Toespraak van minister Asscher bij de themadag van het Senior Labour Inspectors Committee

Toespraak | 17-05-2016

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

Welcome. It is a pleasure to see so many of you here on this Thematic Day. An important day, about an important part of your work:

The prevention and control of exposure to dangerous substances.

Or let me phrase it differently: The dismantling of ticking time bombs.

Because that's what dangerous substances are. Miniscule explosives that are invisible to the eye, yet can cause severe damage. Ultimately leading to prolonged illness, even death.

Single pieces of asbestos fibre, for example. Once inhaled, they can kill you. Yet these nasty bombs do not detonate immediately. Asbestos diseases take a long time to develop. And when people are diagnosed with cancer, or asbestosis, it is often too late to do anything.

Not only for the victim, but for all other workers who have been exposed over time.

Luckily we now know how dangerous asbestos is. Yet for many people, the bomb is still ticking. This makes asbestos not just a problem of the past, but one of the present.

And one of the future.

And this is not just the case for asbestos, but for many other dangerous substances. Approximately 100,000 workers in Europe die every year as a result of occupational exposure to carcinogens.

To be honest, the predictions for the future are not much brighter. There are still many substances for which we don't yet know the risk. For these substances, the link between exposure and illness is often still unclear. Some people don't get ill from them. And those who do, often only find out years later. In the meantime, 'bombs' are ticking away, without us realizing this.

Everyone deserves a safe work environment that offers protection from dangerous substances. We need to do our utmost to provide such an environment. Governments, employers, inspectors, and workers each have a role in this.

The Dutch government has been pressing for better protection for workers from carcinogens, for example by expanding the list of carcinogens with limit values. We've made this one of our top priorities during the Presidency too.  

I am very pleased that the Commission, a few days ago, has set limit values for a first group of carcinogenic substances. We are also pleased that the Commission is working on a next set of limit values. This sets the precedent for future legislation on health and safety.

Next week, the Netherlands will host a conference about work-related cancer. The conference elaborates on measures regarding a preventive approach, including the use of limit values.

Legislation is meaningless if the rules are not enforced. Your role is crucial in creating a safe work environment and protecting workers.

Inspectors have the important task of dismantling the ticking time bombs, before they can do any harm. Or, I should say, before they can do any further harm.

This is not a piece of cake, to say the least. Particularly in the case of substances that only cause damage in the long run. It is very difficult to determine whether there is an exposure risk or a violation of OSH legislation with substances such as asbestos and respirable crystalline silica.

Yet there are also many best practices regarding the monitoring and detection of dangerous substances. As there is no time to waste, let's not waste it on reinventing the wheel. During the Presidency, it's our aim to strengthen the cooperation between National Labour Inspectorates. We want to do this by sharing good practices, identifying common problems, promoting safe working methods and developing an easy-to-use guide for the labour inspectors of all Member States. We need to foster a culture in which it is normal to look at problems from a helicopter perspective.

SLIC has made important steps in this. For example by offering guidelines for labour inspectors based on the knowledge and experience of all Member States. One of them concerns respirable crystalline silica in the construction sector, which will be presented today. I can imagine this was not an easy project. Talking about best practices is one thing. Yet actually gathering and applying them in a coordinated fashion is definitely another. I really admire what you have accomplished and I think it is great that you are using this meeting to share the insights you have acquired together.

During the preparation of the Thematic Day, you showed huge support for this. Indeed, we received a 100% response rate to the questionnaire. I really appreciate this.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Before I round up, I want to make 1 last point. One that can easily be forgotten. Because worrying about the safety of others can make you forget about your own. Similar to that of a bomb disposal unit, your work is not risk free. Exposure to dangerous substances can be as harmful to you as it is to workers. It is very important that labour inspectors are sufficiently protected during the monitoring of dangerous substances.

Hence I am glad to see that safety and protection is on today's agenda, amongst many other interesting topics and talks.

Ladies and gentlemen, the clock is ticking. It's time to get started. I wish you an inspiring day!