Type: Acts of the European Union: European Parliament resolution on the mid-term review of the European strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work

Authority: European Authorities - European Union: European Parliament

Date: 12/15/2011

Subject: The European Parliament points out that the European reference framework on occupational health and safety (OHS) does not in itself provide for automatic improvement of working conditions, major factors being proper implementation on the ground, notably via employee participation, tripartite dialogue arrangements, gathering and disseminating data, awareness-raising campaigns and networking of training and information services, and supervision of the application of the legislation in Member States; calls on the Commission to take swift action when infringements are detected and to reinforce sanctions when necessary; it deplores the fact that in 2009 several Member States did not focus their national strategies on the three priorities of the EU strategy: stress and burn-out at work, RSI, and research into and regular gathering of data on new risks; considers that national strategies should devote greater efforts and resources to prevention; it calls for the next European strategy to set more measurable goals, together with binding timetables and a periodic evaluation; it points out that savings caused by the economic crisis must not mean losing sight of health and safety at work; it stresses that the Commission should develop gender and age-specific statistical means to evaluate prevention not solely in terms of accidents but also in terms of pathologies and the percentage of workers exposed to chemical, physical or biological agents and to dangerous situations from the point of view of the organisation of work; it Regrets the lack of information on risks and solutions among employees, employers, social partners and even health services; points out the positive role in this regard of employees' participation and representation; it stresses that - in addition to workers who do strenuous work - migrants, young people, old people, women of child-bearing age, the disabled, members of ethnic minorities, low-skilled workers, casual workers, those with insecure working conditions and the long-term unemployed returning to the labour market are particularly at-risk categories; underlines that there should be incentives for a more effective application of the rules on Health and Safety at work, especially for these categories; believes that prior to the employment of these workers special preliminary training should be offered where appropriate.

Classification: Solidarity - Art. 27 Worker’s rights: information - Art. 31 Working conditions: healthy - Working conditions: safe - Working conditions: dignified - Art. 32 Youth protection

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