Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-13-Speech-3-253"
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"en.20010613.9.3-253"2
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"Mr President, first of all, I want to say that I think Mr Skinner has carried out a very incisive piece of work, something which I think must also be said this evening. As chairman of the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party, I have supported the conciliation that has been achieved concerning a change to the scaffolding Directive. It provides more precise rules for health and safety in connection with the use of ladders and other work equipment on scaffolding, and I want to congratulate Mr Skinner on his work. It is therefore a question of revising existing rules, and it is clearly of practical significance in terms, for example, of its demands for training and the issue of including self-employed persons under the rules.
Unlike a number of other Members here in the Chamber, I have not, during the discussion of the proposal, felt any need to raise the issue of whether we should have this kind of directive at all. I do not think that that was on the agenda this time, but I should like, at the last moment, to say a little about the matter, for there is a lot of talk nowadays about lists of competencies and new forms of governance. What should the EU deal with? Which tasks must the national states carry out and in what ways are they to be carried out? I am absolutely in favour of common EU rules ensuring that free competition in the internal market does not become competition in a poor working environment. Is safety in relation to scaffolding really a matter for the EU, however? Would it not perhaps be better to take the decisions concerning safety on scaffolding closer to the building sites concerned? This might be at a national or local level. I started giving some thought to this in the middle of the very exciting and detailed discussions we had on, for example, the use of ladders on scaffolding around the old houses in Amsterdam. Another issue is that of how it is to be ensured that the rules are in actual fact implemented and that we do in actual fact see fewer accidents involving falls from height. While we have been discussing this Directive, I have in fact been paying more attention to the scaffolding in Brussels, and I believe, to be honest, that we shall have a serious problem implementing this directive.
The discussion we are also having in other contexts about new forms of governance must also deal with the way in which we are to regulate the working environment most effectively. Are we to continue issuing detailed laws and regulations, or should we focus more upon how these work in practice? Is there some other way in which we can oblige the two sides of industry and the national governments to ensure a good working environment? I think we need some new thinking."@en1
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