- Date 2022-03-17
On Tuesday 8 March, at the ceremonial closing of the French EU Presidency conference ‘Acting on occupational cancers: for better effectiveness of prevention’ in Paris, the government of Spain has signed the Roadmap on Carcinogens covenant. From now on 14 partners jointly work together on this “voluntary action scheme on raising awareness and exchanging good practices to deal with risks arising from occupational exposure to carcinogens.” Spain herewith underlines the need to prevent exposure to cancer causing agents in working environments.
The Roadmap on Carcinogens started its quest in 2016 and since then stepwise the number of organisations and member states committed to the Roadmap on Carcinogens increased. The partnership of Spain is yet another important step in preventing occupational exposure to carcinogens, in preventing our workers develop cancer from work.
Commitment to active participation
Although this is a voluntary initiative, the Roadmap on Carcinogens is an action driven joint programme and partners commit themselves to stay active towards the consecution of its goals.
The signatories commit themselves to contribute to the following goals:
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Creating awareness through Europe among businesses and workers on the risks of exposure to carcinogenic substances and the need for preventive actions.
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Providing help to businesses and workers in preventing exposure to carcinogens on the work floor and minimize its effect on the workforce.
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Mobilising stakeholders and increasing the involvement of relevant parties to multiply our efforts throughout Europe.
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Targeting innovation to bridge the gap between research findings and businesses’ needs.
For Spain it was Mr. Arranz Cordero, the director of INSST, the Spanish National Institute for Safety and Health at Work who attended the conference and signed the covenant with the following words:
“For the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Economy and the National Institute of Safety and Health at Work which I represent, it is an honour to join the Roadmap members in the effort of preventing occupational cancer.
This commitment with the prevention of occupational cancer will be one of the topics included in the activities of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2023, which will be enriched with the work and activities promoted by the Roadmap. It is our belief that only by the joint efforts of all concerned we can achieve the goal of reducing the burden of work-related cancers.
We hope to have a very fruitful cooperation within the Roadmap in the coming years.“
French EU Presidency Conference
The Covenant was signed at the conference “‘Acting on occupational cancers: for better effectiveness of prevention”, which took place on 7 and 8 March 2022 in Paris. The purpose of the conference was to create awareness among businesses and workers of the risks of exposure to carcinogenic substances in the workplace and to allow experts, prevention professionals and social partners to exchange best practices and to mobilise the parties concerned around the goals pursued by the Roadmap.
The conference brought together representatives of the Member States, the European Commission, European employers and European employees, as well as European and national agencies and institutes.
Source: "Roadmap on Carcinogens" News, published on 5 March 2022: https://roadmaponcarcinogens.eu/spain-joins-roadmap/
More information can be found here:
BMAS-News published on 11 March 2022: https://www.bmas.de/DE/Service/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2022/spanien-unterzeichnet-absichtserklaerung-roadmap-carcinogens.html (in German)
BAuA-News published on 14 March 2022: https://www.baua.de/DE/Services/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2022/03/pm004-22.html (in German)
French Presidency of the Council of the European Union: Event "Taking Action Against Work-related Cancer: Towards more effective prevention, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises", published on 5 March 2022
https://presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/taking-action-against-work-related-cancer-towards-more-effective-prevention-particularly-in-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises/