Brussels, 26/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - At the European Construction Safety Summit in Bilbao on 22 November, the Dutch Presidency and six of the main representative bodies in this sector signed a declaration in which they agreed to take specific measures to improve health and safety standards in the European construction sector. The "Bilbao declaration" lists five actions to be taken to lift these standards, which are as follows: 1) integrate health and safety standards into procurement policies, supported by guidelines for purchasing goods and services; 2) ensure safety and health are taken into account at the design and planning stages of construction projects; 3) use site inspections and other techniques to encourage more businesses to comply with the legislation; 4) develop guidelines to help businesses to comply with this legislation, especially SMEs; 5) stimulate higher standards of safety and health via social dialogue, agreements on training, and accident reduction targets.
The Summit was organised by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and the Dutch Presidency. The six signatory organisations, whose activities represent a value of 900 billion EUR per annum, are: the European Construction Industry Federation, the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers, the European Builders' Confederation, the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations, the Architects' Council of Europe and the European Council of Civil Engineers. In a press release, the Bilbao agency notes that the construction sector, which employs over 12 million people, has the worst health and safety record in the whole of Europe. According to the EU's latest statistics (for the EU before enlargement), almost 1200 people working in the construction sector are killed every year and over 800,000 are involved in accidents which require over three days off work. The Agency stresses that the financial cost to the EU, in terms of productivity, health expenditure and other costs, is estimated at over 75 billion EUR a year (or 200 EUR for every person living within the EU). (Info: http: //osha.eu.int/ew2004/).