Safer and healthier work for all - Modernisation of the EU occupational safety and health legislation and policy

Key messages

Europe is characterised by high standards of health and safety at work and employers remain committed to ensuring that workplaces are safe, healthy and productive. The focus for EU policy should be on providing support and advice to businesses and workers so that they can make their OSH policies and actions future proof and adapt to new risks and challenges at the workplace.
The existing EU legal framework for occupational safety and health is comprehensive and provides for a level playing field for companies operating in the internal market. Therefore, there should not be unnecessary changes to EU legislation in this field, including as part of the announced programme to remove or update outdated provisions. The Commission should restrict itself to genuine better regulation objectives.
The overall approach of the Commission’s communication is balanced, in particular the focus on implementation of existing EU OSH legislation and providing guidance and support to employers and workers to continue improving safety and health protection at the workplace.

BusinessEurope aims for the promotion of a prevention culture at the workplace, where both employers and workers understand and implement their respective obligations, and work together to find joint solutions.
We aim for the EU and national governments to ensure that OSH legislation can be implemented by companies of all sizes across all EU Member States, so that that there is a level playing field for worker protection across the EU. EU institutions should work together to ensure that enforcement and application of EU OSH legislation is adequate and appropriate at national level.
As the key underlying principle of EU OSH legislation, we aim for risk assessment to focus on outcomes at the workplace rather than processes and papers.
We aim for further clarification and guidance for employers and workers on the interplay between OSH and REACH legislation, whilst duly respecting the different legal bases and objectives of the two frameworks.