(07/09/05) EP verzuimt werknemers te beschermen tegen overdosis zonlicht

• 2005-09-07

Optical radiation: MEPs deal blow to protection of workers

Greens/EFA group members of the European Parliament reacted furiously today to a vote on health and safety and workers' exposure to UV radiation, accusing the conservatives and liberals, as well as the tabloid media, of distorting the facts. MEPs voted by a narrow majority to exclude natural radiation (i.e. sunlight) from the scope of a directive on optical radiation, which seeks to create minimum standards for the protection of European workers and define the responsibilities and liabilities of employers and employees. Australia, New Zealand and Canada already have similar legislation in force.

The European Council and Commission have already stated that they would reject the Parliament's report if it excluded natural radiation or transferred responsibilities to member states, so the directive will now go into the conciliation procedure where the three institutions will try to find a compromise.

After the vote Jean Lambert, UK Green coordinator of the employment committee, said:
"Today's vote is a blow to workers across Europe. Skin cancer is the same regardless of whether you catch it from artificial or natural radiation, so by voting to exclude natural radiation from the directive, the conservatives and liberals have tried to undermine European health and safety standards. We support Europe-wide regulation, which will assess all of the dangers to employees which can arise from natural radiation."

"People have called for 'light touch' legislation in the EU, and to a great extent we agree – laws should be proportionate. But the touch cannot be so light that it fails to protect Europe's workers. People across Europe should have a minimum level of protection from dangers at work, and they will ultimately benefit from this legislation. We hope that the conciliation process will remove from the directive the disastrous decisions that Parliament took today."

The parliamentary report has been much discussed in the media in the last weeks, with tabloid newspapers in Germany and the UK exaggerating and distorting facts about what the proposed laws seek to achieve. The directive aims to tidy up existing health and safety legislation and define clearly the responsibilities of employers and employees as regards exposure to harmful UV rays during working hours. People who work outdoors are the most likely of all workers to suffer health damage from exposure to UV radiation and are exposed annually to doses of UV radiation 6-8 times higher than the doses received by office workers.