Health & Safety and Environment

The health and safety of professional painters, allied trade workers, their co-workers on construction and building sites and their clients is of paramount importance.
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Health and Safety

The health and safety of professional painters, allied trade workers, their co-workers on construction and building sites and their clients is of paramount importance.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at work, OSHA, works to reduce risks and educate workers and businesses of safe methods of working. 5,580 people die every year in work related accidents and nearly 160,000 people die from occupational diseases. In summary, someone dies every three and half minutes from work related causes. OSHA runs campaigns that last two years. The current campaign is ‘Safe maintenance’ 2010-11.

UNIEP is committed to minimising the risks of accidents in the workplace. Every five seconds someone is injured in the workplace across Europe affecting their health, family, income and productivity. UNIEP strives to raise awareness of the risks and encourage training to lower those risks.

UNIEP plays a constructive and supportive role in identifying safe methods of working with appropriate tools and materials.

Some of the information available is generic or applicable throughout the construction industry. The sources below are a starting point to finding out information and best practice. UNIEP advises contacting you country government agency for more specific information.

UNIEP’s Association Members cover a broad range of disciplines and not just painting so some of the information will be useful to other trades.

Environment

UNIEP remains deeply committed to protecting and enhancing the environment in which painting contractors work. We appreciate that it is very important to minimise pollution and waste and strive to find new ways to limited carbon emissions.

Our Associations often are members of national committees that advice government departments on environmental issues affecting the trade.

In 2004 and 2008, UNIEP was consulted on the European Union’s Directive on Volatile Organic Compounds for paint materials (so called ‘Decopaint’, Directive 2004/42/EC) and put forward constructive proposals and views to protect professional painters, clients and the wider public whilst highlights the effects on the trade.

European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment to protect, preserve and improve the environment for present and future generations. The DG also ensures that Member States correctly apply EU environmental law.