Activites

• 1995/12/30 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 1995/63
  • OJ L 335 30.12.1995, p. 0028
• #1892
• 1995/12/05 Council Meeting
• 1995/12/05 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1995/12/05 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1995/12/04 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0642
• 1995/11/15 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0534/1995 summary

    Adopting the recommendation for second reading by Mr Peter SKINNER (PSE, UK), the European Parliament deplored the Council's lack of interest in improving health and safety in the workplace. Preferring to take a cautious and realistic approach, given the Council's unanimity on the text in its common position (which was a far cry from the Commission's proposal), the European Parliament adopted a reduced number of amendments; these sought mainly to: - stress the employer's role in implementing the minimum requirements of the directive; - abolish a provision stating that only permanent equipment must be installed so as to reduce risks; - make provision for workers to be made attentive to the hazards of certain equipment, even if they do not use it directly; - require that sufficient space be left between the moving parts of work equipment and fixed or moving parts in their environment; - require traffic rules to be introduced where several pieces of equipment are moving around in the same area; - restore Annex II (points 2.6 to 2.9) of the initial proposal; - reintroduce the initial provisions relating to non-guided load-lifting equipment (part relating to the handling of this type of equipment and to the requirements to be applied if defects are detected).�

• 1995/11/14 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    The rapporteur regretted that the Council had rejected the proposals put forward by the Commission and those contained in Parliament’s amendments. He warned against any ‘deregulation’ initiative, based on the criteria of the Molitor Group, which would bring uncertainty to such a fundamental field as the protection of health and safety. Mr Skinner highlighted the number of people who died each year (8 000) or were injured and those who were sick (10 million) due to accidents or illnesses in the workplace. It emphasised the importance of equipment inspections, calling for the priority of human beings to be recognised since Europe had to ensure the safety of workers in its territory. Commissioner Flynn felt that the content of the original proposal had been diluted by the Council’s common position. However, in light of the unanimity in the Council, he feared that an uncompromising stance by Parliament and the Commission might be counterproductive; it would be better to adopt a pragmatic and realistic attitude. He therefore proposed taking over 11 of Parliament’s 32 amendments: Amendment No 16 on scaffolding, Amendment No 21 on access to the interior of work equipment, and Amendments Nos 5, 9, 13, 14, 19, 23, 27 and 29 as they improved or clarified the content of the common position. However, he rejected Amendments Nos 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 30, 31 and 32 as they only incorporated the original text of the proposal and ignored the common position. Similarly, Amendment No 33 did not appear to achieve, through the time frames laid down for the life expectancy of equipment, the objective of improving the level of worker protection.

• 1995/10/23 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0260/1995
• 1995/09/21 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #1866
• 1995/07/24 Council Meeting
  • 08606/1/1995 summary

    The Council's common position makes sweeping changes to the amended proposal by deleting numerous amendments by the European Parliament and making important changes to the content of the proposal. The main amendments relate to the following points: . Annex I: the minimum requirements of the Annex, inasmuch as they apply to work equipment in use, do not call for the same measures as the essential requirements concerning new work equipment. A large proportion of the equipment included in this Annex has been deleted: - woodworking and allied machinery-presses; - scaffolding; - work equipment used for detecting non-apparent risks; - bolt-firing tools, bolt guns, nail drivers and similar work equipment. As far as the other points of the Annex are concerned: mobile equipment and work equipment for lifting loads, which are now only referred to in Annex I, are supplemented by additional requirements relating to fork-lift trucks; . Annex II: as far as the nature of this Annex is concerned, the Council has reached a compromise by making what were initially minimum requirements simple "provisions", the objectives of which are achieved at the discretion of the Member States using methods determined by them after consultation with the social partners and taking account of national legislation (it being understood that the Member States remain free to introduce more stringent provisions). As far as the content of this Annex is concerned, the Council has deleted all the provisions relating to: - systems for fixing work equipment to the ground; - powered work equipment (including powered equipment on an electrical installation), - equipment containing materials which flow or are sucked in; - work equipment operated manually. - remote-controlled mobile equipment. It has reworded point 3 of this Annex (work equipment for lifting loads) and completely deleted Annex III which related directly to it. It has also deleted point 4 of this Annex (minimum requirements relating to the use of other work equipment); . the Council has deleted all reference to the equipment inspection plan, thereby simply abolishing Annexes IV and V; . as far as making workers aware of the risks relevant to them is concerned, the Council has reduced the scope of the article in question; . finally, the Council has replaced the date for transposition of the directive into national law (31 December 1996) by a date three years after the adoption of the directive.�

• #1862
• 1995/06/29 Council Meeting
• 1995/06/27 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0311 summary

    The Commission's amended proposal incorporates, in full or in part, 43 of the 50 amendments adopted by the European Parliament at first reading. - The amendments accepted by the Commission clarify the proposal as regards information for workers and the objectives of certain requirements. These amendments relate in particular to the following points: . Annex I: additional requirements for using woodworking and allied machinery (mainly presses), mobile equipment with ride-on workers, inadvertent seizure of drive units in machinery, lighting and visibility in or in contact with certain devices, equipment for lifting workers, scaffolding (including ladders); . Annex II: additional requirements for protecting work equipment against lightning strike (grounding system), rescue procedure in the event of dangerous contact (prior draining or ventilation of dangerous site), mobile equipment fitted with a combustion engine (engine cuts out when equipment is not in use), equipment which can be dismantled (sufficient stability of equipment on the ground); . Annex IV: work equipment subject to inspection: mobile equipment which cannot exceed speeds of 10 km/h and loads of lifting equipment which cannot lift loads in excess of 200 kg; . the Commission also agreed to take account of ergonomic principles, to tighten criteria governing the integration of work equipment into inspection plans (Annex IV), and to take account of the view of the social partners. - Although it agreed to extend the deadline by which "specific" existing work equipment (as covered by Annex I, part III) must comply with all the requirements of the directive to the end of the year 2000, the Commission did not agree that this equipment must be scrapped after 5 years (i.e. in 2005 as recommended by Parliament). . The Commission also rejected several amendments, including those relating to "qualified personnel", inspections before equipment is commissioned, the committee procedures and ad hoc procedures for consulting and training workers using certain types of equipment. . Other amendments were rejected because they were deemed excessively costly (rejection of parts, cartridge sealing tools, protection against agricultural vehicles from rolling over, marking lifting equipment and information for workers). . Finally, the Commission did not accept horizontal amendments seeking to extend the directive to "persons" in general (rather than just workers) because it felt that it went beyond the scope of Article 118A of the Treaty. . Similarly, the amendment on maintenance logs, which had resulted from translation problems, was also rejected.�

• 1995/02/17 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0066/1995 summary

    The European Parliament approved the Commission proposal subject to 44 amendments, the main purpose of which was to: - include the objective of defining minimum health and safety requirements, with the Member States obliged to respect and improve on these requirements; - consider the directive as a practical step towards the creation of the social dimension of the European Union; - make provision for the decommissioning by 31 December 2005 of specific equipment already made available to workers on 31 December 1992; - ensure that employers consult the other social partner before taking suitable measures to comply with the minimum requirements listed in the annexes; - authorise the Member States to take alternative measures where it is objectively impossible to apply the minimum requirements; - ensure that the safety of equipment is checked by qualified staff when installed, every time it is assembled on a new site and on a regular basis; - ensure that employers take full account of the posture and position of workers; - include training in the use of work equipment and information on the potential risks in the work area in the scope of the directive; - associate trades union, European works committees and other workers' representatives in the process; - minimise the risks inherent in using dangerous machinery or equipment; - stipulate the content of the maintenance log for each item of work equipment; - add the equipment, mechanisms, vehicles etc. subject to minimum safety requirements to the annexes; The Commission was unable to accept amendments 26, 41, 43, 6, 18, 28, 15, 20, 31, 25, 11 or 36, but did accept amendments 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 38 and 48, worded differently.�

• 1995/02/16 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1995/01/25 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0011/1995
• 1994/04/18 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1994/03/14 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1994)0056 summary

    The proposal for a directive sought to amend Directive 89/655/EEC on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use of operating machinery at the workplace. The new Directive was essentially aimed at: - progressively improving the safety and health protection of workers when using operating machinery; - harmonizing the minimum health and safety requirements which were to be met when using machinery and equipment, especially with regard to periodic inspections. The Directive set 31 December 2000 as the date by which equipment already in service was to be adapted to comply with the requirements. It also supplements the Annex to Directive 89/655/EEC by new minimum requirements which were to apply to a number of specific types of equipment: woodworking machines and presses requiring repeated manual intervention, mobile equipment, load-lifting equipment, scaffolding, equipment used for the detection of non-visible hazards and sealing guns. Other Annexes have been added relating to the use, in the strict sense of the word, of operating machinery and the conditions under which certain types of machine must be protected against the risk of overturning. Finally, the Directive included a non-exhaustive list of equipment which should be subject to a compulsory inspection schedule, together with the minimum standards of competence which had to be met to qualify for drawing up inspection schedules. Member States had until 31 December1996 to comply with this new Directive. �

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1994)0056
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0011/1995
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0066/1995
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0311
• Council position published: 08606/1/1995
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0260/1995
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0534/1995
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0642
• : Directive 1995/63
• : OJ L 335 30.12.1995, p. 0028

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)