the Commission’s right of initiative under the Treaties. The Commission declares that any possible legislative proposal and/or action on any of the above-mentioned issues will be prepared in adherence to the well-established process in the area of occupational safety and health, and within the requisite timelines, thorough consultation and involvement of social partners and external stakeholders, and in line with its Better Regulation agenda. Besides the two-stage consultation of social partners set out in Article 154 TFEU, this process includes the consultation of the tripartite Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work, the opinion of the Risk Assessment Committee of the European Chemicals Agency and an impact assessment.”