Community news|14/03/22

EU strengthens protection of workers from hazardous chemicals

Home > The news of EUROGIP and occupational risks in Europe > EU strengthens protection of workers from hazardous chemicals

The Council gave its final green light to the amendment of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive. The aim is to improve the protection of workers by setting exposure limits for acrylonitrile and nickel compounds and by lowering the existing limits for benzene.

According to Commission data, more than one million workers are exposed to acrylonitrile, nickel compounds and benzene, and 52% of occupational deaths in the EU each year are due to cancer.

The directive will also provide greater protection against reprotoxic chemicals, which were previously covered by different legislation. It will incorporate limit values for 12 reprotoxic substances that will be transferred and will be renamed to the Carcinogens and Reprotoxics Directive.

Health professionals working with carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic medicinal products, which are classified as dangerous, will receive better training on how to handle them safely. The new legislation requires the Commission to publish guidelines on training, monitoring and follow-up for these products.

Under the revised directive, the Commission must present, by 31 December 2022 at the latest, an action plan to achieve new or revised occupational exposure limit values for at least 25 substances, groups of substances or substances produced by processes and, where appropriate, make legislative proposals.

Member States have two years from today’s adoption to comply with the agreed changes.

To find out more

Discover other news

Abroad

22/09/23

BELGIUM: what to expect from occupational illnesses in 2022

In 2022, around 38,500 people received compensation for permanent disability due to an occupational disease. And nearly 13,000 workers (private sector and provincial or local administrations, APL) filed a claim for compensation; 211 deaths were recognised, 73% of which were due to asbestos, 17% to silicosis and 10% to other diseases. These are the findings of the Fedris “Statistical Report on Occupational Diseases” 2022.

Abroad

22/09/23

FINLAND: the number of accidents at work rose in 2021

In 2021, more than 91,159 accidents at work occurred in Finland, around 4,500 more than in 2020. As in the previous year, construction workers (10,787), care and health service workers (9,367) and machine shop and foundry workers (7,162) were most affected.