The role of the social partners in developing and implementing Occupational Health and Safety policies and strategies

Laurent Vogel

ETUI

February 2013

Health and Safety is never a purely technical question

● Huge gap between existing knowledge and practical prevention

● Being affected by bad working conditions: a question of social inequality

● Collective action of workers: a key element for any OSH strategy

Workers exposed to carcinogens and prevention measures carried out at the workplace (SUMER 2003, France)

ExposedAmong the exposed workers: without collective prevention

ALL THE WORKERS 13.5 42.3

CONSTRUCTIONCONSTRUCTIONINDUSTRYAGRICULTURESERVICES

34.921.221.9 8.7

51.833.977.840.9

Higher/Managerial occupationsIntermediate occupationsQualified blue collar workersNot qualified blue collar workers

3,3

11,1

30.9

22.5

24,0

35,0

43.6

47.1

Sustainable work? Do you think you will be able to do your current job when you are 60 years old? YES (EWCS)

2000 2005 2010

High skilled White collar

67.6 70.1 71.7 +4,1

Low skilled White collar

59.3 62.2 61.3 +2

High skilled Blue collar 52.0 48.4 49.3 -2,7

Low skilled Blue collar 46.2 45.7 44.1 -2,1

Total 57.1 58.3 58.7 +1,6

Evidence on « what works »

● Links between Safety reps and an effective OSH policy in companies

● Results tend to be mediated by unionization ● “Direct consultation is likely to have disappointing

results for the individual non-unionized worker” (David Walters)

Data from ESENER suggest

● Risk assessment is more likely if there are safety reps, especially in small firms

● Combination of high management commitment with worker representation is strongly associated with better management of psychosocial issues

● Huge differences between countries, especially in companies from 10 to 249 (companies with less than 10 workers were not covered by the survey

Why safety reps are so important

● Autonomy : opposition of social interests mainly when there are long term effects. Creating a counter-power at company level

● Promotion of workers self-activities (against imposing prevention from outside)

● Importance of workers collective knowledge

Workplace democracy ? Employee representation by country, EWCS 2010, Index

51,7 % EU 27

More than 85% Finland (86,5), Sweden

From 70 to 80% Denmark, Luxembourg

From 60 to 70% Belgium, Netherlands

From 50 to 60% RO, UK, SK, Ireland, FR, SL, CY

From 45 to 50% Poland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, Czech R

From 40 to 45% Italy, Lithuania

From 35 to 40% Latvia, Bulgaria, Greece

From 30 to 35% Estonia

Less than 25% Portugal (24,7)

What could be done in the next Strategy

● All the workers should have access to safety reps independently from the size of companies or the employment contracts (combine company level safety reps with territorial or site reps)

● The percentage of workers covered by safety reps should be considered as an indicator of the OSH structures

● Consolidate the links between safety reps, labour inspection and preventive services

A precondition

● Avoid the Better Regulation demagogy on SME’s

● When it is about OSH issues, SME’s workers should have the same rights, the same level of protection and the same possibilities to intervene

Social dialogue and OSH strategy in the EU

● Intersectoral social dialogue● Agreement on stress (2004)● Agreement on violence at work (2007)

● Sectoral social dialogue● Rich experience in different sectors

○ The agreement on needlestick injuries (became a Directive in 2010)

○ The agreement for hairdressers was signed in 2012 (should become a Directive according to the social partners … but opposition from different member states)