European Social Dialogue Agreement (ESDA)

Crystalline silica (SiO₂) is an essential component of materials which have an abundance of uses in industry and are vital in many products and objects we use everyday: Although crystalline silica is ubiquitous in nature, the inhalation of fine dust containing a proportion of it may constitute a hazard that is limited to the workplace.

Considering that such an exposure can be controlled, the main industries concerned by possible exposures to respirable crystalline silica agreed on appropriate and credible measures for the improvement of working conditions.

Art. 139 of the EC Treaty provides the possibility for management and labour to enter into contractual relations and notably to sign European Social Dialogue Agreements.  NEPSIⁱ is the acronym for the European Network for Silica formed by the Employee and Employer European sectoral associations which have signed the Social Dialogue "Agreement on Workers' Health Protection Through the Good Handling and Use of Crystalline Silica and Products Containing it" on 25 April 2006

CEMBUREAU is a member of NEPSI and is represented on the NEPSI Council where employers and employees have equal representation.  Every two years, the signatories of the ESDAⁱ have to provide information on its application within their sector.  The first Summary Report on the application of the ESDA (European Social Dialogue Agreement) on “workers’ health protection through the good handling and use of crystalline silica and products containing it” was published in June 2008 by the NEPSI Council.  The ESDA on exposure to respirable crystalline silica was concluded on 25 April 2006 and came into effect on 25 October 2006. The report shows a very high level of compliance (99.3% of all sites covered) in the European cement industry when it comes to educating workers, training them and ensuring the dissemination, at plant level, of the best practices relevant to the cement sector. Reporting was ensured through a tailor-made software tool operated by national cement associations, cement companies and plants throughout the EU and beyond, in Croatia, Norway and Turkey. The operation was coordinated by CEMBUREAU.

CEMBUREAU is now collecting information for the second reporting period.

More information

Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) from a European industry perspective