Bruxelles, 15/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of talks within the committee on social affairs and employment in the EP on the draft recommendation for second reading on minimum health and safety obligations on the exposure of workers to risks due to physical agents (optic rays), the rapporteur for which is Csaba Öry (EPP-ED, Hungary), the Secretary General of the European Union for Craft, Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (UEAPME), Hans-Werner Müller, sent out a warning. "This proposal puts all companies with employees working out of doors in a completely unrealistic and expensive situation, and is a perfect example of perfectly useless regulation, which will reinforce the negative view the citizens have of the EU". UEAPME calls upon the MEPs to withdraw natural sources of radiation from the scope of this directive (such as the rays of the sun). "As it stands, this proposal is entirely impracticable, because it puts the managers of SMEs up against demands they have no chance of being able to fulfil. The Parliament must recognise this and amend the proposal accordingly", Mr Müller insisted.
At the Employment/Social Policy Council on 6 and 7 December 2004, the ministers reached a political agreement on this draft directive (see EUROPE 8841), which will: -lay down minimum health and safety obligations on the exposure of workers to risks due to optic rays, in order to harmonise the control systems of the Member States; -impose a series of duties on employers, including risk assessment, reduction of exposure, health monitoring and information and training for workers; -provide for the workers covered by the directive to be those using lasers and electric welding equipment, and working in the steel, glass or bronze industries. This draft text is the fourth and last specific directive further to the 1999 decision to rescind the Commission's initial proposal (calling for a directive on minimum health and safety obligations on exposure to four different physical agents) and create specific directives instead. The directives on mechanical vibrations, noise, and electromagnetic fields have already been adopted.