Brussels, 18/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of Anna Diamantopoulou, the Commission adopted a Communication on the document concerning the second phase of the consultation of social partners - protection of health and work safety of independent workers. This Communication aims for independent workers, whose number continues to increase, to enjoy a protection of their health and safety at work comparable to that of full-time employees and question the social partners over a certain number of elements susceptible of entering into the framework of a Community initiative.
The Communication reveals that a great majority of Member States do not foresees any legal protection of the health of independent workers, which leads to a greater homogeneity of the levels of protection within the EU. It also notes that the incidence of deadly accidents for independent workers is higher than that of full-time employees.