Fatal accident revives debate on safety standards for subcontractors

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In October 2002, an explosion led to the death of two temporary agency workers, and seriously injured more than 20 other workers, at a Cockerill Sambre iron and steel plant in Belgium. This accident has revived debate on workplace safety, particularly in respect of subcontractors and agency workers, who have a higher than average rate of workplace accidents, despite the existence of preventive measures.

On 22 October 2002, a major accident occurred at the Cockerill Sambre site at Seraing, Wallonia, part of the Arcelor group, the world's leading iron and steel producer. A violent explosion shook the coking works, which had been partly closed down for repairs. The explosion caused the deaths of two workers, both of them temporary agency workers. The explosion also injured 26 other workers, 13 of them seriously.

This serious accident prompted fierce reactions from the trade unions at Cockerill Sambre, which highlighted safety issues triggered by work organisation in the framework of group restructuring, but mainly problems of safety facing workers employed by subcontractors. According to the La Libre newspaper (on 24 October 2002) since 1998, there have been 12 fatal accidents at Cockerill Sambre, and seven of the workers concerned were employed by subcontractors.

In a newspaper interview, the president of the Cockerill Sambre trade union delegation, a representative of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens/Algemeen Christelijk Vakverbond, CSC/ACV), said that the subcontracting policy at Cockerill was 'applied everywhere. About 10 firms were working on the site where the accident happened, and coordination left much to be desired. The safety policy could in no way be linked to parameters of productivity.' In the judicial inquiry that followed the accident, the investigators stated that the explosion had not been caused either by a technical material shortcoming or by a lack of skills among the subcontractors’ workers. It was thought that human error had led to a major short-term gas leak, which had taken the employees by surprise as they worked.

Temporary agency workers and accidents

This accident has revived the issue of workplace accidents among temporary agency workers. Such workers are much more likely than average to be affected by accidents. This emerges clearly from the table below, which compares workplace accidents affecting blue- and white-collar workers among temporary agency workers and all workers respectively. The data are from Prévention et Intérim/Preventie en interim (P&I), an accident prevention service for the temporary agency work sector, consisting of all private and public sector temporary work agencies and the three main trade union organisations - CSC/ACV, the Belgian General Federation of Labour (Fédération Générale du Travail de Belgique/Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond, FGTB/ABVV) and the Federation of Liberal Trade Unions of Belgium (Centrale Générale des Syndicats Libéraux de Belgique/Algemene Centrale des Liberale Vakbonden van Belgïe, CGSLB/ACLVB).

Notes: figures for temporary agency workers refer to 1999, figures for all workers to 1998; frequency = the number of accidents per million hours of exposure; real rate of seriousness = total number of calendar days actually lost per thousand hours of exposure; global rate of seriousness = total number of calendar days actually lost, plus the number of days not worked due to incapacity.

Source: Prévention et Intérim, 2000

There may be a number of reasons for these substantial differences. CSC/ACV condemns the high number of workplace accidents in the temporary agency work sector, and attributes the causes mainly to 'a series of structural features'. Agency work appears to embrace 'at-risk' sectors of the population - involving large numbers of young people and jobs in industry. However, apart from these structural causes, CSC/ACV also criticises other factors such as: poor selection of temporary agency workers; unsatisfactory communication of information from the user company to the employment agency and agency workers; lack of training; absence of safety instructions; unsuitable protective equipment; a poor standard of medical supervision; problems associated with induction; and the transfer of dangerous jobs to temporary agency workers (see Note aux membres de la commission paritaire 'travail intérimaire' et du groupe de travail 'travail intérimaire', H Fonck, CSC/ACV, Brussels, 1998).

The temporary work agency employers’ federation, Federgon (Fédération des Partenaires de l’Emploi/Federatie van Partners voor Werk) - formally known as Upedi- adds that the high number of workplace accidents may be attributable to the employment insertion function performed by temporary agency work: 'As long as we are dealing with inexperienced workers performing jobs with which they are not familiar, it stands to reason that the risks are higher than for employees who are experienced and used to the work' (quoted in Le travail intérimaire en Belgique, E Léonard and C Delbar, CRISP report, forthcoming).

Commentary

The tragedy that occurred at the Cockerill site in October 2002 has revived discussion on low safety standards for workers employed under an outsourcing contract. The question is how their safety can be improved. One possibility is to improve the user company’s in-house preventive resources; another is to step up monitoring and the necessary preventive conditions in the subcontracting company. Enterprise-level committees for prevention and protection at the workplace (Comités pour la prévention et protection au travail/Comités voor preventie en bescherming op het werk, CPPTs/CPBWs) have an important role to play as far as the first option is concerned.

At present, a CPPT/CPBW must be set up in all enterprises employing at least 50 workers. This committee is made up partly of representatives elected by workers in the enterprise, and partly of representatives appointed by the employer from among the managers. Its main task is to look for, and propose, all appropriate resources, and to contribute actively to everything that is done to promote the well-being of workers when carrying out their jobs. In this context, the committee issues opinions and formulates proposals on a well-being policy for workers when performing their duties, and on the global prevention plan and plan of action drawn up by the employer, as well any changes to these and their implementation and outcomes. The committee must meet at least once a month on company premises.

Following the fatal accident at the Cockerill site, FGTB/ABVV called on the Federal Minister of Employment and Labour, Laurette Onkelinx, to improve workplace safety standards through a series of initiatives aimed at increasing workers’ involvement in safety matters. The union confederation asked the Minister to:

• reduce the current workforce-size threshold for setting up a CPPT/CPBW from 50 to 20 workers;
• make it possible, through a Royal Decree, for a number of employers to set up a joint CPPT/CPBW when the circumstances demand; and
• oblige 'Seveso' enterprises to set up CPPTs irrespective of the number of workers employed. A 'Seveso' enterprise is one whose activity is linked to the handling, manufacture, use and storage of dangerous substances (eg refineries, petrochemical sites, chemical plants, oil depots and explosives depots).

Turning to the second possibility (ie improved monitoring and prevention in subcontracting companies), preventive measures can also be demanded of the subcontracting company, by forcing it to incorporate a series of safety constraints. For example, the temporary agency work sector has developed prevention tools designed to limit the risks of accidents occurring: an instance of this is a compulsory 'file' system which was introduced in 1997, and is used to give as clear a description as possible of the working conditions in which agency workers will be expected to perform their duties. According to P&I: 'This information tells temporary agency workers about the content of their work, the tasks to be carried out, the work hazards and the precautions to be taken, and also the work clothes and individual safety equipment that they will be supplied with. In the event of any questions or problems, or if there is an accident, this information is the reference that has to be examined to make sure that agreements have been complied with, that the allocated task matches the agreed job exactly, and that the information and necessary equipment are available.'

In the context of the accident at Cockerill, FGTB/ABVV called on Minister Onkelinx to take measures to improve the safety monitoring of subcontractors. By contrast, the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique/Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen, FEB/VBO) reacted by demanding that the conditions for accessing subcontracting should definitely not be regulated any further, but that greater emphasis should be placed on prevention by strengthening the unanimous advice already given by the social partners on issues such as practical guides for small and medium-sized enterprises, boosting external prevention services, and taking special steps to help at-risk groups. (Catherine Delbar, Institut des Sciences du Travail)