KAN hosted two special events and a lecture at the A+A 2003 Congress held in Düsseldorf at the end of October.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly important subject for companies worldwide. Numerous examples exist of how companies present those of their activities which are not directly of an economic nature, particularly in the social and environmental sphere. The ILO is now presented with the task of providing a framework for the multitude of different initiatives.

The KAN Special Event held at A+A 2003 and chaired by Marina Schröder (KAN Vice-Chair) revealed clearly the challenges facing new and existing Member States by EU enlargement to the south and east. In order for the interests of occupational health and safety to be represented effectively in the EU body of regulations, the individual positions in the respective countries must be consolidated within a European discussion process to form a consensus which can be carried by the greatest possible number of parties.

During plant visits, occupational health and safety experts frequently observe position switches on safety doors which have been bypassed, resulting in machinery being operated in an improper condition. Bypassing of this kind has repeatedly led to serious accidents, some of which sadly have been fatal. Generally, the party which bypassed the function is considered responsible. In the view of many OH&S experts, however, this definition of responsibility does not go far enough.

Evangelos Vardakas has been a Director at the “Enterprise” Directorate-General of the EU Commission since 1991. His area of responsibility encompasses standardization, conformity assessment and the New Approach. Mr Vardakas will leave the Commission at the end of 2003

The globalization of markets enhances the significance of international standards. In the Vienna and Dresden Agreements, the international and European standards organizations have undertaken to avoid duplication of effort and to employ international standards more frequently as a basis for European standards. This development has implications for occupational health and safety, as requirements placed upon the safe design of products are now increasingly being formulated in international standards. Attempts are also being made to include the health and safety of workers at work within this task.

In Spain, the right of citizens to effective protection against risks associated with gainful employment is set forth in Article 40.2 of the Constitution. The various mechanisms used to attain this objective are set out in further detail in Law 31/1995 governing occupational health and safety.

Although the European Single Market functions on the whole very well, citizens and companies may encounter difficulties in particular cases where Single Market regulations are not applied properly. This fact has prompted the setting up of a network of liaison offices (SOLVIT Centres) in the national administrations of the EU Member States, whose purpose is to resolve problems relating to the market access of goods and services, establishment of companies, public procurement, taxation, voting rights, and many other issues, as effectively as possible and without recourse to legal action.

EC Directive 2003/10/EC against risks arising from noise came into force on 15 February 2003. The directive defines objectives of protection, exposure limits and exposure action values. It further sets out requirements for the wearing of hearing protectors, for noise reduction programmes and hearing tests, and for the training and instruction of employees. The directive is to be transposed into national law by 15 February 2006.