28/10/2008
The European Trade Union Standardisation Network held its annual meeting in Valencia on 29 and 30 September. This year’s keynote theme - the link between standards and health and safety in the building industry -  was discussed by trade unionists from Sweden, France, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Greece, Malta, Italy and Bulgaria, together with health and safety at work (HSW) and standards development experts.

The groundwork done in close coordination with the ETUI by the Spanish trade union institute ISTAS yielded highly productive exchanges of experiences, and made it an excellent opportunity to share trade union concerns, discuss ideas and avenues for future initiative.

The ability of trade unions to channel workers’ knowledge from the workplace to designers was a running theme throughout the meeting. The first trade union restricted session analysed a fatal accident that happened in Valencia some years ago. The aim was to reconstruct the event and identify the possible causes and actors implicated. This paved the way for the second enlarged session, when the accident was discussed with a wider group of HSW experts representing authorities, standard-setters and employers. Suggestions and questions from the audience brought up different issues and views on the link between national health and safety at work legislation and the EU regulatory framework on work equipment.

The event gave participants a sense of the complex context in which trade unions must play a stronger role if they are to cut the rate of accidents caused by equipment design.

Following words of welcome from Joan Xifré, General Secretary of CCOO Valencia, the event was opened by the UGT and CCOO’s HSW Secretaries Dolors Hernández and Fernando Rodrigo who described the health and safety challenges facing Spanish trade unions from technology at work. Both stressed the need for more active trade union input into standards development. Together with Ricardo Gimeno (CCOO Valencia), they introduced the case study based on a series of fatal accidents caused by foreseeable misuse of building material hoists designed to European standard EN 12158-1 written by CEN/TC 10 Lifts, escalators and moving walks.

The accidents were explained by Francisco Velasco (CCOO Building Sector, Valencia), and analysed by European machinery safety expert Gustaaf Vandegaer, who described the tools available to trade unions for improving the CEN standards that support the Machinery Directive. The findings of the trade union session were summarised with the help of Marta Urrutia from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Fabio Strambi, who devised the ‘Feedback’ method for channelling workers’ knowledge into standardisation, and Uli Bamberg and Michael Robert from KAN, the German HSW and standards body.

ISTAS HSW project coordinator Isabelle Dudzinski opened the 30 September enlarged session, while Marta Garrote (UGT) and Javier Torres (CCOO) provided background information on the role of Spanish trade unions when new machinery is brought into the workplace.   

The fatal accidents with building hoists were presented by Miguel Angel Gaitan (UGT), and discussed with the Spanish Labour Inspectorate’s Alejandro Patuel, Jorge Cortés from the National HSW Institute and Santiago Cubero (FECOMA/CCOO). The role of employers, authorities, experts and designers was debated at length, and recommendations and suggestions were made to Francisco Arribas, Technical Officer Mechanical Engineering with AENOR, the Spanish standards and certification body, who welcomed the opportunity to facilitate Spanish trade unions’ input into machinery standards development. He pledged AENOR to holding a ‘training-day’ to set a new framework for cooperation between AENOR, CCOO, UGT and ETUI, in order to lift Spanish workers’ knowledge as fed into the Spanish standardisation system up to EU level.

Sven Bergstrom  from LO Sweden, heading a delegation representing the Industry and Metal Workers Union, the Construction Workers Union, and the Catering Workers Union, stressed the need to increase workers’ input to the risk assessment carried out by employers, and also raised concerns about the cuts in resources allocated to Swedish authorities for their market surveillance duties.

Billy Baldwin from the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Ireland) shared with attendees his thinking on the importance of safety reps and the vital role they play in improving health and safety at the workplace. Through training, support and direction, well-trained and knowledgeable safety representatives can assist their employers and colleagues to improve health and safety.

He also touched on the issue of “worker engagement”. He explained that after meetings with the Health and Safety Executive, UCATT was able to influence the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007 through the inclusion of a Worker Engagement section. The duty to consult would include discussing the needs of workers when choosing what type of equipment to use on site.

The event closed off with a round table chaired by Juan Martinez, Secretary of CCOO  Valencia’s HSW and Environmental Department.