In accordance with the 1994 Employee Protection Act (Arbeitnehmerschutzgesetz, ASchG), the Government recently drafted a Workplace Directive (Arbeitsstättenverordnung) to replace parts of the older General Employee Protection Directive (Allgemeine Arbeitnehmerschutzverordnung). During consultations which ended in September 1997, trade unions and the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer, AK) have issued formal statements to the Government strictly rejecting the proposed new directive.
The Austrian Government recently proposed a new "Workplace Directive", setting out rules on health and safety. The proposal ran into stiff opposition from employee representative organisations, which alleged that many of the exemptions in the new rules invite abuse, and the directive is now back on the drawing board.
In accordance with the 1994 Employee Protection Act (Arbeitnehmerschutzgesetz, ASchG), the Government recently drafted a Workplace Directive (Arbeitsstättenverordnung) to replace parts of the older General Employee Protection Directive (Allgemeine Arbeitnehmerschutzverordnung). During consultations which ended in September 1997, trade unions and the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer, AK) have issued formal statements to the Government strictly rejecting the proposed new directive.
Among the most opposed proposals is an exemption from standards on room size (floor space, height, air volume) and temperature requirements if employees spend less than two uninterrupted hours per day in the room. The labour organisations believe inspectors will have no way of telling whether the time limit is being kept to. Another problem is that the new regulations might make it possible to relegate employees to basement offices while well-lit spaces with windows might be reserved for customer contact or other functions. Further, the introduction of the term "room cells" in the directive is seen as problematic. This might open the way for tiny cubicles to become the norm rather than the exception in a variety of situations, especially for service provision in all sorts of public spaces from hotel lobbies to railway stations and fair grounds. Also a moot point are the unchanged office space requirements. The trade unions would like the greater space necessary for display-screen work enshrined in the directive.
The directive will now be redesigned by the Government.
At the same time, it was reported that the workplace hazard evaluation required by the ASchG appears to be effective. Workplace accidents declined from 172,044 in 1994 to 166,683 in 1995 and to 157,475 in 1996. Under the assumption that a single workplace accident costs the employer about ATS 27,000 while the evaluation of, for instance, a supermarket with 30 employees costs about ATS 30,000, employers are thought to have saved about ATS 550 million.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1997), Workplace Directive rejected, article.
