On Tuesday 24 April, the EU Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) launched an extensive awareness-raising campaign on dangerous substances over a two year period.
Christa Sedlatschek, EU-OSHA’s Director provided details to journalists of a study carried out by her agency and stated that, "Chemical and biological substances are present in at least 40% of companies in Europe and 17% of workers have said that they have been in contact with chemical substances over at least 15% of the time they have been working".
She added that the risks are often underestimated or indeed ignored and highlighted the potential noxiousness of certain substances, such as flour, which are less well-known. She also explained that young workers and migrants are often the most exposed to these substances. Every year 120,000 people develop a work-related cancer and 80,000 people die of them.
On this basis, the EU-OSHA is therefore launching a huge awareness campaign, which includes its internal website translated into 23 EU languages, in addition to an online tool (currently only in English) that aims to effectively manage dangerous substances in the workplace. A version will soon be developed in Austria, Estonia and Romania. Another database has been set up that brings together the practical orientation documents used in 11 member states, with case studies and computer graphics.
The budget for this campaign stands at an estimated €2.1 million for 2018 and a little less in 2019, explained the director, who also indicated that the 13 participating member states were investing in this campaign to varying degrees.
Directive on carcinogenic and mutagenic substances
This campaign is part of the European Commission’s action on the third revision of the directive on workers' exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic substances (see EUROPE 11955). In response to EUROPE in this connection, the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen, said that she hoped to be able to present a fourth revision before the end of the current mandate. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)