| Risk assessments should cover all workers, says European Agency |
|
A new report published by the European Agency for Safety and
Health at Work says risk assessments should cover the whole workforce.
Coming as it does in the wake of the Stoiber Group report, which
advocates doing away with the requirement for written risk assessments
in small and micro sized enterprises (see HSR, July/August 2009, pg9),
the report is likely to inform the debate on the role of risk
assessments and the extent to which businesses should be required to
prepared written risk assessments. The European trade union movement, including the Irish trade unions, is strongly opposed to the Stoiber report recommendations (see pg1). The unions and others who believe in the value of written risk assessments are likely to draw on the Agency’s report, Workforce diversity and risk assessment: ensuring everyone is covered, in support of their arguments. The report states that one of the most important developments of the Framework Directive was the introduction of risk assessment, with the documentation produced forming the basis for prevention programmes. Risk assessment is, according to the director of the Agency, Dr Jukka Takala, “the cornerstone of the European approach to occupational safety and health”. While the Agency’s report was not published in response to the Stoiber report – rather it is a report on a specific aspect of the need for risk assessment – it is likely to be quoted in the debate now underway at European level. The focus of the report is on risk assessments for six categories of workers who are regarded as being at increased risk: migrant workers; disabled workers; young and old workers; women (gender issues); and temporary workers. The report focuses on the prevention of risks faced by such workers. The report includes numerous examples of good practice, including the Irish HSA’s Safe System of Work Plan. The report is accessible on, and downloadable from, the European Agency’s website www.osha.europa.eu. |
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