Brussels, 29 November 2019: HOTREC, the European umbrella association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafés, and its trade union counter-part EFFAT, the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions, launched today, under the umbrella of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA), a EU Online interactive Risk Assessment (OiRA) tool for the European hotel and restaurant sector free of charge.
“All Companies have to conduct a risk assessment to check if they are compliant with health and safety legislation (both at EU and national level). To facilitate this task, the social partners joined forces to create a EU level tool, that can be adapted at national level by all interested parties (e.g. governments, social partners, labour inspectorates, etc.) in conjunction with the support of national OiRA partners. The advantages of the tool are clear: safety and security at the workplace will be improved, while potential hazards and injuries will be reduced. On the other hand, it means less expenses for companies, as the tool will be used for free” informed Jean-Marc Banquet d’Orx, HOTREC’s Chair of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee.
“The OiRA tool helps SMEs to comply with occupational health and safety at the workplace obligations. This is an important step to make sure that small companies, which make up the biggest part of businesses in hospitality and employ most of the workers in the sector, have the necessary means to ensure that their employees can work in a safe and secure work environment. Any risk assessment should be undertaken – whenever possible – in cooperation with existing workers’ representation bodies.” stated Kristjan Bragason, EFFAT General Secretary.
For further information:
www.hotrec.eu
www.effat.org
Press Contact:
Alessia Angiulli, HOTREC, +32 (0)2 504 78 45, alessia.angiulli@hotrec.eu
Maddalena Colombi, EFFAT, +32 (0)2 218 77 30, m.colombi@effat.org
