On the International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD25), the EFBWW commemorates all the victims of climate change and especially of heat-related illnesses.
As the climate is changing, workers’ protection must change too.
This year, the EFBWW underlines climate related health hazards. Whereas in the past chemical substances and especially asbestos were the main agents provoking chronical and deathly diseases, we may now be entering a phase in which effects of climate change become the dominant hazards. EFBWW members, especially the outdoor workers, woodworkers or wood processing sectors are concerned.
According to estimates provided to the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in Europe 80,800 people suffered injuries at work due to heat exposure in 2020 and 67 people died as a result of working in extreme heat.
There is a strong need to fight heat at work and other hazards triggered by climate change.
We need to act now! Workers must be protected!
EFBWW demands the European Commission:
· To assess scientifically the danger and effects of heat waves, floods, wood fires, storms and other climate phenomenon
· To assess areas currently not in focus, such as longer bloom sessions and related allergic effects, viruses, ticks and mosquito migration and their diseases
· To check the EU-OSH regulation on possible loopholes related to climate change
· To review the Workplace Directive and especially the Construction Site Directive regarding clear provisions on how to technically and organisational prevent climate change related hazards in the most effective way
· To set up digital solutions to identify and monitor work hazards triggered by climate change
· To provide safe and healthy workplaces for all workers via strict compliance with EU-OSH law
· To apply a strict practice of OSH training for all construction workers and specific training for professions working potentially outdoor
· To facilitate and support the work of labour inspectors
· To design precise data collection on climate change related work accidents, injuries and occupational diseases
The EFBWW will keep emphasizing this, and work with its affiliates to mobilise national employers and governments on this topic, so that the European Commission makes this a reality.
Accidents at work must stop
Despite the ‘Enough is enough’ emergency motion sent by the EFBWW to the European Commission and other European institutions already in 2021 and again in February 2024 calling for action to stop accidents at work and fighting occupational diseases too little has changed. The number of accidents and especially of occupational diseases remains high.
Latest numbers from EUROSTAT report from 2021 and 2022. In 2021, nearly 2.88 million non-fatal work accidents in the EU resulted in workers being absent from work for four days or more, up by 6% compared with 2020 (+150.941 accidents). A total of 3.347 work-related accidents in 2021 were fatal.
In 2022, there were 3.286 fatal accidents at work in the EU, a decrease of only 61 deaths compared with the year before. 22.9% of all fatal accidents at work in the EU took place in the construction sector. The same year, more than half (53%) of all accidents at work in the EU caused wounds and superficial injuries, or dislocations, sprains and strains. More worrying, over the last two years we received figures from various European countries, showing an increase in fatal accidents in the construction sector.
This worrying trend must stop. Enough is enough!