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UNICE believes that the development of community legislation on Health and Safety at Work should be stopped
26/06/2006.
On June 7th, UNICE, the European Organisation of Employers, made public its position on health & safety at work and recommended that the European Commission puts an end to all European legislation development on this subject.
UNICE states that “it is crucial to give priority to better implementation of the existing acquis rather than focusing on new legislation”.
In a paper titled Priorities for the future Community Strategy on Health and Safety at Work, UNICE suggested that regulations should focus on what is essential. Employers think it would be better to adopt non legislative measures: “there is an overall need to ensure a better balance between legislation and other measures. We should move away from the belief that legislation is the only valid means of dealing with occupational health and safety”.
On that subject, employers are of the opinion that current directives should be reviewed because they are far too complex. On the subject of prevention, UNICE requested a more extensive integration of health and safety issues in the European education and learning policy.
A few months ago, the European Commission initiated a consultation among social partners aimed at preparing a new Community Strategy on Health and Safety at Work for the period 2007-2012. The Trade Union statement was elaborated by the workers’ group of the Advisory Committee in Luxembourg and has recently been published by the Health and Safety Department of the ETUI-REHS.
