THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 118a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, submitted after consulting the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work,

In cooperation with the European Parliament,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Whereas Article 118 a of the Treaty provides that the Council shall adopt, by means of directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, to ensure a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers;

Whereas, under the terms of that Article, those directives are to avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;

Whereas the communication from the Commission on its programme concerning safety, hygiene and health at work provides for the adoption of a Directive designed to guarantee the safety and health of workers at temporary or mobile construction sites;

Whereas, in its resolution of 21 December 1987 on safety, hygiene and health at work, the Council took note of the Commission's intention of submitting to the Council in the near future minimum requirements concerning temporary or mobile construction sites;

Whereas temporary or mobile construction sites constitute an area of activity that exposes workers to particularly high levels of risk;

Whereas unsatisfactory architectural and/or organizational options or poor planning of the works at the project preparation stage have played a role in more than half of the occupational accidents occurring on construction sites in the Community;

Whereas in each Member State the authorities responsible for safety and health at work must be informed, before the beginning of the works, of the execution of works the scale of which exceeds a certain threshold;

Whereas, when a project is being carried out, a large number of occupational accidents may be caused by inadequate coordination, particularly where various undertakings work simultaneously or in succession at the same temporary or mobile construction site;

Whereas it is therefore necessary to improve coordination between the various parties concerned at the project preparation stage and also when the work is being carried out;

Whereas compliance with the minimum requirements designed to guarantee a better standard of safety and health at temporary or mobile construction sites is essential to ensure the safety and health of workers;

Whereas, moreover, self-employed persons and employers, where they are personally engaged in work activity, may, through their activities on a temporary or mobile construction site, jeopardize the safety and health of workers;

Whereas it is therefore necessary to extend to self-employed persons and to employers where they are personally engaged in work activity on the site certain relevant provisions of Council Directive 89/655/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work (second individual Directive), and of Council Directive 89/656/EEC of 30 November 1989 on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace (third individual Directive);

Whereas this Directive is an individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work; whereas, therefore, the provisions of the said Directive are fully applicable to temporary or mobile construction sites, without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions contained in this Directive;

Whereas this Directive constitutes a practical step towards the achievement of the social dimension of the internal market with special reference to the subject matter of Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products and the subject matter covered by Council Directive 89/440/EEC of 18 July 1989 amending Direaive 71/305/EEC concerning coordination of procedures for the award of public work contracts;

Whereas, pursuant to Council Decision 74/325/EEC, the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work is consulted by the Commission with a view to drawing up proposals in this field,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: