THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 118 a thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1), submitted following consultation of the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work,
In cooperation with the European Parliament(2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(3),
Whereas Article 118 a of the Treaty provides that the Council must adopt, by means of directives, minimum requirements to encourage improvements, especially in the working environment, as regards the health and safety of workers;
Whereas, under that Article, such directives must avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;
Whereas the Commission communication on its programme concerning safety, hygiene and health at work(4) provides for a revision and extension of the scope of Council Directive 77/576/EEC of 25 July 1977 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to the provision of safety signs at places at work(5);
Whereas, in its Resolution of 21 December 1987 on safety, hygiene, and health at work(6), the Council took note of the Commission's intention of submitting to it within a short period of time a proposal for revising and extending the abovementioned Directive;
Whereas Directive 77/576/EEC should be replaced by this Directive for the sake of consistency and clarity;
Whereas this Directive is an individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (l)of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work(7); wheres the provisions of Directive 89/391/EEC therefore apply in full to the provision of safety and health signs at work, without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions contained in this Directive;
Whereas existing Community rules relate mainly to safety signs and the marking of dangerous obstacles and locations, and are therefore restricted to a limited number of types of signs;
Whereas the effect of this restriction is that some hazards are not appropriately marked; whereas new types of signs should therefore be introduced in order to enable employers and workers to identify and avoid risks to safety and/or health at work;
Whereas safety and/or health signs must be provided where hazards cannot be adequately reduced by techniques for collective protection or by measures, methods or procedures used in the organization of work;
Whereas the many differences between the safety and/or health signs currently in use in the Member States lead to uncertainty, and this may become more widespread with the free movement of workers within the internal market;
Whereas the use of standardized signs at work is, in general, likely to reduce the hazards which may arise from linguistic and cultural differences between workers;
Whereas this Directive constitutes a tangible step towards developing the social dimension of the internal market;
Whereas, pursuant to Decision 74/325/EEC(8), as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal, the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work is to be consulted by the Commission on the drafting of proposals in this field,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
OJ No L 229, 7.9.1977, p. 12. Last amended by Commission Directive 79/640/EEC. (OJ No L 183, 19.7.1979, p. 11.).