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News Release from: European Agency For Safety And Health At Work
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 October 2004
EU Welcomes European Construction Safety
Week
European Construction Safety Week (18-22 October 2004) aims to reduce Construction industry accidents, currently 1,200 deaths, over 800,000 accidents and costing EU over 75 billion Euros per year.
Construction accidents cause 1,200 deaths, result in over 800,000 accidents and cost the EU over 75 billion Euros per year European Construction Safety Week (18-22 October 2004) aims to reduce this heavy human and financial toll
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 1 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Odile Quintin, European Commission Director General for Employment and Social Affairs, and Stephen Hughes MEP, the EP's health and safety spokesperson1, flanked by Europe's top construction labour and industry representatives, today endorsed European Construction Safety Week (18-22nd October 2004.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work is organising a major campaign in order to fight against workplace accidents and ill-health in the European Construction Industry.
The campaign which is being organised in close co-operation with national authorities, social partners and other key construction stakeholders will see up to 10,000 activities taking place Europe-wide.
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The Agency for its part has distributed over 4 million items of information to the main players in Europe's construction industry and has set up a dedicated website which is also expected to receive over a million hits.
Hailing the launch of the Week, Mrs.
Quintin said: "The accident figures are high but there are signs of improvement.
Fatalities are down from 1,300 to 1,200 a year and the total number of accidents has declined from 850,000 to 822,000 a year.
This shows that Community health and safety legislation is yielding results.
But it is not enough just to have legislation.
It must be implemented.
And, more than that, we must develop a culture of prevention.
An accident happens at the work place every five seconds.
All those involved - public authorities, employers and workers - must play their part in tackling this problem and preventing accidents by implementing the legislation - for example the Directive on minimum health and safety requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites." In endorsing the European Week, Stephen Hughes said: "All levels of government, industry, labour and society in Europe should do more to reduce this indefensible death toll of over 1,000 deaths per year in the construction sector.
Today alone there will be well over 2,000 construction accidents taking place in the EU.
EU governments and public authorities should do more to prevent risk in construction.
Firstly, more should be done to enforce EU legislation in this area, as we know that over half the construction sites inspected in Europe fall short of EU health and safety legislation.
Secondly, with public sector construction projects accounting for at least a quarter3 of the construction industry's orders, Member State, regional and local authorities across the EU should make a concerted effort to set high health and safety standards in the construction projects they themselvescommission.
This approach is now openly encouraged by the recently adopted EU procurement Directive and would fully support the effective implementation of the EU construction safety directive." Ulrich Paetzold, Director General of the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) and Harrie Bijen General Secretary of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) issued a joint statement during the press conference, fully supporting the campaign.
The European social partners are working on a specific agreement to promote measures aimed at reducing the number of accidents in the industry and will announce the details of the agreement at the European Construction Safety Summit in November.
The Director of the Agency, Hans-Horst Konkolewsky acknowledging the strong commitment of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European social partners in securing high safety and health standards in construction said that "the main aim of the European Week is to promote the prevention culture in the European Construction industry.
The Week is Europe 's largest safety and health event and our common aim is to reduce the dramatic accident figures and improve occupational health in construction.
But the campaign week will not stand alone.
As a follow-up, the Agency will be organising the "1st European Construction Safety Summit" on 22nd November in Bilbao (Spain).
The Summit aims to crystallise Europe's prevention efforts and to translate them into concrete commitments from Europe's key players on construction safety.
Some key facts about Construction Safety and Health in Europe:.
1.
Accidents and ill-health in the sector are estimated to cost the EU 75 billion per year.
2.
1,200 lives are lost per year through accidents (not counting fatalities owing to occupational diseases like cancer due to asbestos).
3.
There is a total of 822,000 accidents per year (accidents entailing 3 days loss of work).
4.
600,000 construction workers work each year in workplaces where asbestos fibres are present.
5.
Nearly one-in-five (17%) construction workers are permanently exposed to high level of noise.
6.
Nearly one-in-five (19%) are exposed permanently to vibrations (Hand-arm vibration syndrome is common in the sector).
7.
Almost half (48%) of construction workers report backache.
8.
Over a third (36%) claim muscular problems in the neck and shoulders.
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