Social partners in the hairdressing sector developed an established implementation plan to improve safety and health conditions at work, it implements the European Framework Agreement on health and safety signed in 2016.

With their last Joint Statement the social partners in the hairdressing sector recall the specific attention paid to the implementation of the European Framework Agreement on health and safety signed in 2016.

UNI Europa, Coiffure EU and the Commission jointly developed an established implementation plan. The process presented an alternative way of implementing European social dialogue agreements. In principle, there are two routes: implementation via EU Directive or autonomously by the social partners.

The alternative solution draws on the social partners’ self-regulatory competences as well as non-legislative EU action. The advantage is that it enhances networking across member states as well as across several Commission services and EU agencies – resulting in more traction and permanence for European sectoral social dialogue.

In their joint statement, the social partners call on the European Commission and EU OSHA to pursue and renew their engagement in order to support the implementation of the European Framework Agreement on the protection of occupational health and safety in the hairdressing sector.

This would be achieved by updating the current measures when relevant to improve protection of the skin and respiratory tract, to promote ergonomic workplaces, and to improve accident prevention and safety at work in the sector.

Background

Twenty per cent of hairdressers develop work-related asthma. They are ten times as likely as the average person to acquire skin conditions, five times as likely when it comes to musculoskeletal conditions.

Research demonstrates that they are frequently exposed to chemicals which are carcinogenic.

The social partners requested the implementation of their 2016 agreement on health and safety at EU level through a Council Decision. In January 2018, the Social partners were offered to implement their Agreement with the support of the Commission services through jointly agreed activities .

This solution is based on a collaborative approach to identify what could be the most appropriate actions to foster implementation of health and safety measures in the sector.

In June 2019, the Commission and the social partners in the sector agreed on the useful activities and processes for the autonomous implementation of the social partners agreement.