European Review Issue 35 page 7

THE EU HAS FINISHED TRIALS of hydrogen fuel-cell powered buses in several European cities including London. Since mid-2003, 27 vehicles have covered more than a million kilometres and carried more than four million people in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Madrid, Porto, Stockholm and Stuttgart as well as the UK capital.
The buses are powered by electro-chemical devices that use oxygen from the air in combination with hydrogen to make electricity to drive an electric motor. The only emission produced is water vapour and the lack of harmful greenhouse gases plus their quieter running has prompted London mayor Ken Livingstone to call them the ‘greenest, cleanest and quietest ever’. Most of the hydrogen, which must be loaded onto the buses in cylinder form at special centres, has been produced from renewable sources. The vehicles have a top speed of 50 mph and can cover 125 miles before needing more fuel.
Over the next three years another 200 hydrogen-powered vehicles will go on to the roads at a total cost of €105 million. Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for energy, welcomed the result of the trial: ‘This project marks a milestone in the history of clean transport energy technology … The question is no longer whether this technology works, but when will it be competitive’?

Breakthrough Euro-agreement on silica

MORE THAN TWO MILLION WORKERS will be covered by a new union-employer deal on exposure to crystalline silica. European trade union federations EMCEF (mine, chemical and energy workers) and EMF (metalworkers) negotiated with thirteen employers’ organisations to reduce risks. The substance can cause lung cancer and respiratory disease and lead to silicosis, kidney and autoimmune system problems. The industries involved include aggregates, extraction, cement, foundries, glass, ceramics, industrial minerals, mineral wool, natural stone, mortar, pre-cast concrete and metalliferous minerals.
A list of good practices forms an annexe to the agreement and these will be constantly updated while a monitoring committee made up of equal numbers of representatives from employers and employees will settle questions of interpretation and report back to the EU Commission and national safety authorities.
Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír ·pidla commented ‘'This is the first time an agreement covering several sectors has been negotiated by the social partners through their own procedures. I would like to congratulate them on such a worthy agreement. It will protect workers in many sectors and help them benefit from better practices, making a real difference to their working conditions’. It should come into force in November.

The agreement and Good Practice Guide can be found at:

http://www.emf-fem.org/areas_of_work/social_dialogue/
nepsi_agreement_on_respirable_silica

Irish H & S figures worsen under US-style programme

IRELAND”S ADOPTION OF US-STYLE Voluntary Protection Programmes (VPP) seems to have come unstuck judging by the latest work-related illness and injury figures. 73 people were killed at work in 2005, a 46% increase on 2004 while work-related illnesses rose by 29% in the first three months, compared with the same period of the previous year.
In June 2004 the health and safety authorities in both Eire and Northern Ireland became the first in Europe to agree to the import of VPP with the American agency OSHA. Trade unions have criticised the US schemes as a way around enforcement and a means to reduce fines. They have included prizes for departments that report the fewest accidents which have led to injured workers being pressured by workmates into keeping quiet. Almost 6,000 employees die in workplace accidents each year in the USA, a rate far exceeding that in the United Kingdom.

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