§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department have made of the effect of the Communities Vibrations Directive on working times for the agricultural workforce; if such an analysis was made at the time of initial discussions in the Working Group; what cost-analysis took place prior to final agreement; and if she will make a statement. [73824]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive is a health and safety measure which is designed to protect workers from diseases such as vibration white finger and back pain. The Directive was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 21 May 2002. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) took the lead on behalf of the UK Government in negotiating the terms of the Directive.
The HSE carried out a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) (including a cost/benefit anaysis) as soon as the German Presidency presented the proposal for this Directive in January 1999. The RIA considers the impact of the Directive on UK industry as a whole. 581W This was updated in January 2001 after political agreement was reached in Council. Copies of the RIAs are available in the House of Commons Library.
The UK has played a leading role in maintaining the Common Position on the terms of the Directive in the face of more restrictive amendments proposed by the European Parliament. As a result the terms of the Directive should allow farm workers to use their tractors for at least 7 to 8 hours each day. Furthermore the provision allowing exposure to Whole Body Vibration (WBV) to be averaged over a 5 day period should allow one or two long days to be offset by low exposure on rest days. In addition the WBV exposure limit value for farmers will not come into effect until 2014–12 years time. The long transitional period should allow equipment design to be improved and old equipment to be replaced.