Council Directive 92/91/EEC
of 3 November 1992
concerning the minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers in the mineral-extracting industries through drilling (eleventh individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 118a thereof,
Whereas Article 118a of the EEC Treaty provides that the Council shall adopt, by means of Directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, to guarantee a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers;
Whereas, pursuant to that Article, such Directives must avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;
Whereas the improvement of workers’ safety, hygiene and health at work is an objective which should not be subordinated to purely economic considerations;
Whereas compliance with the minimum requirements designed to guarantee a better standard of safety and health for the mineral-extracting industries through drilling is essential to ensure the safety and health of workers;
Whereas the mineral-extracting industries through drilling constitute an area of activity likely to expose workers to particularly high levels of risk;
Whereas this Directive is a practical contribution towards creating the social dimension of the internal market,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: