Safety, hygiene and health at work: Community programme 1996-2000. Reports included

OBJECTIVE: presentation of the activity report(1996) of the safety and health commission for mining and other extractive industries. SUBSTANCE: the report outlines the activities of the Commission in 1996. It was originally created by the ECSC following the disaster at Marcinelle in Belgium in which 262 miners from various European countries were killed. Its principal task is to monitor developments in the field of safety and health in the extractive industries, make proposals to the Member States for practical improvements in workplace conditions and promote the exchange of relevant information. In 1996, the Safety and Health Commission adopted a number of proposals and recommendations concerning the following areas. - principles of strata control and support in underground workings of the extractive industries, - accident statistics for the European offshore oil and gas industry, - human factors affecting reliability and their role in risk prevention. The safety and health commission also has workshops to consider individual cases, for example, the Thoresby collier incident in the United Kingdom. Other workshops have been set up to consider safety in quarries and mines and producing in-depth reports on prevention of explosions and fires on offshore rigs and below ground. At Community level the safety and health commission was also involved in monitoring the transposition of Community directive or in their preparation. The legal instruments concerned were as follows: - transposition of directives 92/91/EEC and 92/104/EEC seeking to improve the safety of workers in the quarrying and underground mining sector, - preparations for a directive concerning electrical equipment for use in explosive atmosphere of mines subject to firedamp(82/130/EEC), - proposal for a directive on the approximation of national provisions concerning measures to be taken to prevent gas emissions and pollutant particles from internal combustion engines used on non- road vehicles. The directive will also apply to open-cast and underground mining. Numerous amendments have been made to the basic text of the directive particularly with regard to the protection of workers. Finally, the report refers to cooperation between the safety and health commission and other European and international bodies particularly European standards organizations (CEN/CENELEC), the IMO and the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work.�