The European Parliament adopted 26 amendments at first reading which concerned vibrations. Nearly all were accepted in the Common Position, either fully or on substance. Of those not accepted:
- the threshold levels were deleted. The Council considered that the deletion strenngthened the text, by making the provisions of the Directive applicable for as long as the risk exists.
- the obligation imposed on the Commission to submit a report was already covered by the submission of the Commission's annual implementation report.
The common position respects the objectives put forward by the Commission and supported by Parliament, and introduces some amendments to the proposal. The preventive measures adopted are based on the obligation imposed on the employer to determine and assess risks by using various methods to assess the level of exposure to mechanical vibrations. The Council refers specifically to the ISO standards.
The major differences with regard to the Commission's proposal concern an increase in the exposure limit values and the exposure action values for whole body vibrations. The threshold level has been deleted. The common position grnats special derogations for the sea and air transport sectors and for seasonal work and, establishes transitional periods for existing work equipment. there is an additional transitional period for work equipment used in the agricultural and forestry sectors.�