A3-0314/94

Resolution on environmental training in industry

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the motion for resolution by Mr Pronk on education and training of workers and the prevention of accidents in the workplace (B3-0646/93),

-having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Articles 118a and 130r to 130t thereof,

-having regard to item B3-4310 of the 1994 general Budget of the European Community,

-having regard to the conclusions of the evaluation of the projects financed under the Community Operations in the Environment programme "assessment by descriptive analyses of the need for training in order to improve the environment",

-having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment (A3-0314/94),

A.Whereas there is an ever increasing volume of environmental and working environment legislation and regulations at the European and national level,

B.Whereas, despite considerable efforts, a large number of companies and especially small and medium-sized enterprises have difficulties in incorporating new production methods or adapting existing ones while safeguarding the health and safety of workers and ensuring good environmental standards in conformity with new legislation,

C.Whereas to a large extent implementation is hampered by lack of relevant knowledge and skills at the level of the workforce,

D.Whereas national, regional and local authorities are faced with the problem of lack of skilled personnel to implement, maintain and control established environmental and working environmental standards;

1.Is of the opinion that on the basis of the experiences gained under the Community Operations in the Environment and working environment fields a new legal and financial framework should be established to enable companies to fulfil the training needs of their existing and future workforce;

2.Believes that a system should be worked out indicating the training needs of the different sectors of industry while emphasising the problems of small and medium size enterprises;

3.Strongly recommends enlarging the responsibilities of CEDEFOP and the Dublin Foundation by including training policies in the area of environment within their operational sphere and, furthermore, the establishment of a new programme to be known as the Safety Action for Europe (SAFE) which, among other tasks, would assist with the training and information requirements of SMEs in relation to Community environmental and working environment legislation;

4.Calls upon the social partners to encourage and regulate in the establishment of on-the-job, in-house training, including the possibility to make environmental and working environment training an integral part of common labour agreements;

5.Is of the opinion that regional training facilities, especially for small and medium size companies should be set up based on integrated models, including also health and safety, as been worked out by among others the Dutch Institute for Working conditions (NIA);

6.Calls on the Commission to elaborate a proposal along the lines of this resolution and to inform the European Parliament, as soon as possible, by way of a communication containing the proposed policy;

7.Invites the Commission to draft the proposal in such a way that full use can be made of the specialized institutes in the Member States in order to identify the training needs, to define the training requirements and to facilitate the exchange of expertise of existing training models, programmes and projects, with the aim of having a Community-wide training programme for environmental and working environment training operational by mid-1996;

8.Urges the Commission to create a task-force of the different sectors of its services involved in this respect including representatives of all DG's involved;

9.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the social partners, CEDEFOP and the Dublin Foundation.