The Health and Safety Department (former TUTB) is an associated member of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) since 1993. It keeps close track of the development of the technical standards mandated by the Commission and the application of the directives adopted in the framework of the Single Market.

To develop and coordinate the contribution of the European trade unions in the process of technical standardization are one of the Health and Safety Department (former TUTB) fundamental pillars. The Health and Safety Department co-ordinates a network of trade union experts with whom it monitors the European standardization work and the European policy on standardization in the field of occupational health and safety. Mainly concerning the safety of machinery (CEN/TC114) and the design ergonomics (CEN/TC122).

Consult:

• our database on the standards adopted under Community Directives (Directives related to machinery, PPE, explosive atmospheres, lifts, …) in Labourline
• the articles published in the HESA Newsletter on standardization.

Reports:

• Sweden: a 10 years survey of trade union activities in the standardization process, Sven Bergström, TUTB-SALTSA report, 2003
• The role of German trade unions in the national and European standardization process, Uli Bamberg, TUTB-SALTSA report, 2003

Eighteen years after the New Approach was brought in to regulate the movement of products in Europe, the Health and safety Department (former TUTB) is still arguing that end users must have a say at all levels of the European technical standards development process. The Department  set out a joint research study with the Sweden's SALTSA Programme to look at whether and how cooperative working techniques between designers and users can be made use of by European and international standards organizations.


TUTB-SALTSA Conference:

The safety of work equipment. User-oriented strategies for improving technical standards Presentations Conference report

Consolidated report of the joint research study TUTB-SALTSA:

Developing a participatory approach to the design of work equipment. Assimilating the lessons of workers' experience John Wilson, Wendy Morris, Theoni Koukoulaki, 2003.             [Read more]

National reports:

• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Articles:

• Safety of woodworking machinery: benefitting from workers' experience
  (Newsletter n° 18-2002, pp. 20-23)
• French trade unions briefed on technical standardisation: feedback via flagging sheets
  (Newsletter n° 10-1998, p. 14)

The considerable increase in the international trade and the new articulation between the ISO and CEN place the European trade unions in front of new challenges. The Health and Safety Department also wanted to contribute to the analysis of the potential impact of the development of the international standards in the field of safety.

Globalizing technical standards. Impact and challenges for occupational health and safety Ed. Theoni Koukoulaki and Stefano Boy , TUTB-SALTSA, 2002. [Read more]

 Articles:

• General ergonomic standards face international impact and overlapping concerns
  (Newsletter n° 17-2001, p. 37)
• EN 292: the internationalization challenge
  (Newsletter n° 17-2001, p. 35)
• International standardisation and the management of health at work (II): ISO work to be shelved?
  (Newsletter n° 4-1996, pp. 11-12)
• International standardisation and the management of health at work (I)
  (Newsletter n° 3-1996, p. 8)

Un outil technique syndical européen peut-il influencer les normes techniques?
Presentation by Roland Gauthy, 39th Congress of the Société d’Ergonomie de Langue Française (SELF), Geneva, 15-17 September 2004.
Analytic Data Sheets "C" Standards Machinery (in French only)
Eurogip, Paris, 2004.
The role of design issues in work-related Injuries in Australia 1997-2002
Australia. National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, Canberra, 2004.

CEN
(European Committee for Standardization)
CENELEC
(European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization)
European Commission - Standardization
ISO
(International Organization for Standardization)
KAN
(Commission for OH&S and Standardization, Germany)

Contact persons: and