The European social partner organizations in the construction sector FIEC (European Construction Industry Federation) and EFBWW (European Federation of Builders and Woodworkers) held on 18 January the final conference of their project “Reducing Respirable Crystalline Silica Dust Effectively”, co-financed by the European Commission in the framework of the call for proposals to promote social dialogue.

The European social partner organizations in the construction sector FIEC (European Construction Industry Federation) and EFBWW (European Federation of Builders and Woodworkers) held on January 18th the final conference of their project “Reducing Respirable Crystalline Silica Dust Effectively”, co-financed by the European Commission in the framework of the call for proposals to promote social dialogue.

The project‘s goal was to provide state of the art guidance and support to construction companies and workers in view of a proper implementation of the European Occupational Exposure Limit (OEL) of 0.1 mg/m³ for respirable crystalline silica, established with the revision of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive.

In this respect, the project aimed at a precise mapping of construction activities and the elaboration of specific corresponding guidance which focused on technical and organisational measures specific for the various occupations.

It aimed as well at identifying more problematic activities for which meeting the new limit value with the tools/technologies and protective equipment available today constitutes a challenge.

The project partners EFBWW and FIEC worked under the premise that, based on the technical state of the art, solutions for sound prevention of exposure to RCS are achievable for most construction activities, and dialogue between social partners from various countries, the respective prevention bodies, the providers of technical equipment and other stakeholders is crucial.

The final conference brought together more than a hundred participants including DG EMPL representatives.