General introduction to GP

1
EBC - Under Construction II - Improving health
and safety in construction SMEs Construction in
figures
Brussels 23 February 2009
Michaela Seifert EU-OSHA Working Environment
Information Unit
2
Figures - EU 27Construction Sector

• More than 13 million persons employed in
  construction (10,5 of EU-27)
• Construction output decrease due to economic
  crisis
• Decreases in construction output in 2008 were
  recorded in
• Spain (-23.7)
• Sweden (-19.6)
• Portugal (-6.2)
• Bulgaria and France (both -5,2)
• Slovenia (- 4,1)
• Germany (-3,4 )

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Figures - EU 27Construction Sector

• Increases of output
• Romania (16.1),
• Slovakia (10.3)
• Poland (5.0)
• UK (4.9 )
• 434 billion Euro value added in construction
  sector in EU27 in 2004 (8,5 of non-financial
  business economys value added)
• Characteristics of the sector ( share of the
  total number of persons employed, EU-27, 2006)
• Gender mainly male workers 92
• Full-time work 94
• Age profile 15-29 24.6 30-49 53.8
• 50 21.6

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Construction - SMEs

• 2.4 Mio construction companies in 2004
• 97 SMEs with fewer than 20 employees
• 93 have fewer than 10 employees
• Micro and small enterprises (with less than 50
  persons employed) generated 65.7 of EUs value
  added in 2002

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Characteristics -Construction Sector

• High proportion of self-employed about 14,
• (highest rate in agriculture 48 )
• High turnover 12 work only one year or less
  (HORECA the highest)
• Migrant workers most non-national workers in
  construction (17)
• Long working hours (over 20) in construction
  agriculture and HORECA
• MSDs remain a concern in Europe and in
  construction
• Exposure of workers to vibrations in combination
  with working in awkard postures and carrying out
  muscular work

4th European Working Conditions Survey
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Characteristics -Construction Sector

• Monotonous tasks more frequent in construction,
  agriculture, manufacturing and HORECA
• Training very low levels in construction,
  HORECA, agriculture, retail trade and
  manufacturing
• Automatic speed of a machine determines pace of
  work (24) manufacturing the highest (41)
• Levels of working impacting on health higher than
  average (agriculture is the highest)
• Highest level of exposure to physical risk
  factors chemical/biological, ergonomic,
  noise/temperature

4th European Working Conditions Survey
7
Accidents EU27, 2005 Construction
8
Accidents EU27, 2005 Construction and other
sectors
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Fatal accidents 1995-2005
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Fatal accidents in construction 2005 - MS
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Construction fatalities comparative rates by
100 000 workers
Country Fatality rate
Sweden 1.1
United Kingdom 1.7
France 3.4
Spain 4.7
Portugal 8.0
Source EU Technology Platform
12
Accidents in Construction EU15, 2005
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Agencys publications for the sector

• Workplace exposure to vibration in Europe an
  expert review
• Skin diseases and dermal exposure policy and
  practice overview
• Emerging chemical risks to be published next
  month
• E-fact 19 - Prevention of vibration risks in the
  construction sector
• E-fact 17 - The prevention of work-related neck
  and upper limb disorders (WRULDs) in construction
  
• E-fact 2 - Preventing vehicle accidents in
  construction
• E-fact 1 - Musculoskeletal disorders in
  construction
• All 2004 campaign related publications on good
  practice

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Healthy WorkplacesGood for you. Good for
business.

• A European campaign
• on Risk Assessment

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What is Risk Assessment?

• RA is the first step to safer and healthier
  workplaces and the key to reducing work-related
  accidents and diseases.
• RA is the process of evaluating the risks to
  workers safety and health from workplace
  hazards. It is a systematic examination of all
  aspects of work that considers
• What could cause injury or harm,
• Whether hazards can be eliminated and, if not,
• What preventive or protective measures need to be
  in place to control the risks.

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How to do Risk Assessment?

• There are two principles which should always be
  born in mind when carrying out an RA
• Structure the assessment to ensure all relevant
  hazards and risks are addressed
• First, try to eliminate them. If not possible,
  reduce them.
• Five-step approach to RA
• 1. Identifying hazards and people at risk
• 2. Evaluating and prioritising risks
• 3. Deciding on preventive action
• 4. Taking action
• 5. Monitoring and reviewing
• Remember RA should be done with the
  employees active involvement

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Campaign objectives

• Raise awareness and encourage to do RA
• Demystify the process
• Not necessarily complicated or bureaucratic
• Not only for specialists
• Underline that quality counts
• Involvement of everyone in the workplace
• On-going process (not a one-off)
• Identify and promote good practices

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Partnership approach

• You help us
• Get involved in the campaign
• We give you
• Getting recognition for your
• efforts

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Official Campaign Partners (1)

• 1st group (announcement on 13 October 2008)
• BusinessEurope
• ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation)
• CEOC Confederation of Inspection and
  Certification Organisations
• ESF (European Safety Federation)
• EMF (European Mens Health Forum NGO)
• ETPIS (European Technology Platform on Industrial
  Safety)
• EuroCOP
• Ideal Standard International
• Johnson Johnson

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Official Campaign Partners (2)

• 2nd group (announcement on 4 December 2008)
• Air Liquide
• Baxter
• Eli Lilly
• Confédération Européenne des Syndicats
  Indépendants (CESI)
• European Federation of National Maintenance
  Societies (EFNMS)
• European Process Safety Centre (EPSC)
• General Electrics (GE)
• European Association of Industrial Minerals
  Producers (IMA-Europe)

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Official Campaign Partners (3)

• 3rd group (announcement end February 2009)
• CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Council)
• EBC (European Builders Federation)
• ECTA (European Chemical Transport Association)
• EFBWW (European Federation of Building and
  Woodworkers)
• ENSHPO (European Network of Safety and Health
  Professional Organisations)
• ETF (European Transport Workers Federation)
• ETSA (European textile Service Association)
• EWEA-AEE (European Wind Energy Association
  Asociación Empresarial Eólica)
• FIEC (European Construction Industry Federation)
• FOHNEU (Federation of Occupational Health Nurses)
• HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
• ISHCCO (International Safety and Health
  Construction Coordinators Organization)
• KRKA

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The Agency is now working on

• Sectoral video production
• Interactive risk assessment tool (IRAT)

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Video production 1

• Objective
• To produce more audiovisual material on our
  subjects --- for our website, for use in our
  events, conferences and presentations and for
  promotion to the audiovisual press.
• Sectors to be filmed
• Construction
• HORECA
• Cleaning
• Content
• Typical situations were accidents/ill health are
  caused
• The contractor to identify (with help from the
  social partners)
• an accident / ill health victim
• a suitable filming location and
• an expert for interview
• Next steps
• By end April the first drafts should be ready

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Video production 2

• Current status
• The film for the construction sector should focus
  on construction falls (falling materials, falling
  from height) and safe roof works.
• Noise and vibration should also be illustrated in
  the film, while asbestos should be treated in the
  full length interview with the expert.
• ESN in contact with companies in Germany and in
  the UK, the British one being probably the best
  option.

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Interactive Risk Assessment tool (IRAT) - Goal

• To contribute to the development of simple tools
  to facilitate RA (Community Strategy 2007-2012)
• To develop and promote with social partners a
  practical RA tool in order to help companies in
  general and SMEs in particular to put in place
  the RA process
• To contribute to demystify the RA process
• To provide a tool which illustrates, through a
  stepwise approach, the RA process

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IRAT - Target Audience

• SME(s). This tool could be used mainly for those
  SMEs wanting to carry out a RA or complete/review
  their RA
• Our intermediaries (social partners, OSH
  practitioners, .)
• Anyone who would like to have a more practical
  overview on how to carry out a RA
  (pedagogic/training dimension of the tool).

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Checklist, overview of topics and progress
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A certain question can filter out (hide)
subsequent questions ...
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... or activate subsequent questionsthis view
shows all questions within the topic
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This view shows one question at a time, plus
explanation, image, hyperlinks, progress bar
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Room for legal references and a box for
additional comments in case of special risks
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Questions and answers are shown in a report,
which also indicates problem areas
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Automatic Action plan, includes hazards, actions,
sorting on priority, updateable status
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Next steps for 2009

• Internationalize the tool (adapt the TNO tool
  to support multilingualism)
• Translate (into English) and adapt the IRAT
  intended to SMEs
• Translate the SMEs IRAT into other EU languages
  (depending on the expression of interest from
  FOPs or other national organisations)
• Develop the sectoral IRATs (in close partnership
  with the social partners from the sector)

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Campaign Next steps for 2009

• 17 March EU Partnership meeting
  Official campaign partners Get together
• 27 April CZ EU Presidency conference GPA
  ceremony
• 26/27 Oct. SE EU Presidency conference
• 16/17 Nov. Closing event Exhibition
• - Day 1 Networking - Day 2 Conference
• 5 big PR projects
• Journalist excursions (GPA winners)
• Photo competition
• EU OSH survey
• OSH film award
• 3 OSH TV reports (construction, HORECA, cleaning)

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And finally to remind ourselves

• 205 million employees in Europe
• 167,000 fatalities attributed to work-related
  accidents and diseases in EU-27, and within that
• 159,000 fatalities attributed to work-related
  diseases
• 74,000 fatalities attributed to hazardous
  substances at work (asbestos included)
• 7,460 fatalities caused by accidents at work
• The figures in this presentation are taken from
  our campaign summary
• http//osha.europa.eu/campaigns/hw2008/campaign/ca
  mpaignsummary

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why are we doing this?

• Every 3.5 minutes, somebody in the EU-27 dies
  from work-related causes.
• Every 4.5 seconds, a worker in the EU-27 is
  involved in an accident that forces him/her to
  stay at home for at least three working days.
• The number of accidents at work causing three or
  more days of absence is huge over 7 million
  every year.

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This all comes at a huge cost

• Human cost for workers and their families (real
  people behind each statistic)
• Business costs for organisations/companies (sick
  leave, insurance costs, productivity, turnover,
  motivation, competitiveness etc.)
• Cost for society (increasing burden on healthcare
  systems)

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To all campaign partners

• Thank you for helping us spread the Risk
  Assessment message
• Without you, we cannot do it!

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Contact us if you need more info

• THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
• Corporate Promotions Manager
• Marta Urrutia
• E-mail urrutia_at_osha.europa.eu
• Project manager, Risk Assessment
• Lorenzo Munar
• E-mail munar_at_osha.europa.eu
• Manager, Brussels Liaison Office
• Brenda OBrien
• E-mail obrien_at_osha.europa.eu
• European Agency for Safety and Health at
  WorkGran Vía, 33 - 48009 Bilbao - SpainTel. 34
  94 479 43 60Fax. [phone]
• http//osha.europa.eu