The annual statistics for pollution
of bathing water have been published by the EU Commission. On the face
of it they contain good news: 96% of sea beaches meet EU hygiene
standards, with almost 89% of lakes and rivers also coming up to
scratch. However Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas was not as
pleased as he might have been, ‘The Commission is concerned that in
some cases bathing sites are being de-listed to mask pollution problems
and artificially improve compliance results without tackling the
problem at source’ he said.
Overall 88 coastal areas and 166 freshwater sites were removed by
Member States from the EU lists. While the Commissioner did not mention
any particular countries, last year he started legal proceedings
against Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the
Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden for withdrawing sites. A total
of over 21,000 bathing areas were submitted to the Commission in 2006,
a slight increase over the previous year; the ‘old’ 15 Member States
recorded a slight decrease in the percentage of sites that passed while
the ‘new’ 10 increased their figure by about 25%
Commissioner
Dimas strolls along
a beach
in his native Greece
| Muscle pains to be safety week focus
|
Swedish
‘roving reps’ show their
health & safety value
|
THE
EUROPEAN
AGENCY FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK (OSHA) has announced that its 2007
campaign to raise awareness and encourage good practice will
concentrate on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). ‘Lighten the load’
will run until March 2008, when the winners of the ‘Good Practice
Awards’ will be revealed, and include the European Week for Safety and
Health at Work from 22 to 26 October when
events will be staged across
Europe.
Fully a quarter of workers throughout the EU complain of back pain
related to their job and nearly all Member States cite MSDs as the
biggest cause of absence from work. The cost of this can be up to 1.6%
of GDP in reduced company profitability and social and compensation
payments made by governments as well as personal suffering and loss of
earnings for the employee. MSDs are caused mainly by manual handling,
frequent bending and twisting, heavy physical work and whole-body
vibration. Fast pace and stress at work as well as painful and tiring
positions and cold conditions can increase their incidence.
According to Employment Commissioner Špidla
‘Given the
demographic
change, people will probably have to work longer and this makes it even
more imperative that we tackle this problem now. |
A
SURVEY BY
STATISTICS SWEDEN has shown the high reputation that union safety
representatives have earned, even amongst employers. The country has a
system of regional safety delegates and the report, commissioned by the
union federation LO, said that 85% of companies appreciate their work.
In small workplaces, whose number has increased from 180,000 to 270,000
in the last ten years, the safety reps are the only source of
information on the working environment for many employers.
The delegates themselves want to have more knowledge on psycho-social
issues such as work organisation and conflict-handling while LO demand
more resources so that more can be recruited, giving their average age
as 51 currently. Ulla Lindqvist, LO Vice President, commented ‘The
regional safety delegates’ achievements are of advantage to society by
their making the working environment safer. … It is logical that the
Government should allot resources to the training of regional safety
delegates. These resources have now been withdrawn by the non-Socialist
Government’. |
French court finds feed firm guilty
ADISSEO, THE THIRD LARGEST producer of animal feed supplements
in the world, has been found guilty of gross negligence. A social
security tribunal in Moulins, France ordered the company to pay between
€50,000 and €60,000 each to nine employees who contracted kidney cancer
while working in their factory. The substance Chlorocetal C5 had been
used in the Vitamin A plant despite being a known carcinogen and
mutagen.
In January 2003, France's Ministries of Health and Labour instigated an
investigation into the cancer cluster at the plant. In all 22 cases
were found including several deaths. The company was found not to have
taken ‘the necessary measures despite being aware of the danger'.
Kidney cancer is often survived and so does not fully show up in
occupational cancer rates.
