Two major organisations – European Federation of Food Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) and European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) – have co-signed a letter to several European Commissioners about the need to address the high number of deaths in agriculture.
The letter has been sent to Agriculture Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski, Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner, Nicolas Schmit and Health and Food Safety Commisioner Stella Kyriakides.
It has also been sent to the chairs, vice-chairs and group coordinators of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).
Deaths in agri
According to the letter, seen by Agriland, official statistics show 500 people losing lives every year in agriculture and forestry in the EU and another 150,000 suffering accidents.
Many more fatalities still go unrecorded in these two top-risk sectors, according to the letter writers.
While these deaths and injuries continue, the EU has taken two steps which ought to impact on health and safety in agriculture according to the two organisations:
- The inclusion of social conditionality in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP);
- The adoption of ‘vision zero’ in the EU strategic framework on health and safety 2021-2027.
The letter goes on to state that there has been much talk in occupational health and safety circles about ‘zero death’ at work, but much less in agriculture.
“We, the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT), with the support of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), would like to open a dialogue with you about adopting the ambition of zero death in agriculture as a top priority,” the letter states.
“Every death, and most accidents, at work are preventable. Action to achieve ‘zero death’ would greatly reduce accidents and risk of occupational disease.
“A serious commitment to zero death requires a similar commitment to zero occupational illnesses in European farming and forestry,” the letter continued.
Key actions needed
EFFAT and ECTU believe that there are three actions towards zero workplace deaths by 2023 in agriculture.
- Social conditionality, a game changer for farm workers’ health and safety: The inclusion of social conditionality in the new CAP has been one of the greatest reforms of this key EU policy as well as a great news for millions of farm workers in Europe. Now, it is crucial to ensure that social conditionality works in practice through a) effective, dissuasive and harmonised sanction sand a well-functioning coordination between authorities responsible for controls on working conditions and CAP-paying agencies and b) through the widest application of the clause before 2025, the year where social conditionality will have taken effect in all member states;
- Labour inspections are very infrequent in agriculture. Trade unions strongly endorse the ILO recommendation for a minimum of one labour inspector per 10,000 workers and calls for the complete ratification and full implementation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 129 Labour Inspection (Agriculture) in Europe. EFFAT has put forward a clear demand to adopt an EU Directive on labour inspections and complaint mechanisms to strengthen the frequency and effectiveness of controls on working conditions;
- Pesticide reduction: Evidence exists that pesticide use is associated with an increased risk of cancers such as prostate cancer, as well as Parkinson’s Disease. The groups have called for the reduction and progressive elimination of pesticide use and exposure by replacing plant protection products with alternative methods.
There are other measures mentioned by EFFAT and ESTU in the letter to address the number of deaths in the agriculture sector.
They said there should be adequate protection for all people active in farming including those with precarious work contracts.
Self-employed, mobile, seasonal or migrant workers, family workers, farmer or farm workers all deserve their lives and livelihoods to be safeguarded, according to the organisations.
They list Ireland as an example where the self-employed in farming are protected in a similar way to farm workers under national health and safety laws.
Another measure urged is for stakeholders to “come clean” on statistics and reporting of work accidents. Eurostat excludes many deaths from the data on fatalities in agriculture because the victims are not officially classified as workers.
It is estimated that up to 90% of accidents go unreported in some parts of the agriculture sector.
A final measure which the letter calls for is the full ratification of the ILO Convention on health and safety in agriculture, urging that EU countries should follow the lead of the seven EU member states that have adopted the convention.
Cost of deaths in agri
Finally, the letter references the impact of a farm or agriculture-related death.
It states: “The personal costs of injury and ill health can be devastating. Life is never the same again for family members left behind after a work-related death, or for those looking after someone with a long-term illness caused by their work.
“Working people in agriculture have the right to return home from work safe and sound. They expect immediate responses from the EU and the member states to ensure their work activity become safer.
“This is why we are asking you to commit to zero death in farming and forest and to meet us to discuss how this can be achieved,” the letter concluded.
The letter is signed by Claes-Mikael Stahl, deputy general secretary, ETUC and Kristjan Bragason, general secretary, EFFAT.