Working conditions: Commissioner Andor and ILO Director General agree to reinforce cooperation on health and safety at work
29 Apr 2014 12:45 PM
European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and
Inclusion, László Andor, and ILO Director General, Guy Ryder,
have agreed to step up cooperation in the area of health and safety at work as
a means to enhance synergy and promote consistency in the way occupational
safety and health challenges are addressed at global level, and so better
address this key challenge across the world. The agreement coincides with
the conference on working
conditions hosted by the European Commission in Brussels yesterday -
the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Worldwide, every 15
seconds a worker dies from a work-related accident or disease and 160
workers have a work-related accident.
"Improving safety and health at work in all
countries is a priority for both the ILO and us. We already carry out
successful joint actions, for example the sustainability
compact in Bangladesh. By stepping up our cooperation we
will be more effective in our efforts to improve occupational safety and health
across the world", Commissioner Andor commented.
"The World Day for Safety and Health at Work
affirms the right of all workers to a safe and healthy working environment. Yet
there is still so much more to be done - and which can be done - to bring down
the incidence of workplace related deaths, injuries and illness. Today we call
on all who have a role to play in worker safety - at the global, regional,
national and workplace levels - to work together and to act with a sense of
real urgency. The ILO and the EU have an outstanding partnership on safety and
health at work, and we will reinforce our cooperation in this area",
ILO Director General Guy Ryder added.
Andor and Ryder agreed to improve their cooperation
because the European Commission and the International Labour
Organization:
-
have a mutual interest in supporting each other's
activities, in particular concerning cooperation in promoting occupational
safety and health in emerging economies, implementing the decent work agenda
and improving working conditions in global supply chains
-
share a preventative approach to counter occupational
and work-related diseases, in particular by tackling new and emerging risks
related to physical and mental health, associated with new technologies and new
work organisation patterns. In this framework, they agree on the need to
explore possibilities to improve cooperation in the area of prevention and on
data collection on occupational and work-related diseases
-
recognise the vital role played by labour inspectorates
in prevention, advice and enforcement at enterprise level and acknowledge the
complementary role that private compliance initiatives could play in improving
working conditions. They both highlight the need to reinforce the capacity of
labour inspection and enforcement institutions and the role of technical
assistance and capacity building to that aim
-
share a common understanding of the need to reinforce
the tripartite occupational safety and health governance culture at all levels
and therefore the importance of promoting the active participation of
governments, employers' and workers' organisations in the development
of OSH policies and programmes.
The
High Level Meeting, consisting of high level representatives of the Commission
and ILO, will be asked to follow up the agreement between Commission Andor and
Director General Ryder.
Background
A
recent Eurobarometer survey on working conditions carried out in the 28 Member
States (IP/14/467), a slight majority of Europeans (57%)
consider that working conditions in their country have deteriorated in the last
five years, even if more than three quarters (77%) are satisfied with their own
working conditions. There are also wide differences in levels of satisfaction
among Member States.
The
EU relies on a comprehensive set of policies and legislation that aims at
supporting better working conditions in the EU, including minimum standards
of labour law and occupational safety and health. Last year, the
European Commission also proposed two Quality Frameworks on Restructuring (IP/13/1246) and on Traineeships (IP/13/1200). The Quality Framework on Traineeships was adopted by
the EU's Council of Ministers in March 2014 (IP/14/236).
On
7 April 2014, the European Agency for Safety at Health at Work (EU-OSHA)
launched the "Healthy Workplaces Manage Stress" campaign to raise
awareness about the psychological, physical and social risks linked to stress
at work (see IP/14/386).
For more information
ILO- Health and safety at work
Eurobarometer "Working Conditions in the
EU"
Conference on Working
Conditions, Brussels, 28 April 2014
Sustainability Compact for
Bangladesh
Rights at work
Restructuring
László Andor's
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