EU rejects draft rules on sun protection
The European Parliament today rejected draft EU-wide rules designed to protect workers from overexposure to the sun, arguing that such guidelines should be laid down on the national level.
EU politicians backed the other part of the so-called ’sunshine directive’ that calls for protection of employees against artificial radiation coming from devices such as lasers or x-ray machines that can damage eyes and skin.
The Parliament’s amendments will now be examined by the Council of EU Ministers, which must decide whether to approve the directive without the section giving employees the right to protection against sunshine or send the bill into the so-called conciliation procedure between the two institutions where it is debated point by point.
The directive, under which building firms could order their employees to keep their shirts on, triggered a row in the Parliament, with Conservatives and Liberal Democrats arguing there was no need for EU-wide rules because the climate was different in every EU country.
“This directive is a classic example of over-regulation. It is foolish to make European laws on the protection of workers against overexposure to sunshine. The situation in Greece is totally different than in Finland,” said Ria Oomen-Ruijten of the conservative European People’s Party.
The main aim of the bill is to ensure employees are informed about the risks of radiation coming from devices such as X-rays, lasers and ultraviolet lamps. Socialists and Greens argued that the new rules – including protection against direct sunshine – are a vital tool in the fight against skin cancer.
“We are not talking about expensive duties being imposed on employers. We are talking only about giving skin cancer information to people who are exposed to the sun in the course of their jobs,” said Labour deputy Stephen Hughes.
The bill has received a lot of media attention in Europe over the summer, with the British and German tabloid media warning against excessive costs of sunburn protection for bar staff or bare-chested construction workers.
