At a time when Europe is seeking to strengthen its industrial base and secure access to critical raw materials, protecting workers throughout industrial value chains must remain a priority.

Trade unions, employers and EU policymakers gathered in Brussels on 14 October to celebrate 20 years of NEPSI and discuss the agreement’s achievements and future.

Signed in 2006, NEPSI was the first European social dialogue agreement to bring together social partners from several industrial sectors around a common occupational health risk. Through the agreement, trade unions and employers cooperate to prevent workers’ exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust.

Respirable crystalline silica is the very fine dust produced when materials containing silica, such as stone, concrete, ceramics and certain ores, are cut, crushed or processed. Exposure can cause serious occupational diseases, including silicosis and lung cancer.

For industriAll Europe, NEPSI shows how trade unions and employers can work together to deliver concrete improvements in occupational health and safety. It also demonstrates that worker participation and social dialogue are essential to identifying risks, improving prevention and ensuring that safety measures are properly implemented at workplace level.

Over the past two decades, NEPSI has developed practical tools to help employers, workers and trade union representatives prevent exposure. These include training materials, workplace guidance and regular reporting. At workplace level, this means identifying where exposure occurs, putting appropriate prevention measures in place and involving workers and their representatives in monitoring their effectiveness.

NEPSI’s signatories now represent more than 9,000 industrial sites and 375,800 workers across Europe.

The agreement has also helped shape EU action. In 2018, the EU introduced a binding occupational exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica dust generated by work processes. EU legislation also recognised NEPSI’s role in helping employers and workers put safety requirements into practice.
Social dialogue makes a difference

At the anniversary conference, industriAll Europe's Deputy General Secretary Isabelle Barthès discussed why strong social dialogue and high occupational health and safety standards are essential for the future of European industry.

Trade union and employer representatives shared experiences from different countries and sectors, focusing on how NEPSI has improved prevention at workplace level and strengthened cooperation between social partners.

Representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament also took part in discussions on the agreement’s achievements and future. The experiences presented at the conference underlined that prevention is most effective when workers and their representatives are actively involved in risk assessment, training and workplace monitoring.

More work ahead

Despite the progress achieved, silica dust remains a serious risk for workers in many industries. Recent studies continue to identify cases of silicosis and other serious occupational diseases linked to silica exposure. This is a clear reminder to policymakers and industry that prevention efforts must not be weakened.

Strong legislation, effective prevention measures, appropriate training and the active involvement of workers and their trade unions remain essential.
NEPSI plans to expand its training activities, national seminars and exchanges of good practices to reach more workers and workplaces.
As Europe invests in domestic raw material extraction, processing and manufacturing, the lessons learned through NEPSI are increasingly relevant. High occupational health and safety standards must accompany all efforts to strengthen European industrial value chains. Industrial policy cannot succeed at the expense of workers’ health.

Twenty years on, NEPSI demonstrates the value of European social dialogue in protecting workers. For industriAll Europe, the priority remains clear: every worker has the right to a safe and healthy workplace. Protecting workers’ health is not only a legal obligation, but also a prerequisite for a sustainable European industry.

More information: www.nepsi.eu