The health and safety protection plan and the file containing features of the building according to EEC Directive 92/57

In none of the 12 member states of the European Community (EEC) is it possible to sit back and claim that safety and health protection on construction sites has reached the stage where it could be accepted as a calculable risk. About 7,5% of all gainfully employed persons in the EEC work in the construction industry, accounting for 15% of all accidents at work, and 30% of all fatal industrial accidents. Has this situation arisen because those who work in the construction industry are less safety conscious than employees employed in other sectors? The construction industry, differs substantially from other branches of the economy in several respects. In this chapter some of these differences are discussed. The impact of Council Directive 92/57/EEC which was passed in 1992 is evaluated as a response to the poor safety and health record of the European construction sector. This directive was issued as part of the commitment of the Council of European Communities to the adoption of minimum requirements for encouraging improvements in working environments to ensure a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers. All European Union member states were to implement the terms of the directive into national legislation by 1994. In Germany the ordinance only came into force during 1998, despite Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands having done so several years ago.