Commenting on the European Commission’s ‘Framework on Health and Safety at Work’ which was issued today, Józef Niemiec, Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said “The ETUC has been waiting for years for this Health and Safety Strategy, and we are disappointed it is weak and insubstantial. It contains no concrete proposal for action, and no specific improvements to health and safety.”
The framework document does identify a number of challenges to be addressed, such as the capacity of SMEs to prevent risks, the tackling of new risks (such as from nanomaterials, muscoskeletal disorders, specific risks for women, pyscho-social, mental disorders and specific types of cancers) and the impact of an ageing workforce on health and safety. These are important issues and the strategy should, but does not, commit to improve legislation – or come forward with new proposals - to tackle the challenges it identifies.
However, the strategy does acknowledge that 4,000 people die in the EU every year due to accidents at work, and that 160,000 people die every year from work-related diseases, the majority related to cancer. Despite this, the strategy threatens to deregulate health and safety – claiming the need for “simplifying legislation where appropriate” to make it easier for SMEs to implement health and safety.
Józef Niemiec added “The strategy proposes to treat health and safety as part of REFIT programme of cutting so-called red-tape. Workers’ safety is not a bureaucratic burden.”
The ETUC is disappointed that the joint recommendations of trade unions and employers on health and safety are not being taken up by the Commission in this strategy or in other initiatives.