Activities of Sara MATTHIEU related to 2021/2165(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on a new EU strategic framework on health and safety at work post 2020 (including better protection of workers from exposure to harmful substances, stress at work and repetitive motion injuries)
Amendments (26)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
— having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons (UN CRPD) with Disabilities to which the EU and all its Member States are parties,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 11 a (new)
Citation 11 a (new)
— having regard to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “ AR6 Climate change 2021: the Physical change basis”,
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas due to the increase in temperatures it is also likely that individual’s exposure to UV radiation (UVR) will increase and therefore the risk of developing skin cancer; whereas despite the evidence that outdoor workers in particular those working in the agriculture or construction sectors, are at significant risk of developing Non melanoma Skin Cancer (NMSC) due to the elevated levels of UVR exposure there is not yet common European approach towards prevention;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas according to the latest IPCC report extreme weather events such as heatwaves and heavy rainfalls, will become more frequent; Whereas working conditions will be more and more affected by significant changes in weather patterns; whereas it is essential to adapt work practices to take account of the effects of climate change;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas a good psychosocial working environment enhances workers’ good performance and personal development, as well as workers’ mental and physical well-being; whereas psychosocial risks can arise from poor work design, organisation and management, as well as a poor social context of work, and can result in negative psychological, physical and social outcomes such as work-related stress, burnout or depression; whereas over a quarter of workers in Europe experience excessive work- related stress; whereas 51 % of EU workers say stress is common in their workplace and nearly 80 % of managers are concerned about work- related stress8 ; whereas there are significant variations between the Member States’ legislation on psychosocial risks; whereas work-related stress can significantly increase the risk of triggering and exacerbating musculoskeletal disorders and rheumatic and chronic inflammatory diseases; __________________ 8‘Psychosocial risks in Europe: Prevalence and strategies for prevention’, Eurofound and EU-OSHA, 2014, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas lack of provisions for workplace adjustments and reasonable accommodation, particularly for workers with disabilities, can result in physical, mental and psychological strains that can put their health and safety at risk;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas emergency evacuation procedures in many working spaces are ill-equipped to meet the needs of persons with reduced mobility, and even more frequently do not allow for autonomous evacuation by persons with disabilities;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas women have been at a particularly high risk from and are more severely hit by the economic and social fallout resulting from the COVID-19 crisis due to their predominant or still traditional role of carer of the home and family; whereas a majority of women worked as frontline essential workers in the health, social, education and care sectors; whereas although considered essential, these professions are still some of the most undervalued and under-paid jobs in the EU; whereas the COVID pandemic has shed light on and aggravated gender inequalities ; whereas during the peak of the pandemic these female workers faced long working hours and reported troubles reconciling work and family life, whereas studies have reported increased stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms among healthcare workers in the EU;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas people who regularly work from home are more than twice as likely to work in excess of the requisite maximum 48 hours per week and are at risk of resting for less than the requisite 11 hours between working days; whereas almost 30 % of teleworkers report working in their free time every day or several times a week11 ; whereas gender aspects should be addressed in the context of the right to disconnect; __________________ 11‘Telework and ICT-based mobile work: Flexible working in the digital age’, New forms of employment series, Eurofound, 2020, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the COVID-19 crisis has exposed the vulnerability of non-standard workers, including platform and self- employed workers; whereas platform work in the labour market is highly likely to continue growing; whereas self-employed workers are excluded from the scope of application of the strategic framework for health and safety at work, as they are not covered by the EU legislation on occupational health and safety; whereas platform workers are exposed to particular health and safety risks due to the characteristics of work they are performing; whereas algorithmic management presents new challenges for the future of work which can generate excessive speed and efficiency pressure for workers and therefore significant risks for their health and safety; whereas the road safety of platform workers in the transport and delivery sector, in particular cyclists as vulnerable road users, and the safety of other road users can be put in danger because of speed and efficiency pressure; whereas female platform workers, in particular female drivers and women providing cleaning and care services in private residences, can have an increased risk of being victims of sexual harassment and violence and might refrain from reporting because of lack of reporting tools, no contact with a human manager or fear of bad ratings and loss of future work; whereas sexual harassment and violence are under-reported in platform work;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the precariousness of the working and living conditions of seasonal workers in Europe, in particular in the agriculture sector, were already well documented before COVID 19; whereas disturbing reports regarding breaches of cross-border and seasonal workers’ rights in terms of working and living conditions have surfacedhown that their situation deteriorated even further during the pandemic;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for Directive 2004/37/EC of 29 April 2004 on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work to be updated on a continual basis and in an ambitious timeframe, ensuring that occupational exposure limits contained in the directive exist for a minimum of 50 priority substances by 2024; calls for the inclusion of reprotoxic substances and hazardous medicinal products in the scope of the directive; insists on using a risk- based methodology to set limit values for non-threshold substances;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls that climate change has direct health impacts on citizens; recalls that health and safety of workers is an EU competence and that in line with Directive 89/391/EEC workers should be protected from any risks, including from emerging risks; calls on the Commission to thoroughly and urgently assess the new and emerging risks of climate change on occupational health and safety in order to better protect workers from exposure to higher temperature, natural UV radiation and other health and safety hazards; underlines that this is of particular importance for outdoor workers such as in the agriculture, forestry, construction and tourism sectors as well as the health sector which plays a fundamental role in emergency preparedness and response, such as the firemen and nurses; notes that these occupations risk to face additional stress due to an increase of workload which can increase psychosocial risks; encourages the Commission, Member States, social partners and key stakeholders to look at best strategies to adapt and reorganise work in case of extreme weather conditions, including ensuring that workers have the appropriate equipment and a sufficient number of staff; calls for the assessment of a common European regulatory approach towards occupational skin cancer and to increase awareness at work;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Believes that Council Directive 89/391/EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work has not proven effective enough for the assessment and management of psychosocial risks; rRecalls its request that the Commission include in the Strategic Framework for Occupational Safety and Health the right to disconnect and, explicitly, that it develop new psychosocial measures as part of the framework; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to step up the ambition of the Strategic Framework for Occupational Safety and Health; cCalls on the Commission to propose a directive on psychosocial risks and well-being at work aimed at the efficient prevention in the workplace of, inter alia, anxiety, depression, burnout and stres, stress and flare-ups of rheumatic / chronic inflammatory diseases; cCalls on the Commission to aim for the recognition of anxiety, depression and burnout, burnout and rheumatic and chronic inflammatory diseases as occupational diseases, to establish mechanisms for their prevention and the reintegration into the workplace of affected employees, and to shift from individual- level actions to a work organisation approach;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. WStresses the fact that female workers face increased challenges to occupational health and wellbeing, particularly in the health and care sectors; welcomes the fact that the Commission is strengthening the gender focus on- responsive approach to occupational safety and health; insists on ensuring gender-balance in decision-making particularly during crisis situations such as the COVID pandemic; calls on the Commission to propose a legal act based on the framework agreement on harassment and violence at work, and to ensure that the fight against workplacepreventive and protective measures aimed at eradicating violence and harassment in the world of work appliesy regardless of the reason and the cause for the harassment and that it is not limited to cases based on discriminatory grounds; calls on the Member States’ governments to ratify ILO Convention No 190 to put in place the necessary laws and policy measures to prohibit, prevent and address violence and harassment in the world of work;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission, in the framework of the EU Disability Rights Strategy 2021-2030, to offer clear and ambitious guidelines to Member States and employers on the provision of reasonable accommodation and workplace adjustments for persons with disabilities and to consider issuing standards for health and safety for persons with disabilities in the workplace during the second half of the Strategy’s lifespan;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the Commission’s intention to present by the end of 2021 a legislative initiative to guarantee and improve thedecent working conditions of platform workers; calls on the Commission to ensure that the proposal guarantees rights for all platform workers for a healthy and safe working environment, including by ensuring that the presumption of an employment relationship applies;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Commission to guarantee that all workers, including non- standard workers, workers in platform companies and the genuinely self- employed are covered by occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation and policies;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on the Commission to include health and safety in all EU strategies and policies on the green and digital transitions, including on artificial intelligence (AI)ensure that the technology used in the green and digital transitions will be safe for workers; calls on the Commission to include health and safety in all EU strategies and policies on the twin transition, including on artificial intelligence (AI); calls in particular for the introduction of safeguards against the adverse impacts of algorithmic management on the health and safety of workers, algorithms deployed in the areas of work must be transparent, non-discriminatory and ethical; algorithmic decisions must be contestable and reversible, and consequently must be subject to human oversight;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the European Commission and on Member States to contribute to the development of a centralised registry for data collection on the causes and impacts of musculoskeletal disorders and chronic inflammatory diseases; encourages the exchange of good practices and stresses the need to ensure that workers are more aware of and better informed about ergonomic risk factors; calls on the European Commission to take into access the right to flexible work schedules for people being treated for MSDs and rheumatic / chronic inflammatory diseases;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve research and data collection and to conduct a detailed assessment of problems with health and safety associated with teleworking, with a view of analysing the impact of gender, age and disability when it comes to the aforementioned problems;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to propose a legislative framework in consultation with European social partners with a view to establishing minimum requirements for remote telework across the Union ensuring that teleworking does not affect the employment conditions of teleworkers; stresses that such a framework should clarify working conditions, including the provision, use and liability of equipment, including as regards existing and new digital tools, and that it should ensure that such work is carried out on a voluntary basis and that the rights, workload and performance standards of teleworkers are equivalent to those of comparable workers;
Amendment 255 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to revise Directive 90/270/EEC laying down minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment; calls on the Commission to be more ambitious in this regard and to propose a directive oncomprehensive directive on the prevention and management of work- related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and rheumatic / chronic inflammatory diseases without further delay;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Repeats its call on the Commission to undertake an urgent study ofaction to improve the situation of the employment, working and health and safety conditions of mobile and migrant workers, such as cross-border, posted and seasonal workers, including the role of temporary work agencies, recruiting agencies, other intermediaries and subcontractors, with a view to identifying protection gaps and the need to revise the existing legislative framework as well as pandemic-proofingprotection gaps in the light of principle of equal treatment and the particular health and safety challenges faced by mobile and migrant workers such as access to adequate equipment and facilities, quality accommodation, safe transport and decent meals, and addressing the need to revise the existing legislative framework as well as pandemic-proofing; calls on the EU- OSHA and the European Labour Authority to work together to support the Commission and the Member States in improving the occupational health and safety of mobile and migrant workers;
Amendment 266 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Member States to implement the ILO recommendation of one labour inspector per 10 000 workers; calls on the Commission to conduct a survey on how labour inspectorates conduct the inspections and on their scope and content; including with respect to the number of infractions detected and the imposition of dissuasive sanctions; Underlines that the study should assess the adequacy of the human and financial resources afforded to labour inspectorates, particularly with a view to assess their effectiveness in reaching vulnerable groups of workers;
Amendment 275 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Stresses the need to recognise and involveensure the involvement of social partners in the designing, implementation and enforcement of the OSH legislative framework; cCalls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the involvement of social partners and civil society in the formulation of all EU and national policies and in measures taken at all levels;