Health and safety rules can seldom escape the accusation of bureaucracy, and those emanating from Brussels are especially likely to provoke suspicion and discontent in business circles.
So what is to be made of the latest proposals from the European Commission to improve workers’ protection against exposure to hazardous chemicals?
To some extent this is a tidying up exercise as the EU already has five directives in this area and what the Commission wants is to make sure that they all tally with its latest rules on the classification, labelling and packaging (CLP) of chemicals.
In practical terms this means that manufacturers and suppliers of chemical substances and mixtures will (if the proposal is adopted) have to provide harmonised labelling information on hazard classification, alerting the user to the presence of hazardous chemicals, the need to avoid exposure and any associated risks.
This will, the Commission argues, allow employers to put in place appropriate risk management measures to protect workers’ health and safety, such as process enclosure, ventilation systems and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
It emphasises that the proposals have already been the subject of two rounds of consultation with employer and trade union representatives at EU level (the social partners).
Existing EU chemical classification and labelling legislation will be repealed on 1 June 2015 when new rules come into force so expect this latest piece of “red tape” to be implemented at about the same time, assuming it is accepted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.
