SAFETY‑CHECKS

The Safety-Check project is promoted by the EU with a view to developing and supporting the concept of risk analysis and evaluation in small enterprises, those clearly requiring most assistance in the difficult task of coming into line with occupational health and safety provisions implementing the framework Directive and specific Directives. More than 30% of European workers are in firms that employ fewer than 10 workers. These firms have encountered particular difficulties in complying with the above regulations.

For this initiative the D.G.EMPL has sought the collaboration of national occupational health and prevention Institutes and of the inspectors of supervisory services of all 15 EU nations. Safety-Check is a tool in the form of a checklist that measures and assesses health and safety conditions in the workplace.

After the model was tested in some pilot sectors work began on the formulation of more than 70 checklists. Field testing showed that Safety‑Checks can be a useful tool for evaluation purposes and for improving safety levels in small enterprises as long as certain requirements are met:

- conformity to the Community’s prevention philosophy

- usable by small enterprises without requiring external consulting

- possibility of adapting the instrument to the legislation and business set-ups of different EU countries

- must permit rapid (1 to 2 hours at most) but exhaustive evaluation.

The employer must be able to raise firm’s safety levels autonomously, having to consult external advisors only in particularly complex cases.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SURVEY

As from 14 April 2000 a public survey will be held on the Safety-Checks translated and implemented in the Italian version. Checklists will be available in the Italian‑English version from this Website, and will also be distributed on floppy disk and in hardcopy form. The aim of the public survey is to test and prepare safety checklists through their being disseminated to, used and critically analysed by employers, NHS inspectors, workers’ representatives and competent physicians. These actors of the new prevention philosophy are asked to offer criticism and suggestions, pursuing a concept of "convergence" towards mutual occupational health and safety aims. We believe that the contribution to be made by LHAs in terms of dissemination to enterprises will be especially important in view of the delicate role they play in the supervisory service, often a cause of conflict and discord with small and medium enterprises. We ask employers to try out these checklists in their firms, in both a critical (technical evaluation) and responsible way (awareness of factors favouring workers’ safety and health). We ask Workers’ Safety Representatives to carefully analyse Safety‑Checks in practice, with a view to mediating between the obligations of the employer and what ought to be the obligations of workers (knowledge of risk, use of PPE). Finally, we ask competent physicians to make their contribution by following the use made of checklists in the firm, intended as tools for aiding risk evaluation, a work phase that should help us to draw up a health monitoring programme.

This initial form of public validation will need to be followed by official approval on the part of the Standing Committee at the Employment Ministry, after which “shared” safety checklists may be used at a national level.

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· Canneries

· Catering

· Demolition firms

· Fisheries

· Fitness centres

· Florists

· Forging, press forging, drop forging, metal profiling and (applied) powder metallurgy

· Forniture transport industry

· Foundries

· General stores

· Food stores