Vibrations Directive - could have been worse
April 24, 2002 12:00 AM
Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat MEP, would have preferred not to have a vibrations directive at EU level at all, but nonetheless has achieved a partial victory in her moves to save agriculture and industry.
This week in Brussels sees the final vote of the European Parliament to adopt the Socialist Report on the Physical Agents (Vibrations) Directive.
Liz Lynne, speaking from Brussels today, said "Although I would have preferred not to have this Vibrations Directive at all, it could have been worse. Considering that the vast majority of Parliament was in favour of a directive, there was nothing we could do to stop it completely. While it is certainly not ideal it is far better than what was proposed to start with.
"I would have preferred to keep the exemption for agriculture and forestry, which I helped to negotiate in the first place, but at least agricultural machinery already in use will not have to conform now until 2014 - in other words a longer lead-in period than for other machinery.
"I'm delighted we have moved to a position of 1.15m/s2. There will still be problems at harvest time, but I understand that the rest of industry will be able to cope. It is far better than the Socialist Rapporteur's original proposal for 0.7m/s2 or the 0.8m/s2 originally wanted by the Conservative EPP group which would have meant tractor drivers and dumper truck operators driving only 2-4 hours per working day."
The result is welcomed by much of industry, such as the Construction Products Association with whom Liz has been working closely.
Liz added "I congratulate all those who have worked so hard to change the minds of the other political groups - I believe we have achieved the best compromise we could. Those of us who insisted that those levels would decimate industry have won the day.
"I would be the first to ask for tougher rules if they were really necessary, but there is no evidence of a quantitative link between whole body vibration and lower back pain."
Note to Editors: The final joint text will be debated on Wednesday evening and a vote taken on Thursday. The Physical Agents (Vibrations) Directive sets maximum limits for whole-body vibrations experienced by workers. It must be applied by 2005 for new equipment, with a derogation until 2010 (2014 for agriculture and forestry) for machines already in operation before 2007. The Rapporteur on the Directive in the Parliament is the Danish Socialist Helle Thorning Schmidt. Liz Lynne is Shadow Rapporteur for the European Liberal Democrats and Reformists group.
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