Safety at work: work equipment, minimum requirements (amend. Directive 89/655/EEC)

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).�