Safe use of dangerous substances at work

An European Agency For Safety And Health At Work product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 3, 2003

Representatives of the European Commission, EU Presidency, social partners and industry have agreed to intensify their efforts to promote the safe use of dangerous substances at work.

Representatives of the European Commission, EU Presidency, social partners and industry have agreed to intensify their efforts to promote the safe use of dangerous substances at work and stress the importance of clear communication especially to users in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Dangerous substances are found in nearly all workplaces.

Across the EU 28 million workers inhale fumes and vapours for at least a quarter of their working time, and between 6 and 9 million people are exposed to biological agents at work.

Skin complaints, lung disorders and cancers are just some of the risks.

As part of a Europe-wide campaign to tackle this problem, the Italian Presidency of the EU and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work organised a major European conference, "Working with dangerous substances: the European policy challenge".

Key conclusions emerged from the conference.

Awareness about the hazards and how to combat them is scarce, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Safe use of chemicals is highly dependent on the quality and efforts of communication from specialists to lay people.

Successful substitution of dangerous substances is possible but it must be supported by expertise, targeted research and good practice information.

The key to any successful approach to minimise the risks of working with dangerous substance lies in social dialogue.

An example of this is where the European social partners have agreed on a guidebook for the safe handling of chemical substances in the cleaning industry.

National authorities together with the EU need to develop an integrated chemicals policy not only on health and safety at work, but also on the environment, on consumer's health and on public health.

With regards to the new Commission system REACH - all participants agreed on the importance of having a single integrated system for the registration of new chemicals.

Chemical producers are committed to a high level of safety and health, and will intensify efforts to provide more accurate information and to support SMEs to carry out risk assessment.

Safety datasheet quality needs to be improved.

Surveys have shown that many are not complying with regulations and are particularly poor in content regarding preventive measures in the workplace.

Information about successful initiatives from the Member States needs to be transferred to EU level.

More co-operation needed at EU level regarding sectoral initiatives, substitution policies, and targeted research.

It will be the task of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work to bring together existing information about health risks from the use of dangerous substances and to spread them throughout the present and future Member States, together with risk avoidance and risk reduction strategies which have shown to be successful.

Key speakers at the colloquium included Roberto Maroni, Italian Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, Odile Quintin, Director General of the European Commission's DG Employment and Social Affairs and senior representatives of the Economic and Social Committee and European social partners.

Commenting on the outcome of the closing event, the agency's director Hans-Horst Konkolewsky commented: "Thanks to the strong commitment and active involvement of national authorities, social partners and companies, the agency's campaign on dangerous substances at work has succeeded in focusing attention on one of the most important potential health risks across the European Union.

I am very pleased with the outcome of the closing event, as both the political decision makers and industry agreed a number of important steps to further promote the safe handling of dangerous substances at work".