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On 22 November 2004, at the European Construction Safety Summit, the Dutch Presidency of the European Union together with six of the top representative bodies in Europe’s €900 billion construction industry signed a landmark declaration committing them to specific measures to improve the sector’s safety and health standards. Despite recent progress, the construction industry, which employs over 12 million people, has one of the poorest safety and health records in Europe. According to the latest available statistics for the pre-enlargement EU, each year nearly 1,200 construction workers are killed and more than 800,000 involved in accidents requiring over 3 days off work. The financial cost to the EU, in terms of lost productivity, health costs and other expenses, is estimated to exceed €75 billion a year – equivalent to €200 per person in the EU. The Bilbao Declaration sets out five key actions that need to be taken to lift health and safety standards in Europe’s construction industry. These include: The organizations that signed the Bilbao Declaration include: European Construction Industry Federation; European Federation of Building and Wood Workers; European Builders’ Confederation; European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations; Architects’ Council of Europe and; European Council of Civil Engineers. The signed version of the Bilbao Declaration is available in PDF format. More information on the European Construction Summit and the Bilbao Declaration at the European Agency's Web pages.
Updated by BC. Approved by EC. Last update: December 2004.
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