Directive 1991/383 - Supplement to the measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with a fixed- duration employment relationship or a temporary employment relationship - Main contents

official title

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE

of 25 June 1991

supplementing the measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or a temporary employment relationship

(91/383/EEC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 118a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

In cooperation with the European Parliament (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),

Whereas Article 118a of the Treaty provides that the Council shall adopt, by means of Directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, to guarantee a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers;

Whereas, pursuant to the said Article, Directives must avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;

Whereas recourse to forms of employment such as fixed-duration employment and temporary employment has increased considerably;

Whereas research has shown that in general workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or temporary employment relationship are, in certain sectors, more exposed to the risk of accidents at work and occupational diseases than other workers;

Whereas these additional risks in certain sectors are in part linked to certain particular modes of integrating new workers into the undertaking; whereas these risks can be reduced through adequate provision of information and training from the beginning of employment;

Whereas the Directives on health and safety at work, notably Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (4), contain provisions intended to improve the safety and health of workers in general;

Whereas the specific situation of workers with a fixed-duration employment relationship or a temporary employment relationship and the special nature of the risks they face in certain sectors calls for special additional rules, particularly as regards the provision of information, the training and the medical surveillance of the workers concerned;

Whereas this Directive constitutes a practical step within the framework of the attainment of the social dimension of the internal market,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

SECTION I

SCOPE AND OBJECT

Article 1

Scope

This Directive shall apply to:

Article 2

Object

• 1. 

  The purpose of this Directive is to ensure that workers with an employment relationship as referred to in Article 1 are afforded, as regards safety and health at work, the same level of protection as that of other workers in the user undertaking and/or establishment.

• 2. 

  The existence of an employment relationship as referred to in Article 1 shall not justify different treatment with respect to working conditions inasmuch as the protection of safety and health at work are involved, especially as regards access to personal protective equipment.

• 3. 

  Directive 89/391/EEC and the individual Directives within the meaning of Article...

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