Activities of Sara MATTHIEU related to 2019/2182(INL)
Plenary speeches (1)
Protecting workers from asbestos (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT with recommendations to the Commission on protecting workers from asbestos
Amendments (40)
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas building renovation to increase energy efficiency often involves handling materials such as roofs, walls or electric settings that might contain asbestos when their construction precedes regulations and bans;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
Gb. whereas growing environmental exposure due to the deterioration of building stock in Europe leads to more cases of mesothelioma; whereas the health effects of environmental exposure have been largely under-estimated;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas Parliament’s resolution of 21 January 2021 on access to decent and affordable housing for all1a called on the Member States to ensure that the right to adequate, decent and healthy housing is recognised and enforceable as a fundamental human right through applicable European and national legislative provisions; ______________ 1a Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0020.
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I d (new)
Recital I d (new)
Id. whereas the World Health Organization has identified housing as a key sector for actions to tackle health inequalities;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I e (new)
Recital I e (new)
Ie. whereas the mandatory removal of asbestos will contribute to quality housing for all, in particular for low-income owners and renters whose housing conditions have deteriorated in recent decades; whereas financial support for low income families is key;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. whereas the Pillar was adopted as a response to social challenges in the Union; whereas principle 10 calls for a high level of protection of workers’ health and safety at work, which should include the protection of workers from exposure to carcinogens and mutagens at the workplace;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L g (new)
Recital L g (new)
Lg. whereas the Covid-19 pandemic has stressed once again the importance of ensuring the health and safety of workers; whereas the crisis has highlighted the importance of preventing work-related diseases and investing in affordable public health for all;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L h (new)
Recital L h (new)
Lh. whereas the built environment has a significant impact on many sectors of the economy, on local jobs and quality of life;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L i (new)
Recital L i (new)
Li. whereas the new sustainable built environment strategy from the Commission aims to increase material efficiency, to reduce the climate impacts of the built environment, and to promote circularity principles throughout the life cycle of buildings; whereas the strategy is expected to ensure consistency across related policy areas, such as climate, energy, the management of construction and demolition waste, and digitalisation;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L j (new)
Recital L j (new)
Lj. whereas the Circular Economy Action Plan involves focused initiatives to address key product value chains such as construction and buildings;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L q (new)
Recital L q (new)
Lq. whereas the European Skills Agenda for Sustainable Competitiveness, Social Fairness and Resilience acknowledges that the construction sector will need to invest in upskilling to cater to the needs of the green transition, with regard to green design and materials, energy efficiency, circularity and renovation; whereas the availability of skilled construction workers is key to the success of the European Green Deal’s Renovation Wave;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that access to decent, affordable and healthy housing is one of the cornerstones of the Action Plan of the Pillar;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Welcomes the fact that several Member States are pursuing ambitious plans to remove asbestos from the built environment with clear timelines, including Poland, the Netherlands and Flanders/Belgium;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Underlines the need to mobilise every financing mechanism available and highlights that the Commission has already made clear that Member States can allocate European Structural and Investment Funds for the handling and removal of asbestos;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Insists on an environmentally safe storage of asbestos waste according to the best available, and most recent technologies in order to prevent workers and the general public from exposure to asbestos and to preserve public health;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8c. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the effectiveness and the scope of the Rotterdam Convention (as revised in 2019) by playing a role in putting an end to the blocking of chrysotile asbestos to be included in the listing of hazardous chemicals by a few European and non- European countries, and achieving as soon as possible a global ban on asbestos;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls for the strengthening of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, in order to improve prevention efforts, to better monitor the registration of workplaces containing asbestos and the tracking of workers who have or might have been in contact with it, to improve training and protective equipment provided to workers and facilitate support to victims of work-related and in particular, asbestos-related diseases;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Calls for increased funding to compensate victims of asbestos-related diseases, to ensure sufficient coverage of the direct, indirect and human costs of the illness; calls on Member States to facilitate recognition and compensation for documented victims of second hand exposure through non-professional contact with asbestos and draw on best practices from Member States such as Denmark;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Calls on the Member States to support the establishment of associations for the victims of asbestos-related diseases and their families;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 c (new)
Paragraph 19 c (new)
19c. Calls for improved both public and targeted awareness-raising campaigns on the risks linked to exposure to asbestos but also secondary and environmental exposure, as well as for the larger availability of simplified and understandable information, particularly for posted, mobile, cross-border and seasonal workers;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 d (new)
Paragraph 19 d (new)
19d. Calls for a better evaluation of the risks linked to secondary exposure, particularly for family members living with asbestos workers;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 e (new)
Paragraph 19 e (new)
19e. Calls for the mainstreaming of gender perspective throughout all legislative and non-legislative instruments and their respective implementation in the Member States, to ensure that no gender bias impacts tracking, identification, treatment or the consideration of a disease or death as asbestos-related, having therefore also an impact on the compensation for victims; reiterates the gender perspective of second-hand exposure;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 f (new)
Paragraph 19 f (new)
19f. Calls for a better recognition of the importance of taking account of gender differences in occupational health and safety;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 h (new)
Paragraph 19 h (new)
19h. Calls for an increased consideration of cleaning activities as risk factors when diagnosing diseases and for better risk assessments and identification of exposure to asbestos for cleaning workers, especially female workers, as well as of women who primarily take responsibility for unpaid household chores;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 i (new)
Paragraph 19 i (new)
19i. Calls for a localised approach to the prevention, register, screening, tracking and treatment of asbestos-related diseases, to respond to the health impact that asbestos-containing materials can have on neighbours of industries that used them and/or on whole residential settings;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission to present a proposal for an amendment to Article 7 of Directive 2010/31/EU in the context of “A Renovation Wave for Europe” introducing a requirement for the mandatory asbestos screening, registering, and removal of asbestos and other dangerous substances before any renovation works can start, including financial support mechanisms which provide for a requirement to ensure that renovation works are subject to the safe removal of asbestos, in particular for low- income households;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls on the Member States to adopt protective measures for tenants where asbestos is found prior to energy renovation works; emphasizes that all tenants should be protected from carrying the expenses when it comes to the screening as well as the removal of asbestos; calls on Member States to make sure that tenants receive full disclosure on asbestos in buildings;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Welcomes the Commission’s efforts to promote and further enhance the circular economy in the construction sector and to invest in the renovation of buildings and infrastructure to improve quality, sustainability and energy efficiency;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 b (new)
Paragraph 23 b (new)
23b. Calls for an EU-level plan for the total removal of asbestos from buildings, seizing the opportunities that the Renovation Wave and energy efficiency renovation offer to make housing stock healthier for all;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 c (new)
Paragraph 23 c (new)
23c. Calls on the Commission to establish a European platform for the showcase and the exchange of good practices on removal of asbestos as well as on safe disposal, that have already been put into practice in several Member States;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 2
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 2
(2) A timeline for asbestos removal, including possible priorities (prioritising certain buildings - such as schools, gyms, and or social housing) -, milestones, and regular evaluations of the progress made at least every 5 years;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 3
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 3
(3) A financial framework, including the possible use of Union funds, for the support of building owners and the mandatory linking of the removal of asbestos to other public policies and programmes (such as energy efficiency, improvements of the living environment, social housing) for reasons of efficiency and the use of synergies;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 6
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 6
(6) A plan for the safe, monitored, and documented disposal of asbestos containing waste in accordance with the principle of zero asbestos contamination into waste cycles, that prevents obstructions to the reuse of construction materials and ensures the maximum protection of workers in the field of the circular economy;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 6 a (new)
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 6 a (new)
(6a) A solution for the entire separation of waste cycles and an environmentally safe storage of asbestos waste according to the best available, and most recent technologies;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 8
Annex I – paragraph 1 – point 8
(8) The close involvement of the social partners and other relevant stakeholders such as asbestos victims associations, national prevention institutions for occupational health and safety, in the transposition, implementation and monitoring of Directive 2009/148/EC.
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 18 – Annex 1 a – paragraph 3 a (new)
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 18 – Annex 1 a – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Each worker has to pass a mandatory test, resulting in the delivery of a certificate in order to ensure that these workers have the required skills and knowledge to safely do their work;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 18 – Annex 1 a – paragraph 4 – point d a (new)
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 18 – Annex 1 a – paragraph 4 – point d a (new)
(da) the confirmation that the worker passed the test;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 18 – Annex 1 a – paragraph 5 – point b
Annex II – paragraph 1 – point 18 – Annex 1 a – paragraph 5 – point b
(b) the properties of asbestos and its effects on health, including the synergistic effect of smoking, as well as the risks linked to secondary and environmental exposure;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex III – paragraph 1 – point 1
Annex III – paragraph 1 – point 1
(1) a list of occupational diseases, due to first or second-hand exposure to asbestos, liable for compensation and subject to preventive measures which shall be recognised by the Member States and be without prejudice to more favourable national law, building on Commission Recommendation of 19 September 2003 concerning the European schedule of occupational diseases, and updated according to the latest available scientific knowledge;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Annex IV – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – subparagraph 8 a (new)
Annex IV – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 – subparagraph 8 a (new)
Member States shall establish public financial support mechanisms for house owners, which provide for a requirement to ensure that renovation works are subject to the safe removal of asbestos.