Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-20-Speech-3-082"
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"en.20000920.7.3-082"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the report before us has been commended by everyone as being useful and necessary. It concerns the use of ladders, scaffolding and ropes, working at heights, and, from time to time, alongside dangerous drops. The background to this report is, of course, the many accidents which have occurred in the past and the inadequacy of directives to date. This is why it is useful and necessary to have this report, although it has been a long time coming. However, all credit to Mr Skinner for finally managing to complete it.
Despite this, it is a problem report in a way, not because it is causing something to be done, but because the sector we are dealing with is extremely diverse. It covers people working in the service sector, maintenance sector, painters, window cleaners, etc. Working at heights is not always for long periods of time but often for short spells. This means that the definitions we use should be specific rather than vague, and that the provisions we make should be enforceable, which is far from always being the case. I have already indicated that some descriptions are vague, including those describing “short duration” and “low level of risk”, for example, whilst the assessing of risks involving only a couple of people has been over-regulated. We have managed to discuss some of these instances within the committee and these sections have been deleted from the report, which has led to an improvement. I welcome the progress made and we should be able to continue in the same vein.
Let us examine a number of aspects, such as scaffold bearing surfaces. Needless to say, they should be securely fixed but it is not always possible to brace them against movement, as long as they do not slip. Mobile scaffolds must be prevented from moving about, but this cannot always be legislated for sufficiently. You cannot have red lights everywhere. Portable ladders must be anchored down and be solid, but they must remain serviceable. This is why we have proposed requesting split voting for a number of amendments. In this way, everyone will have the opportunity to propose improvements on the vulnerable sections of the directive."@en1
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