European working group "evaluation of the screen handling guideline"
Report on the Working Group
"Pilot Evaluation of the VDU Directive 90/270/EEC"
At the ACSH meeting in May 2005 the German government introduced its proposals for a systematic assessment of OSH Directives with the methodology of ex-post-evaluation. In an informal meeting on Sep.26 2006 in Berlin some interested Member States agreed, that a Working Group of experts and government representatives should prepare a pilot evaluation of the VDU-directive in order to
- provide evidence of feasibility and usefulness of evaluation in the field of OSH legislation
- get instructions for evaluation of further OSH Directives.
The theoretical basics of OSH evaluation and practical reports about experiences in other countries were introduced at a European Seminar on Evaluation on Dec 14 in Berlin.
Up to now the Working Group has met three times and finished the preparation of a guideline for the evaluation that acts as a common standard.
Due to some national legal restrictions it is not possible to conduct one common evaluation in all interested member states. Alternatively it is planned to conduct separate national evaluations in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany (and perhaps Sweden). Other Member states are also invited to join. The evaluation will start in two waves: UK and NL will start in Spring 2006, the other member states will follow in autumn 2006. The results of the evaluations will be presented at a Conference on Evaluation of OSH Directives in June 2007 (probably in Bonn).
Coherence and consistency of the separate national evaluations will primarily be realised by using the same requirement specifications, which are set out in the documents
- "Common Requirements for the Evaluation of the VDU Directive " and
- "Terms of Reference for Empirical investigations" (TOR).
The first describes the framework of the evaluation, the latter contains
- important and therefore mandatory aspects to be analysed
- recommendations for appropriate indicators
- working hypothesises on the effects of the Directive
These TOR do not represent a common research design, but are intended as advice for the national evaluators. Each interested member state is free to choose the form of commissioning and the form of involvement of the national stakeholders. However, it should be possible for all relevant national interest groups to contribute to the evaluations in order to add national specifics. The addressees of the empirical investigations will mainly be employers and workers. The focus will be on
- knowledge and awareness of the legal provisions at company level
- degree of appliance at the workplaces
- supporting and inhibitory factors when applying the legal provisions
- cost and benefit estimation at company level
As a matter of course coherency and consistency will also depend on further close collaboration of the Member states. The final summarisation and consolidation of the results will be part of the German evaluation.
Further information and actual documents can be obtained at
http://de.osha.eu.int/topics/evaluation
or contact
Achim Sieker Federal
Achim.Sieker@bmas.bund.de
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
D-53107 Bonn
