The EU’s “New Approach” signals the departure from harmonization lying solely within legislation. Instead, a two-stage concept is adopted in which the essential health and safety requirements are set out in directives and regulations and the technical details are described in standards. Under this approach, European standardization activity acquires considerably more importance.
The European directives adopted in 1989 governing machinery and personal protective equipment call for the social partners to be involved in standardization activity. Article 5 of the Machinery Directive states: “3. Member States shall ensure that appropriate measures are taken to enable the social partners to have an influence at national level on the process of preparing and monitoring the harmonised standards.” This was an essential reason for the founding of the Commission for Occupational Health and Safety (KAN) in Germany.
European standardization activity acquires greater importance and also begins entering the area of the safety and health of workers at work. Adopted in 1993, the German Consensus Statement (GDS) constitutes a fundamental point of reference for the work of KAN, which was founded in 1994. It details for Germany the EU framework conditions which shape the relationship between standardization and the health and safety of workers at work, and which were reaffirmed in 2003 in the Treaty of Nice. This means that for occupational health and safety, complete harmonization is not planned for the foreseeable future, and the GDS remains fully in force. (KANBrief 1/04)
As stated in its constitution, the VFA’s mission is to promote occupational safety and health in Europe by taking or supporting all suitable measures to ensure that the specifications required for harmonization in Europe, particularly in the area of standardization, are planned, created, implemented and monitored in full compliance with the legal acts and decisions of the European Union. The members of the VFA are the German Social Accident Insurance Institutions. The organs of the VFA (the Executive Board and the Members’ Meeting) are the same as those of the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV).
The Commission for Occupational Health and Safety and Standardization (KAN) is a project of the VFA. KAN’s work is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) through project funding.
KAN’s first meeting is held on 11 February 1994. KAN comprises:
The first KAN Study (in German) concerns bolstering of occupational safety and health interests within standardization activity.
In the first two years of its existence, KAN commissioned 15 external studies in areas of standardization considered by the OSH stakeholders to be of particular relevance. Examples included machinery, PPE, ergonomics, noise, vibration and radiation.
Comment on the IEC 65A/179/CDV draft standard, Functional safety – Safety-related systems – Part 1: General requirements.
The KAN Secretariat reviews new draft standards for whether they give adequate consideration to occupational safety and health. If appropriate, the Secretariat formulates a comment, agrees it with the stakeholders represented in KAN and submits it to DIN. Since all stakeholders in occupational safety and health are represented in KAN, a KAN comment carries greater weight than that of an individual stakeholder.
The DIN Presidial Board formulates a presidial decision concerning the interpretation of DIN 820, Standardization. This decision, which is of importance for KAN, states that for attainment of the objectives of occupational safety and health, environmental protection, health protection, consumer protection and the safety of building structures, which are in the public interest, stakeholders in these objectives may each present their agreed, consolidated opinion to the standardization process. Consolidated opinions of the occupational safety and health lobby are to be submitted by the Commission for Occupational Health and Safety and Standardization (KAN).
This presidial decision accords KAN the particular role of representing occupational safety and health interests in standardization activity in Germany with a single voice.
The structure and content of the provisional KAN website, created at www.kan.de, is reported at the 1/98 meeting of KAN. Composition of KAN was to be presented in an organization chart under the heading “Organization structure”. From there, users were to be able to access a further level on which the names of members of KAN and their proxies were to be stated, together with the institutions to which they belong.
From the 1/98 issue: “The KANBrief is to help improve the exchange of information between OH&S experts in standardization and KAN.”
The KANBrief is published quarterly. It reports on topical issues and developments in the field of occupational safety and health and standardization. The printed version appears in English, German and French. The KANBrief is also available in full online.
The KANMail, KAN’s regular newsletter, provides information in English, German and French on all areas of occupational safety and health and standardization, and on KAN’s work. The KANMail had over 2,600 subscribers in 2024.
Since 2000, either one or two seminars have been held each year on the principles of standardization work in occupational safety and health. The seminars are held in conjunction with the Institute for Work and Health of the DGUV (IAG).
In 2012, an international seminar was held in conjunction with the French occupational safety and health institute INRS. The seminar’s purpose was to promote cooperation at a European level between OSH experts working in standardization.
Opportunity currently exists for professionals to get to know KAN in a work shadowing arrangement or to learn the fundamentals of standardization in short online training sessions.
In 2000, KAN acquires a contact point in Brussels, as part of the Maison Européenne de la Protection Sociale. Initially, the Brussels office serves only as a location for meetings. Since the end of 2020, it has had a permanent member of staff.
The tasks of KAN’s European representation include:
The first conference on “Standardization, testing and certification – A contribution to occupational safety and health” in Dresden marks the starting shot for EUROSHNET, an international network of OSH experts active in standardization, testing and certification.
EUROSHNET was created against the backdrop of growing internationalization of standardization on the one hand and diminishing resources of the OSH lobby on the other. The network is intended to facilitate contact between OSH experts, promote discussion of issues of common interest, and disseminate information relevant to occupational safety and health. It is supported by the CIOP-PIB (Poland), EUROGIP and the INRS (France), the FIOH (Finland), the INSST (Spain), the DGUV and KAN. Since its creation, EUROSHNET has organized regular European conferences on standardization, testing and certification in the sphere of occupational safety and health.
Following Germany’s 2002 federal elections, the ministries responsible for economic affairs and labour were merged to form a single ministry. The economic affairs portfolio was thus henceforth automatically represented in KAN.
The merger was reversed again in 2005. Since responsibility for standardization policy now lies with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, whereas that for occupational safety and health legislation remains with the Federal Ministry of Labour, two ministries have been represented in KAN since 2005.
KAN celebrates its tenth anniversary with a symposium on the European Single Market and the involvement of OSH parties in standardization.
From the 2/04 issue of the KANBrief: “The principles according to which KAN is organized have met with considerable recognition in these ten years, and it was agreed unanimously that the two sides of German industry had been able to expand their influence upon standards development considerably as a result.”
Ten years after KAN’s formation, the KAN Secretariat has 15.3 permanent posts. KAN formulated 324 resolutions in the first ten years of its existence.
The new version of the Machinery Directive reinforces the requirement imposed by its predecessor for the social partners to be involved in the standardization process.
In 2008, KAN publishes a commented comparison between the previous and new versions of the Machinery Directive. The commentary is reprinted several times. By 2023, several thousand printed copies have been distributed. The number is increased further by downloads of the PDF edition.
KAN also organizes a European conference in conjunction with the German Social Accident Insurance under the heading “The new Machinery Directive – The expectations of prevention experts regarding standardization”. The conference, held in Munich, is attended by over 200 delegates.
Standards in the area of ergonomics enable products and workplaces to be shaped with better consideration for safety and health. If engineers and designers are to apply standards in this area more widely than they have done in the past, their training must provide them with adequate information on the existence and content of these standards.
As early as 2006, consultation with university teaching staff on design courses confirmed that the aspect of ergonomics was being addressed only tangentially during the training of engineers and, particularly, of designers. KAN therefore launched a project in which lecture modules are to be developed by experts in ergonomics and design theory.
The resulting ergonomics lecture modules have been available online for download free of charge since 2008. They have been extended and updated several times over the years.
The Cracow Memorandum is adopted by OSH institutions in several European countries. It comprises six principles for standardization, testing and certification, and research in support of standardization. For each principle, proposals have been drawn up for attainment of the formulated targets.
The memorandum is intended for the European OSH stakeholders, the standards organizations and the European Commission. It was officially adopted in Cracow at the third EUROSHNET conference on standardization, testing and certification in occupational safety and health.
Its objective is to support further development of the proven instruments of the New Approach and to correct unfavourable developments.
To mark “15 years of KAN”, a symposium is held in Berlin on the involvement of OSH parties in standardization.
Other events and developments in 2009:
From the 4/12 issue of the KANBrief: In 2011, the European Commission had presented the draft of a regulation by which the standardization system was to be adapted better to the challenges of our time. Following intensive negotiations and certain changes to the original proposal, the European Parliament and the Council passed the negotiated compromise. The Regulation became applicable on 1 January 2013.
Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 does not challenge the essential foundations and proven structures of European standardization activity. For example, despite the greater support given to stakeholders at European level, it is stressed that their participation must continue to be promoted in particular at national level.
To mark KAN’s 20th anniversary, a strategy conference is held in Bonn under the heading “How much policy does standardization need?”.
KAN joins its French partner OSH institutes INRS and EUROGIP in signing the “Bonn Declaration” on standardization policy in the field of occupational safety and health. Standards are an important aspect of prevention activity and contribute to making workplaces safe and healthy. They are developed at European and, increasingly, international level, and lay down technical product requirements and methods for measuring emissions of, for example, noise, vibration, radiation and hazardous substances. At the same time, standards are increasingly making inroads into non-technical spheres such as OSH management systems, commercial services, health services and training. In consideration of these developments, the signatory parties to the declaration agree a series of joint positions on standardization policy.
The declaration was reviewed in 2023 and brought into line with the latest developments. OSH institutions in Poland, Finland and Spain – the CIOP-PIB, FIOH and INSST respectively – have also signed the joint declaration.
On 23 October 2014, a working group led by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) agrees a new policy paper on the role of standardization in the safety and health of workers at work (Joint Ministerial Gazette 2015, p. 1). The paper formulates the framework conditions applicable in Germany, contains provisions for the launching and monitoring of standardization projects in this area and provides information on the use of standards within the body of state regulations and those of the accident insurance institutions. It forms an important basis for KAN’s work.
To provide a guide to the process of standards development and the occupational safety and health lobby’s opportunities for influence upon it, KAN creates the KANelot board game in 2015, with illustrations by Michael Hüter.
Follow the KANelot OSH Knights and Ladies of the Standards Table as they brave dragons and other challenges on their journey from the idea for a harmonized European standard through to its final realization.
You can also play the game online.
KAN has advocated successfully for 25 years for occupational safety and health concerns to be considered in standardization activity. The anniversary is celebrated on 4 December by 160 guests from eight countries at the DGUV’s premises in Berlin. The talks and discussions focus on how standardization and regulation can respond to the issues raised by the digital transformation, artificial intelligence and the increasingly rapid pace of technical development.
In its podcast (in German), KAN invites experts to a discussion of topical issues concerning occupational safety and health, standardization and regulation. By mid-2024, some 20 episodes have been produced.
KAN is present on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
A film describing KAN appears in 2021.
The corona pandemic changes the work of the KAN Secretariat: for several months, the entire team works from home. KAN events are held online. Meetings of KAN itself are also held entirely virtually.
Over the decades, the topics addressed by KAN have changed numerous times. Whereas the focus initially lay on the newly emerging and comprehensive body of standards under the EU Single Market Directives of the New Approach, new areas later appeared. These included services, management standards and, increasingly, issues of standardization policy.
In 2023, KAN formulates a mission statement describing its areas of activity and the stakeholders it has in focus and seeks to include.
On 21 April 2021, the European Commission publishes a proposal for a regulation laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence (AI). The proposal, which is also addressed at users and operators of AI systems, represents a paradigm shift, as previous product safety directives and regulations concerned the obligations of manufacturers. The impacts of AI on the world of work present challenges for safety, ergonomics, the human psyche and social policy. It is in KAN’s interests for the regulation to set out suitable and coherent legal requirements and to lead to corresponding standardization mandates. Standards are to be used as a tool for identifying and reducing risks.
To mark its 30th anniversary, KAN will be holding a symposium in Berlin on 12/13 November 2024 on the topic of “occupational safety and health and standardization: between global harmonization and national interests”. The symposium will focus on what political and social developments in standardization will emerge in the coming years, and what effects this will have on KAN’s methodology and the range of topics it addresses.
