During the “European Week for Safety in Building” (Brussels, 18-22 October), the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work EASH (eash.org) presented a report on accidents on the workplace in Europe for the year 2003. The record is black: over 822,000 accidents (one every five seconds), 1200 deaths (over three per day) for an overall cost of medical assistance amounting to 75 billion euros. However the numbers are down from previous years: according to the European Commission, this improvement demonstrates “the good results of EU legislation on health and safety”. The European Commission and Parliament have appealed to “member states and regional and local authorities throughout Europe to make joint efforts to raise their standards in terms of health and safety in their projects”, and complain of the failure to respect EU legislation in over half European building sites. The EASH on the occasion of the European summit on safety in building due to be held in Bilbao on 22 November has proposed a campaign of awareness-raising and of prevention of accidents on the workplace.
