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A NEW LAW REQUIRING public bodies to spend a quarter of their vehicle budget on 'clean' models has been proposed by Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot.
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He underlined the EU's commitment to reducing pollution (25% of all Carbon Dioxide emissions are caused by road transport) as well as to more efficient use of energy which the new generation of vehicles provide. Approximately 13,000 vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes bought every year by governments, local authorities and their contractors will have to use technologies such as natural gas, biomass, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), hydrogen or electric motors or be hybrid vehicles combining a combustion engine with an electric motor. Buses and refuse lorries are likely to be the |
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first 'enhanced environmentally friendly vehicles' (EEV) but the Commission believes that this boost to the market will bring down prices and extend the scope of new-style procurement. At the moment 'clean' vehicles are about 10%-15% more expensive than traditional equivalents, for instance a diesel bus costing €200,000 would be €210,000 in EEV version and €230,000 running on LPG. However the saving on fuel and reduction of costs caused by pollution would outweigh the higher purchase price by at least €300 million by 2030 according to the EU. |
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Hydrogen fuel-cells may power the bus of the future |
'The growing problems caused by pollution in towns and cities and the steady increase in the price of oil make it necessary to help the motor industry to produce less-polluting vehicles', stated Commission Vice-President Barrot.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA) is to run a campaign throughout 2006 to draw attention to the risks to young workers. The seriousness with which OSHA regards this subject is underlined by the length of the programme which will also include the usual European Health and Safety week in October. The incidence of accidents at work is 50% higher among those aged 18 to 24 than that of older workers. The agency gives examples such as a 16-year-old worker whose legs were broken less than two hours into his first day at work as he fell from the footplate of an 18-ton refuse lorry and a 17 year-old girl whose fingers were crushed in a machine at the bakery where she had begun a holiday job only one hour previously.
Preventative measures advocated by OSHA include risk awareness education for children, adding health and safety to professional and vocational training and employers taking account of young workers' physical and mental immaturity in training and supervision at work. The campaign will promote risk awareness as preparation for working life and quality work in safe and healthy workplaces as well as supporting the European Youth Pact for employment and education and exchange of information. Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, director of OSHA commented 'Young persons are less likely to recognise the risk of accidents and even when they do, they may be less able to take appropriate action ... We must take steps to ensure young people have a safe and healthy start to their working lives, and to promote risk awareness and risk prevention in enterprises, schools and colleges'.
A new research document from the ETUC health and safety arm claims that 90,000 cases of occupational ill-health costing €3.5 billion will be avoided if the new EU Chemicals directive REACH is passed in an 'ambitious' form. The authors, from Sheffield University, say that diseases which have been increasing for 50 years could start retreating. 'Everyone will win out - social security systems, through reduced costs; workers, through a better quality of life; and not least employers, who will avoid productivity losses from sickness-related absences'.
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Further assessment of the impact of REACH is available, price €25, at : |
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