| Risk assessment threat ‘dynamite’, says union |
|
The proposal of the EU Stoiber Group, to rescind the
requirement for small enterprises to carry out written risk
assessments, has been described as “dynamite” by an Irish trade union.
Speaking at a recent Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) round table
on the importance of risk assessments in preventing accidents at work,
SIPTU’s health and safety adviser, Sylvester Cronin, said that if the
proposal is accepted, “it is absolute dynamite”. Hinting at trade union fears that it would be the first move in a series of steps to remove the requirement altogether, Cronin said: “It is the thin edge of the wedge.” The Stoiber Group was set up by the European Commission in late 2007, to examine ways to reduce the administrative burden on business (see HSR, July/August 2007, pg9). As well as proposing the removal of the obligation on small and micro sized companies to carry out risk assessments, Cronin told the round table meeting that Stoiber also proposed a derogation from the requirement of the Construction Sites Directive to prepare health and safety files. Speaking in support of the proposition before the round table meeting - that trade unions act to protect risk assessments against current attacks under the guise of better regulation - Cronin said that “risk assessments are the cornerstone of health and safety”. “Better regulation” is, he added, “a euphemism for deregulation.” Setting out the timetable for the progression of the Stoiber Group proposals, Cronin said that at the end of October the Commission will be issuing a communication. Then in November there will be a working party meeting of the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health. After that, the proposals will go before the European Parliament for consideration. At that point, he warned, trade unionists “need to be vigilant”. |
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