Download Position of UEAPME on the Noise Directive

UNION EUROPEENNE DE L’ARTISANAT ET DES PETITES ET MOYENNES ENTREPRISES
EUROPÄISCHE UNION DES HANDWERKS UND DER KLEIN- UND MITTELBETRIEBE
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATON OF CRAFT, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
UNIONE EUROPEA DELL’ ARTIGIANATO E DELLE PICCOLE E MEDIE IMPRESE
UEAPME’s position with regard to the common position of the Council on the
proposal for a directive on minimum health and safety requirements regarding the
exposure of workers to the risks arising from noise
UEAPME represents 7 million small and medium enterprises across the European Union,
many of them in the sectors affected by the current proposal for a directive to protect
workers from risks linked to exposure to noise, notably construction, wood and
metalwork industries and related professions such as milling and shaping and furnituremakers, glass-manufacture, car mechanics and producers of spare parts, road transport,
timber yards and joineries. It is therefore concerned about the potential costs and burdens
which the new directive on noise will impose on industry and especially the impact on
the competitiveness of the many SMEs affected by it.
I.
Reduction of limit values – Although the three different thresholds agreed by
the Council are likely to make the directive more complicated for SMEs to
handle, the values as they stand are acceptable. However, any further reduction of
the limit values would have a considerable negative impact on SMEs within
certain sectors and occupations in which SMEs are prevalent, in particular
furniture makers, wood and metalwork industries and related professions such as
milling and shaping, glass manufacturers, repairers of automotive bodywork and
chassis, and producers of spare car parts, the printing industry, the entertainment
business, such as discos where high noise levels are actually demanded by the
customers, the construction industry, timber yards and joineries.
The proposal provides for exposure limit values of 87 dB(A) and of lower
exposure action values of 80 dB(A). As the difference between units is
considerably increased at the top end of the noise scale, a further reduction would
affect the competitiveness of industry by imposing enormous costs on businesses
and particularly SMEs, hindering their growth and thereby contradicting the
provisions of Article 137 (2) of the Treaty on European Union which state that
“directives shall avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in
a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and mediumsized undertakings”. UEAPME therefore urges Parliament to consider the balance
of the cost-benefit relationship in this regard.
II.
Personal protection (Article 6) - the regulation that above 80 dB (A) individual
hearing protectors must be available for use, but only over 85 dB (A) must they be
used is not logical, since it does not take account of those workplaces in which the
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noise-level does not rise as far as 85 dB (A), but which may rise above 80 dB (A)
and who are therefore obliged to make the investment in individual protectors
without necessarily using it. For this reason, it would be better to have a single
exposure action value of 85 dB above which it is necessary not only to have
access to but also to use the equipment.
III.
Adequate transition periods – UEAPME is particularly concerned that the
proposed directive should make allowance for adequate transition periods for
SMEs in order to give them time to effect the required investment taking into
account the technical and economic factors of the cost of the necessary personal
protection and its availability on the market, the useful life of the machines
currently in use and the cost of replacing them with machines which have lower
noise emissions, as well as the ease with which these can be obtained.
IV.
Medical surveillance – UEAPME welcomes the fact that the common position
defines regular audiometric tests as a right of employees rather than an obligation,
in order to avoid unnecessary burdens for employers.
On behalf of SMEs across the European Union, UEAPME therefore asks
Parliament,
 To uphold the common position agreed by the Council, and in particular to maintain
the agreed exposure limit value and, on the basis of the argument regarding the use
of personal protective equipment put forward above, to consider raising the exposure
action value to 85 dB (A).
 To uphold the stand taken in the common position on the right of employees to
medical surveillance.
 To ensure adequate transition periods for SMEs, particularly in those industries and
sectors most affected by the measures.
 To make provision for Member States to sanction derogation for those sectors where
major technical difficulties, such as a lack of suitable equipment/machinery on the
market, would prevent them from complying with the provisions of the directive.
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