As a trade unionist, health and safety at work is a big priority for Glenis.

Glenis was the European Parliament's rapporteur (lead MEP in charge of steering a resolution or legislation through the Parliament) on the European Parliament's report on the EU's Health and Safety at Work Strategy 2007-2013.

Speaking after the final vote in Strasbourg in January 2008, Glenis said:

"I am delighted that my Health and Safety Report has been successfully adopted by the European Parliament in the Strasbourg session this month.  This has been my first major Report and the issues it addresses are hugely important.

I wanted to target both accidents at work and occupational diseases. The European Agency for Safety and Health at work estimates that every year over 140,000 people in the EU die from occupational diseases and nearly 9,000 die from work related accidents. These figures mean that every three-and-a-half minutes somebody in the European Union dies from a work-related cause. This is unacceptable.
 
The target to reduce accidents at work by 25% over the next 5 years has been accepted.  I want to see similar targets for reducing occupational diseases, which actually affect more people.

MEPs supported my call for EU action against musculo-skeletal disorders to deal with back pain and repetitive strain injuries. Lower back disorders affect between 60 and 90 per cent of people at some point in their lives.  There was also support for better protection of pregnant women at work.

I also called for action on the threat from carcinogens in the workplace and current legislation on this will be revised, but a clause giving high priority to crystalline silica in such a revision was rejected. Both the Tories and Lib Dems voted against its inclusion and therefore against hundreds of thousands of workers being adequately protected from this highly dangerous substance, which has already been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a class 1 carcinogen.

A majority of Euro MPs, led by Conservatives and the Liberals, also rejected a call for nanotechnologies to be monitored and potential health risks assessed.

Another important issue was that of verbal and physical abuse suffered by frontline staff such as doctors, nurses and security personnel at the hands of members of the public (also called third party violence). Shockingly, the BMA has estimated that half of all doctors have suffered violence or abuse from patients. In the health and safety report I proposed that the social partners (trade unions and businesses) should conclude a formal agreement on how to tackle workplace violence and failing this legislation should be brought forward clearly clarifying employers' responsibilities. Unfortunately, yet again the Tories and Lib Dems combined to vote this proposal down

I felt strongly that special attention should be paid to disabled workers and vulnerable groups, including migrant workers, young and ageing workers. The accident rate among temporary agency workers is far too high. They lack training and awareness of either their rights or the risks involved in their work. My report calls for this to be tackled as a matter of urgency.

Now that the report has been adopted, the Commission will submit new legislation to the European Parliament to be voted on by MEPs. 

I will be keeping the pressure on the Commission to make sure all the issues raised in my report are addressed."

Further information:

http://www.socialistgroup.org/gpes/searchdisplay.do?id=67959&lg=en&targetsite=main&type=1