Promoting higher standards of health and safety in the workplace

Transcription

1 Promoting higher standards of health and safety in the workplace Stefano Boy European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)* Public hearing on "The Future of European Standardisation 23 June 2010 *The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) is Associate Member of CEN

2 The stimulating experience of ETUI in technical standardisation An opportunity for trade unions: 1. to help manufacturer shape sustainable technological trajectories cooperating with manufacturers & designers to make inherently safe products, fully compatible with the expectations and limitations of users 2. to inject into harmonised standards the workers feedback* from the real use of equipment filling the gap bewteen design and workplace, and validating in the workplace the standard technical provisions envisaged by designers 3. to support the diligent European Industry playing by the rules of the Internal Market promoting high-quality standards reconciling safety and productivity * The HESA most recent project using the Feedback approach 2

3 Recognising the social dimension of Standardisation Health and Safety one pillar of the social dimension of standardisation will continue to be a trade union priority Occupational accidents and diseases represent an enormous financial burden for the public and private actors of the EU European legislation and policies supported by standards can only work properly when two conditions are respected: A. A careful assessment of the impact of standardisation on national legislation and sectoral collective agreements B. The full involvement of societal stakeholders in standardisation 3

4 A. Assessment (i) From the Action Plan for European Standardisation Dec : Services Research/innovation Enhance and broaden the use of Space and Galileo European Standardisation in Defence European policies and legislation ICT Transport Accessibility for all Hydrogen and fuel cell technology Nanotechnologies Security Environment protection Measurement Validation of standards for metrology Consumer protection E-health Spatial/geographical information 4

5 Services A. Assessment (ii) From the Action Plan for European Standardisation Dec : Transport Social Directives Nanotechnologies Environment protection Product Directives Consumer protection 5

6 A. Assessment (iii) Services Transport Nanotechnologies Environment protection Social Directives Product Directives The health and safety of the millions of employees working in these sectors is covered by a combination of product total harmonisation directives and horizontal social directives setting minimum requirements Consumer protection If standardisation enters these areas, and especially if it is meant to support legislation, then it must not interfere with the existing OHS regulatory framework. Trade Unions raise one question: Where is the Impact Assessment needed to avoid that standardisation in these areas does not interfere with national OHS legislation? ETUI invites the Commission to careful measure the interface between standardisation and legislation in these areas

7 Recognising the social dimension of Standardisation European legislation and policies supported by standards can only work properly when a number of conditions are respected: A. A careful assessment of the impact of standardisation on national legislation and sectoral collective agreements B. The full involvement of societal stakeholders in standardisation 7

8 B. Involvement (i) The evidence: societal stakeholders do not share economic benefits from participating in standardisation. The resources needed to achieve a meaningful input into standardisation are prohibitive For trade unions, consumers or environmentalists there is no immediate financial return The consequence: the disproportion of available resources to industry and to society affects the achievement of consensus and its quality not everybody seats at the table with the same negotiating power and low-quality consensus leads inevitably to standards not representative and not acceptable - Standards thus loose their capacity to incorporate the expectations and needs of weak stakeholders 8

9 B. Involvement (ii) the trade union view 1. The disproportion of available resources is not fortuitous, it is congenital; 2. If standards are designed to support legislation, the full involvement of societal stakeholders must be achieved through structural support enshrined in legislation, and not by means of remedial, post-mortem measures; 3. Is the European Parliament aware that only a minority of Member States have provided structural support to societal stakeholders to ensure their involvement in national standardisation? 4. The Ministries making pressure to standardise in support of legislation cannot be credible if they do not guarantee as a precondition the support to societal stakeholders affected by standardisation 9

10 The way forward (i) Less regulation through more standardisation? Caution when promoting standardisation in areas affecting public and society until public and societal actors are given structural support for their full involvement in standardisation Caution when moving from technical to non-technical standards..... Because the claimed «success story» of standardisation supporting New Approach directives has some peculiarities that cannot be extrapolated to immaterial sectors 10

11 The way forward (end) Monitoring the quality of standards: New Approach: raising inherent safety but also indicating how difficult can be the achievement of consensus even around engineering features... Therefore the question remains on how can be challenging the achievement of consensus on non-industrial matters Market surveillance is essential to spot unsafe products and deficient standards but what watchdog mechanism will ensure the identification of deficient standards in non-industrial sectors? The final question is: has the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work in Luxembourg been informed about the European Commission wish to increase the use of standardisation in new policy areas? 11

12 Thank you for your attention 12