Safety and safety planning - Tunnel Engineering: Basics and Additional Services for Design and Construction - page 300

Of the directives based on Article 100a, which are intended to remove technical restric-
tions to trade, directive 93/15/EEC of 5 April 1993 on the harmonisation of the provisions
relating to the placing on the market and supervision of explosives for civil uses is applica-
ble to the marketing and control of explosives for civil purposes [190]. The member states
of the EU are - as with all directives according to Article 100a - forbidden the introduc-
tion of more stringent regulations than the directive, because this would be equivalent to
a restriction of trade.
The directives based on Article 118a of the European Union Treaty are concerned with
employee protection. These are minimum regulations, which may not be undercut by any
member state. More stringent regulations are, however, possible and existing regulations
that are more favourable for employees are not affected.
The following are essentially applicable for safety at work in tunnelling:
- Framework directive 89/391 on the introduction of measures to encourage improve-
ments in the safety and health of workers at work [191]; all the general basics of em-
ployee protection are laid down in this framework directive. And
- the eighth individual directive 92/57 - minimum regulations applicable to temporary or
mobile construction sites (construction site directive) [189].
There is not yet any specific directive for the improvement of the health and safety of
employees engaged in the manufacture, storage and use of explosives, but one is being
prepared.
One thing is common to all the directives mentioned: they have indeed been implemented
into national law by some member states, but by no means by all.
8.2.1 Directive 89/391/EEC
- on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and
health of workers at work -
The framework safety directive is not satisfied with passive compliance with regulations,
but demands active handling to improves existing working conditions, not only by em-
ployers but also by employees.
Employer's duties. The directive particularly demands that the following basic rules of
danger prevention are implemented:
The avoidance of risks, the estimation of unavoidable risks, danger prevention at source,
the consideration of the state of technology and the avoidance or reduction of dangerous
moments.
Danger determination. Applied to tunnelling, the individual equipment, working activi-
ties and working methods are to be investigated for possible danger to health and safety
- taking into account the state of training and instruction of the affected employee - by
every company engaged in the construction of a tunnel according to the directive. Then the
dangers are to be evaluated and protection measures against them decided. The evaluation
and the protection measures decided on are to be documented.