The EU27 ministers and ministerial representatives for Employment and Social Affairs underlined, on Monday 29 June in Luxembourg, the need to protect workers exposed to extreme climate phenomena, such as the recent heatwaves.
They acknowledged the human and climate costs of these phenomena, as well as the need to act more effectively to protect workers. However, while European trade unions are calling for legislation, Commission Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu acknowledged that the majority of member countries want a “non-binding instrument”, one option being to request new guidance from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.
A legislative framework already exists and the discussion partly focused on applying it properly, the official added. “There are many different approaches to addressing workers’ exposure to heat, or indeed to very low temperatures; many best practices were presented, but there is a consensus that it would be difficult to have European legislation because of the diversity of situations”, confirmed the Cypriot Labour Minister, Marinos Moushouttas.
In a note, the Cyprus Presidency cited Cyprus’ own example, where employers are required, through decrees issued by the competent Cypriot authorities, to assess environmental conditions, monitor temperature and humidity, follow weather forecasts and implement technical and organisational measures to reduce exposure. This system is based on practical advice, record-keeping obligations and cooperation between meteorological services and the labour inspectorate in order to define suitable work/rest cycles.
The agreement concluded by Agroma Production in France, which provides for requirements to reorganise working time and take preventive measures when temperatures exceed 32°C for three consecutive days, is another good example.
In the same note, the Presidency explains that the EU already offers a strong legislative framework for protecting workers against all risks related to occupational safety and health, including those linked to climate change.
The European OSH Framework Directive 89/391/EEC thus ensures the protection of workers against all risks, notably high temperatures and other extreme weather conditions. And several other European OSH directives provide more specific protection, notably the Workplace Directive 89/654/EEC.
In particular, Directive 89/654/EEC states that, during working hours, the temperature in rooms containing workstations must be appropriate for human health and that workers carrying out outdoor activities must be protected from adverse weather.
Main risk. Climate change is already a major issue in occupational safety and health and labour law in Europe. Its effects are not limited to environmental policies or future adaptation plans: they are already changing exposure to occupational risks, reducing the capacity to work safely, affecting income and job security and deepening inequalities between sectors, regions and groups of workers, ETUI, the trade union research institute of the European Trade Union Confederation, also concluded in a report published on 29 June.
The main conclusion of this report is that heat stress at work is currently the most direct, most widespread, best documented and most avoidable climate-related occupational risk for European workers.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/mmn (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)