Brussels, 27/04/2007
According to statistics from the International Labour Organization (ILO), every year over 150,000 people in the European Union die as a result of accidents at work or diseases linked to the workplace.
In the EU, cancer is the major cause of work-related deaths. A large number of European workers are exposed to carcinogens in the workplace. Many substances that could easily be replaced by less toxic or non-toxic substitutes remain in use. Many working methods expose workers to carcinogens because elementary preventive measures are not respected. The fight against work-related cancers is a priority for the European trade union movement. The ETUC will strive to promote trade union action in this area.
The European Union has set itself the objective of harmonising health and safety standards by means of directives. Today, this harmonisation still remains an objective to aim for rather than a reality. The disparities between different countries and within each country, and between sectors and categories of workers, remain vast. The ETUC stresses the importance of strengthening the workplace inspection system. A factory inspectorate with adequate resources is the only way to make regulatory efforts credible.