The European Commission, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European social partners took stock of the EU 2021-2027 strategy for safety and health at work over two days in Stockholm on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 May, with a focus on mental health at work, the ‘vision zero’ approach to work-related deaths or the impact of climate change on safety and health at work.
At the closing session on Tuesday 16 May, the Commissioner welcomed the event as the first of its kind to take stock of employers’ and trade unions’ efforts to improve safety and health at work. But at the same time he acknowledged that “there is still a lot to be done in a world of work that is changing extremely rapidly” and requires continuous adaptation of “protections, legislation, qualifications” of workers.
The Commissioner called for a focus on the most vulnerable workers, such as migrant workers, posted workers, women who are often underpaid and young people.
As for mental health, Nicolas Schmit recalled that the Commission would present a broad communication on this subject in the coming weeks. On the issue of mental health at work, the Stockholm meeting highlighted national best practices that could eventually be translated at EU level into a draft recommendation, the Commissioner added.
Guidelines for managing heatwaves at work
The day before, Nicolas Schmit had announced new guidelines on the responsibility of employers regarding people working in high temperatures, which the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomed in a press release.
These guidelines have been developed by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work to prevent deaths during heatwaves.
The guidelines set out employers’ obligations to workers, such as conducting a workplace risk assessment and protecting vulnerable workers, consulting workers and their representatives on how to manage heat-related risks, adjusting working hours and allowing workers to decide when to take breaks, and ensuring that workers have access to drinking water, a shaded area and protective clothing.
According to Eurofound, 23% of workers in the European Union are exposed to high temperatures at least a quarter of the time, with this figure rising to 36% in agriculture and industry and 38% in construction, ETUC said in a statement.
“But only a few European countries have legislation to ensure the safety of workers during heat waves, with widely varying limits ranging from 28 to 36 degrees” ETUC adds.
Link to the guidelines: https://aeur.eu/f/6wn (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)