APPENDIX 4
VISIT TO MADRID AND BILBAO
9-11 March
Meeting at Spanish Labour Inspectorate with Señor
Don Javier Minondo Sanz, Gonzalo Jiménez, Mario Grau, Fernando
Nolla, Visitación Alvarez and Señora Otilia Crespo.
The meeting with representatives of the Spanish Government's
Labour Inspectorate and the National Institute for Safety and
Health and Work provided an overview of health and safety issues
in Spain. There are similarities in the position between Spain
and the UK - both have applied European law and there are some
common issues. The legal systems are different, however, and this
needs to be taken into account.
Spain's entry to the European Union had a profound
effect as EU law on health and safety was implemented. Almost
all Spain's health and safety law comes from Europe. One area
on which Spanish law was already more generous was on working
time, where the maximum is 40 hours (with some exceptions). The
system needed to change from one of protection to one of prevention,
with employers given flexibility to decide how to do it. The law
has proved difficult to enforce. Levels of awareness are low.
Health and safety is not generally taken into account when corporate
decisions are made. Employers tend to 'outsource' their prevention
so that decisions are taken by external specialists rather than
being part of the corporate culture. There is a tendency for compliance
to be formal - a matter of 'ticking boxes' - rather than actually
being an attempt to improve standards of health and safety for
employees. Participation is a particular problem for small and
medium enterprises where accident rates are high. Also of concern
is the poor record of sub-contractors in the construction industry.
A renewed dialogue between Government and social partners in 2002
attempted to address these concerns. The results included an increase
in inspection rates and new legal provisions. In particular, there
were renewed attempts to embed health and safety in corporate
decisions. There is now an obligation on employers where there
are certain risks to have preventative resources on site. Measures
were introduced to prevent compliance being merely formal.
Accident rates are relatively high and there is public
pressure on government to act. The system needs to take root and
a preventative culture to take effect. H&S does not feature
highly in collective bargaining, where the focus tends to be on
pay and working hours. At a national level unions recognise the
importance of H&S and are involved in lobbying for change.
However, at local level awareness is often lower. Trade unions
are predominantly in the public sector and large companies. These
tend to have lower accident rates in any case, so this makes it
difficult to tell what impact trade unions have on accident rates.
National Institute for Safety and Health and Work
(INSHT) is a scientific and technical body. It is involved in
a broad range of research activities and provides technical support
to government, and training. The structure of the Spanish state
is complex. Legislation and health and safety (H&S) inspection
are nationwide. Administration and promotion are at regional level.
INSHT produces guidance for small employers. INSHT is producing
information and guidance and offering training on emerging risks
such as stress. Spain is in agreement with the European Commission
strategy regarding emerging H&S risks. Information and guidance
is free and there is also a telephone helpline for employers.
The 'mutuas', who provide insurance, also provide multi-annual
plans and advice and support to small companies.
The Labour Inspectorate has a broad range of responsibilities
including working hours, salaries, collective bargaining and H&S.
It ensures compliance with collective agreements which have the
force of law. The Inspectorate's focus on H&S has increased
and is now more than half of its work. It has considerable powers
and can require a company to suspend operations if it considers
the work imposes a risk. Employers have responsibilities and a
breach need not be wilful for penalties to apply. The Labour Inspectorate
is not responsible for public safety issues, which are dealt with
elsewhere. Another important resource within individual firms
are prevention officers (who are linked to trade unions). In December
2002, there were 739 inspectors and 787 deputy inspectors for
13 million employees. Inspectors made 120,000 visits to firms
in 2002. Inspectors are obliged to investigate all fatal and
serious accidents.
Individuals within companies may be prosecuted for
breaches. If criminal prosecution is underway, administrative
proceedings are suspended to avoid double jeopardy. Inspectors
pass the file to judges. The law applies almost equally to the
public and private sectors. Public officials have the same responsibilities
as private sector managers. Requirements on small employers are
less stringent. Levels of fines are lower as they correspond to
the number of employees.
The influx of unskilled immigrant workers was considered
to have contributed to high accident rates, especially in the
construction sector. A range of factors were considered to contribute
to this. In particular, such workers have little access to health
and safety training. They are often on short-term contracts, do
not have Spanish as a first language and, in some cases, are unable
to read in any language. There are also high levels of labour
mobility. One of the outcomes of the social dialogue in 2002 was
an agreement by employers to provide training for these workers
and public organisations have also been set up to do this. Contracts
for construction employees are an average of 10 days. Many employees
have contracts Monday to Friday. This makes it difficult for them
to raise health and safety issues as the contract risks not being
renewed for the next week. The inspectorate monitors these contracts
and can check whether their short-term nature is justifiable.
Meeting with Fernando Rodrigo, Director of Instituto
Sindical de Tradbajo, Tomas Lopez Arias, Head of Work Safety at
UGT and Maite Vazquez del Rio (a journalist with ABC).
The legal framework for H&S in Spain is felt
to be adequate, the difficulty is with implementation and compliance.
A health and safety culture needs to take root in the workplace,
among both employees and employers. Penalties are important in
improving compliance rates among employers. A desire to cut costs
was felt to be the principal reason for non-compliance. 'Prevention
officers' are a significant new resource. Their role is focused
on monitoring and ensuring enforcement. Levels of inspection are
increasing. The challenge is to find the right balance. The authorities
need to ask why the construction sector has such high accident
rates. Reasons may include high proportions of temporary workers,
young people and older workers, high levels of sub-contracting,
many people working on a self-employed basis and high levels of
people for whom Spanish is not a first language. These are the
problems - solutions need to be found.
Labour relations in Spain were felt to be maturing
and health and safety was gaining a higher priority in Spain politically
and socially. The key obstacles to improving health and safety
are structural - high levels of casual labour and temporary contracts
(three times greater than the European average). Also there are
high degrees of sub-contracting. Under-recording is a problem.
A recent study found that in addition to 33 deaths in one province,
13 deaths were unrecorded, immigrant workers in insecure employment.
A further problem is that employers tend to outsource prevention
activities so that they are not part of the corporate culture
and its difficult for employees to become involved. On the positive
side, resources for prevention have increased and there is a growing
number of employees active in prevention matters.
There is one Labour Inspector for each 20,000 workers
compared to an average of one per 11,000 in the European union.
There is a serious problem of inspection resources in Spain. Also,
the Labour Inspectors have a wide remit, including hiring and
social security. Trade unions argue that among the Labour Inspectors,
there should be health and safety specialists. Short-term contracts
are a major problem in preventing employees from raising health
and safety issues. In 2002, 20% of accidents were sustained by
workers with permanent contracts. 80% by those with short-term
contracts. These statistics don't include the self-employed and
immigrant workers. Prevention officers have some employment protection
allowing them to raise H&S issues.
It was argued that the Spanish Government had missed
an opportunity to modernize the law to address emerging risks
when it implemented European directives. 2002 reforms stemming
from social dialogue did not give sufficient weight to trade union
perspectives. In strategic sectors, unions have had to use strikes
to further the issue. Collective bargaining proposals are frequently
rejected. Employers have traditionally seen trade unions as a
problem. There are 100,000 Prevention Officers but they are not
based in small companies with 2-4 employees (which form 96 percent
of Spanish businesses.) Unions are arguing for 'territorial' prevention
officers empowered to go into these small firms.
Current classifications of industrial diseases do
not include the sorts of health issues women employees tend to
face. Spain is the European state with the highest number of industrial
accidents and the fewest industrial diseases recognised.
Wednesday 10 March, European Agency for Safety
and Health at Work, Bilbao
Alun Jones, Elke Schneider, Sarah Copsey, Markku
Aaltonen and Francoise Murillo.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
(EASHW) was set up by the European Union in order to serve the
information needs in the field of safety and health at work. It
has three areas of activity:
- Collecting information through a network
of designated experts and organisations.
- Communicating information, particularly through
its website - www.ohsa.eu.int
- Developing knowledge on important occupational
safety and health themes such as priorities and strategies, the
economic impact of occupational safety and health and research
priorities.
The Agency has national focal points in EU member
states. In the UK, this is the Health and Safety Executive. Copies
of the series of power-point presentations are attached to this
note.
The work of the Agency contributes to the European
Commission strategy on health and safety at work. One of the
strands of the strategy for 2002-06 is to strengthen the preventative
culture through the development of a genuine culture of risk prevention.
The Agency has a key role to play in acting 'as a driving force
in matters concerning awareness-building and risk anticipation.'
An important part of this is the development of a 'risk observatory'
to monitor emerging risks in the changing world of work. Another
important part of the Agency's work is the running of annual Europe-wide
health and safety weeks. These are information campaigns on specific
OSH issues. In 2004, the focus is on the construction sector.
In terms of supporting policy making and implementation,
The Agency's workplan for 2004 contained a number of areas of
interest to the Committee - the effectiveness of economic incentives
in safety and health, corporate social responsibility, including
the gender dimension in occupational safety and health (OSH) activities
and support for small and medium enterprises.
Monitoring occupational health and safety and
the European risk observatory
Key challenges for OSH policy include changes in
demography (increasing proportions of women in paid employment
and people tending to stay in work for longer) and in the labour
market (the organisation and processes of work). The objectives
of the risk observatory are to:
- Provide an overview of OSH in Europe;
- Highlight trends in OSH outcomes and risk factors;
- Provide early identification of newly emerging
risks in the workplace;
- Identify areas/issues where more information is
needed.
The aim is to identify priorities and needs for the
future, to assess the efficiency of preventive actions and be
better prepared to meet future challenges. Two new forecasts -
on biological and chemical risks - are to be published shortly.
Stress at work
Work-related stress affects 28% of workers in the
EU. While there are limitations in contemporary research into
the management of work-related stress, a research review by the
Agency found that work-related stress can be dealt with in the
same way as other health and safety issues (by adapting already
well-established processes for the assessment and management of
the physical risks to the management of stress.) Practical examples
of this approach applied to stress at work, exist in several EU
countries. Future research should concentrate on stress management
interventions at the organisational level. Success factors in
prevention initiatives include adequate risk analysis; thorough
planning; a combination of measures covering anticipation, prevention,
intervention, support and evaluation; continuing staff feedback;
liaison with external bodies (such as the police, where violence
is an issue); sustained prevention and top management support
and resources.
The gender aspects of health and safety
It is EU policy to increase the participation of
women in employment, through the creation of quality jobs. Good
quality jobs, with high health and safety standards, are needed
to recruit and retain women at work. An Agency research review
on gender issues in safety and health at work found that substantial
differences in the working lives of men and women affected their
occupational safety and health. There are a higher proportion
of women in low-paid, low-skilled and precarious jobs, they also
typically have less control and autonomy. Men are more likely
to suffer deaths or serious accidents at work and to be exposed
to noise, but some women do dangerous or noisy work and heavy
lifting and are more likely to be exposed to confrontation with
violent members of the public. Women are also more likely to work
in highly repetitive jobs, suffer work-related allergies (such
as dermatitis), be exposed to infectious diseases and to suffer
work-related stress. Women still carry out the majority of unpaid
housework and caring responsibilities (even when working full-time)
and this can add to work-related pressures. The study found that
work-related risks to women have traditionally been underestimated
and that this has result in less attention and fewer resources
being directed towards those risks. Women are also under-represented
in decision-making concerning occupational health and safety and
need to be more directly involved in formulating and implementing
occupational health and safety strategies. Taking a holistic approach,
including looking at the work-life interface and the broader issues
in work organisation, would improve risk prevention.
Corporate Social Responsibility and economic incentives
in safety and health
The minimum responsibilities of employers regarding
health and safety are contained in legislation. Although progress
has been made, more needs to be done to achieve an overall goal
of safe, healthy and productive jobs. A range of Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) themes are relevant to health and safety:
Human resources management. The prevention aspect
of occupational safety and health is a first step towards attaining
a positive record on employability of the workforce through avoidance
of work-related disability, ill-health and injury.
Prevention in procurement, outsourcing and subcontracting.
Increasingly, public authorities apply strict conditions on subcontractors
in their procurement processes. In Belgium, for example, this
has proved a powerful tool in reaching small and medium enterprises
(SMEs). There are also examples in the private sector of large
companies applying strict procurement rules to influence the health
and safety quality content of services and products provided.
Commitment to the local community. In the UK's 'business
as good neighbour scheme', large companies act as mentors to local
companies in occupational safety and health matters.
Social responsibility reporting and auditing. Many
companies are including figures on absences owing to injury and
ill-health, early retirement and staff turnover in annual reports.
Health and safety auditing and recognition schemes could play
an important role in the field of social auditing.
Social and eco-labels. In Sweden, a label/certificate
has been developed as a marketing tool to install consumer confidence
in the safety and design of products.
Socially responsible investment. Financial institutions
are making increasing use of social and environmental checklists
to evaluate the risks of loans to and investments in companies.
The development of the occupational safety and health
aspect of CSR, with the full participation of workers and social
partners, could add much to the development of a health and safety
culture. As most of its elements are voluntary, this would complement
the legal requirements. The Agency has done much work to develop
thinking in this area. In 2004, it is also undertaking a project
to look at the effectiveness of economic incentives to encourage
improvements in safety and health. These incentives can include
insurance systems, tax systems and subsidy systems. Special attention
will be given to the needs of SMEs.
Small and medium enterprises
Here are 19 million small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) in the EU. They represent 99 per cent of all EU enterprises
and employ nearly 75 million people, 65 per cent of the EU's total
working population. SMEs are a diverse group, have fewer resources
(in terms of knowledge and capacity) and higher accident rates.
The Agency is involved in developing a range of tools to improve
occupational safety and health performance in Europe's SMEs. As
part of these efforts, it has looked at good practice models.
Aspects of an effective strategy include:
-Taking appropriate measures: neither too complex
nor too expensive. Tools need to take account of the needs and
resources of the enterprise.
- Supporting risk assessment, for example through
providing training or consulting in the workplace.
- Involving trade unions and employer associations,
who may have practical knowledge of the sector and whose involvement
can add credibility.
- Targeting actions at a specific sector or activity
proved to be particularly successful.
Thursday 11 March 2004
Mutua Vizcaya Industrial and Arcerlia, Bilbao
Miguel Angel Lujua, Jesús Dalmau Meñica
(Mutua Vizcaya), Marta Urrutia (EASHW), Victor Manuel Echenagusía
Capelastegui (Arceralia)
The 'Mutuas de Accidentes' (known as the Mutuas)
are social insurance organisations that also play an important
role in both preventive and compensatory aspects of occupational
health. They are associations of employers. They are non-profit
making and any surplus goes back into organisation. They interact
with the Spanish social security system. There are 29 Mutuas in
Spain, covering 96.6 per cent (11.78 million) of workers in the
General Regime of Social Security. The Social Security system
covers the remaining 3.4 per cent (638,955) of workers.
Mutuas provide financial support to those of work
owing to occupational injury or ill-health, they also provide
medical services, support for rehabilitation and advice on prevention.
The amount depends on earnings levels and family size, for a
maximum of 18 months. There is also a lump sum payment, depending
on the extent of any injury. Mutuas get most of their income from
the companies who are members. Levels of payment vary according
to the worker's job and wage level. Currently, there is no link
to the company's safety record. The Government has been working
on developing a system whereby companies with good records pay
less and those with poor records pay more, but there have been
delays in implementing this. Mutuas charge for provision of an
'External Prevention Service' and for health treatment to workers
who are not mutual members.
Companies in Spain are required to engage a prevention
service if they have more than 500 employees or more than 250
and work in a dangerous activity. Mutuas are also involved in
rehabilitation to support employees to return to work. Mutua Vizcaya
reported that this had resulted in better recovery rates.
Arcelaria, a steel company, represented locally,
but with branches around the world is engaged in a continuous
process to improve health and safety standards for employees,
including sub-contractors. The cycle is to identify risks, set
objectives, implement preventative actions, evaluate results and
modify processes on the basis of this. At the moment, Aceralia
uses the Mutua for medical treatment services but is privately
insured. It is cheaper for it to do this because it is a large
company with a good safety record. It will review the position
when the Government brings in the system of allowing companies
with good records to pay lower premiums.
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