Source: European Parliament
The enforcement of national legislation transposing EU health and safety at work Directives is a competence that falls primarily under the responsibility of the national competent authorities.
It is up to Member States to identify and allocate the resources needed for such activity. The Commission’s Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee as well as the European Labour Authority assist the Member States with the enforcement of the EU legislation (Occupational Safety and Health at work (OSH) and labour mobility respectively).
The Commission places great importance on the Vision Zero approach on work-related deaths but it did not set a deadline in that respect. The EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027[1] set ambitious objectives to further improve OSH in the EU.
It also states in its Section 2.2 that ‘all efforts must be deployed to reduce work-related deaths as much as possible, in line with a Vision Zero approach to work-related deaths in the EU’.
In addition, a dedicated Working Party of the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work has adopted in 2022 an opinion[2] on ‘Actions to improve prevention of work-related accidents and illnesses in line with a vision zero approach’, including several relevant recommendations.