Page 20 - Occupational Health & Safety, December 2018

HAZMAT
EU-OSHA SeTeks Better Management of Dangerous Substances
BY FRED ELLIOTT
he 2018-2019 Healthy Workplaces Cam- little or no progress in reducing workers’ exposure paign1 by the European Agency for Safety in recent years, EU-OSHA has reported. According and Health at Work, or EU-OSHA, and its to the European Survey on Working Conditions, the partners is focused on managing dangerous proportion of workers who report being exposed to
substances in the workplace. EU-OSHA and numer- ous companies marked this year’s European Week for Safety and Health at Work (Oct. 22-26) with events to raise awareness of the topic and to encourage busi- nesses to embrace active safety management of dan- gerous substances.
According to the agency, dangerous substances are present in nearly all EU workplaces, with 38 percent of EU companies reporting that chemical or biological substances in the form of liquids, fumes, or dust are present in their workplaces, according to EU-OSHA’s second European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (known as the ESENER-2 survey).
“Our ESENER survey shows that dangerous sub- stances are present in all sectors, for example in tradi- tional industries such as construction and manufac- turing, with over 50 percent of companies in the EU affected, and agriculture, with 62 percent of EU en- terprises affected,” said Dr. Christa Sedlatschek, EU- OSHA’s director. “We aim to benefit workers, manage- ment, and the environment by conducting research, bringing together a wealth of practical help, and rais- ing awareness of the importance of actively managing dangerous substances.”
EU-OSHA defines a dangerous substance as “any solid, liquid or gas that has the potential to cause damage to the safety or health of workers.” Exposure routes are inhalation, skin penetration, or ingestion. Occupational exposures to dangerous substances are linked to both acute and long-term health is- sues, including:
■ respiratory diseases (such as asthma and silicosis)
■ harm to inner organs, including the brain and the nervous system
■ skin irritation and diseases
■ occupational cancers (such as leukemia, lung cancer, and mesothelioma)
Dangerous substances in the workplace—wher- ever it is located, not just in the EU—also may raise the risk of fires and explosions.
Dangerous Substances Most Common in EU Agriculture, Manufacturing, Construction The ESENER-2 survey showed that dangerous sub- stances are most prevalent in sectors such as agricul- ture, manufacturing, and construction. While these exposures cause a substantial proportion of occupa- tional diseases, there is a general lack of awareness of the nature and abundance of dangerous substances at work and the risks they pose, and there has been
chemicals for at least one-quarter of their working time has not changed since 2000, remaining steady at about 17 percent.
Workers’ exposure to dangerous substances must be eliminated, or at least effectively managed, to ensure the safety and health of workers and the economic success of businesses and society. And the agency points out that there is a “clear business case for investing in occupational safety and health”— enterprises committed to creating a prevention cul- ture through strong leadership and providing the appropriate resources reap the rewards in the long run, it says.
Workplace exposures to carcinogens are estimated to cost 2.4 billion euros on the continent annually. Compensation claims from workers whose health has been adversely affected by exposure to dangerous sub- stances at work can also run into hundreds of thou- sands of euros per claim.
By investing in occupational safety and health, those costs are avoided and businesses enjoy higher levels of productivity and employee engagement, re- duced absences and illnesses, and lower turnover. As a result, they are more competitive and ultimately more successful.
Partners Share Best Practices,
PPE Information
This European Week activities included a best prac- tices seminar in Croatia and best practice site visits to companies in Finland; Romania hosted events promoting workplace safety and health excellent; chemical safety seminars were presented in Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Italy, and Bulgaria. It was heavily promoted on social media across Europe. The European Firefighters Unions Alliance orga- nized a seminar on firefighters’ work environment and hazardous substances.
The European Safety Federation, an official cam- paign partner, conducted a workshop on the new PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 that took effect in April 2018. Issued by the European Commission, the regulation2 covers the design, manufacture, and marketing of personal protective equipment.
The new PPE regulation is a significant change from what preceded it. It lays out conformity assess- ment procedures for PPE, basing them on the risk cat- egory to which the products are assigned. Conformity assessments procedures for the categories are:
Category I: internal production control www.ohsonline.com
16 Occupational Health & Safety | DECEMBER 2018