This meeting was chaired by the
European Commission (DG Enterprise and Industry).
This meeting was chaired by the
European Commission (DG Enterprise and Industry).
On behalf of the Federation of the European Ergonomics Societies Reinier
Hoftijzer attended “EU directive 89/686/EEC “Personal Protective Equipment
(PPE)” Working Group (WG)” working Group (WG). The members of this WG are
experts of national authorities (member states) and representatives of European
standardisation organisations (CEN and Cenelec). Also representatives of branch
organisations (ESF and FEES) and testing institutes are member of this
WG.
As example for this discussion at
this meeting concerns personal fall protection. In particular is an anchor
device, which is an essential part of the PPE, a part of this PPE or is it a
construction part of a building, where this fall protection is used. The
European Directive (89/686) and the European standard (EN 795:2012) are not
clear in this point. Consequently also in the Member States this is treated
different. Most representatives are in favour of a proposal of ESF (European
Safety Federation) that anchor device is a part of personal fall protection
equipment. In the next meeting of this WG the European Commission will give its
opinion on this point.
Another important point on the
agenda was the revision of the PPE directive 89/686/EEC. The impact assessment
report was finished and approved by the European Commission. The new proposal
will be published in December 2013 and it will be a regulation on PPE and not a
new directive. A regulation has a lot of advantages over a directive for the
Member States and the European Commission. The major difference between a
regulation and a directive is that the regulation has no transposition time and
becomes, after adapting by Council and Parliament, straight away national
legislation. So the member states do not have to transpose this European
legislation. The proposal for a regulation on PPE will be put forward to the
Council and the European Parliament. It will be probably on the agenda of the
Greek presidency in the first half of 2014. It will be discussed only at Council
level and in this WG there will be no longer discussion about this new
legislation.
Always a point on the agenda is
the intended use of the PPE. In the past most PPE were for professional use only
but the scope over the last years is extended to non-professional use and also
private use, like bicycle helmets for children. Also the industry places more
and more private and non-professional use PPE’s on the market. It is their
responsibility to put CE marked products on the market. But there always will be
a discussion if it is PPE or another product that is not under this scope of
this WG.
The next meeting of this WG in
2014 will probably be on 8th of April and 18th of September.