2006L0025 — EN — 01.01.2014 — 003.001

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This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

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DIRECTIVE 2006/25/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 5 April 2006 on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to risks arising from physical agents (artificial optical radiation) (19th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (OJ L 114, 27.4.2006, p.38)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	DIRECTIVE 2007/30/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL Text with EEA relevance of 20 June 2007	L 165	21	27.6.2007
►M2	REGULATION (EC) No 1137/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 22 October 2008	L 311	1	21.11.2008
►M3	COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2013/64/EU of 17 December 2013	L 353	8	28.12.2013

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DIRECTIVE 2006/25/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 5 April 2006

on the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to risks arising from physical agents (artificial optical radiation) (19th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)

SECTION I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Aim and scope

1.  This Directive, which is the 19th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(l) of Directive 89/391/EEC, lays down minimum requirements for the protection of workers from risks to their health and safety arising or likely to arise from exposure to artificial optical radiation during their work.

2.  This Directive refers to the risk to the health and safety of workers due to adverse effects caused by exposure to artificial optical radiation to the eyes and to the skin.

3.  Directive 89/391/EEC shall apply fully to the whole area referred to in paragraph 1, without prejudice to more stringent and/or more specific provisions contained in this Directive.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:

Article 3

Exposure limit values

1.  The exposure limit values for non-coherent radiation, other than that emitted by natural sources of optical radiation, are as set out in Annex I.

2.  The exposure limit values for laser radiation are as set out in Annex II.

SECTION II

OBLIGATIONS OF EMPLOYERS

Article 4

Determination of exposure and assessment of risks

1.  In carrying out the obligations laid down in Articles 6(3) and 9(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC, the employer, in the case of workers exposed to artificial sources of optical radiation, shall assess and, if necessary, measure and/or calculate the levels of exposure to optical radiation to which workers are likely to be exposed so that the measures needed to restrict exposure to the applicable limits can be identified and put into effect. The methodology applied in assessment, measurement and/or calculations shall follow the standards of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in respect of laser radiation and the recommendations of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) and the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) in respect of non-coherent radiation. In exposure situations which are not covered by these standards and recommendations, and until appropriate EU standards or recommendations become available, assessment, measurement and/or calculations shall be carried out using available national or international science-based guidelines. In both exposure situations, the assessment may take account of data provided by the manufacturers of the equipment when it is covered by relevant Community Directives.

2.  The assessment, measurement and/or calculations referred to in paragraph 1 shall be planned and carried out by competent services or persons at suitable intervals, taking particular account of the provisions of Articles 7 and 11 of Directive 89/391/EEC concerning the necessary competent services or persons and the consultation and participation of workers. The data obtained from the assessment, including those obtained from the measurement and/or calculation of the level of exposure referred to in paragraph 1 shall be preserved in a suitable form so as to permit their consultation at a later stage.

3.  Pursuant to Article 6(3) of Directive 89/391/EEC, the employer shall give particular attention, when carrying out the risk assessment, to the following:

4.  The employer shall be in possession of an assessment of the risk in accordance with Article 9(1)(a) of Directive 89/391/EEC and shall identify which measures must be taken in accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of this Directive. The risk assessment shall be recorded on a suitable medium, according to national law and practice; it may include a justification by the employer that the nature and extent of the risks related to optical radiation make a further, detailed risk assessment unnecessary. The risk assessment shall be updated on a regular basis, particularly if there have been significant changes which could render it out of date, or if the results of health surveillance show it to be necessary.

Article 5

Provisions aimed at avoiding or reducing risks

1.  Taking account of technical progress and of the availability of measures to control the risk at source, the risks arising from exposure to artificial optical radiation shall be eliminated or reduced to a minimum.

The reduction of risks arising from exposure to artificial optical radiation shall be based on the general principles of prevention set out in Directive 89/391/EEC.

2.  Where the risk assessment carried out in accordance with Article 4(1) for workers exposed to artificial sources of optical radiation indicates any possibility that the exposure limit values may be exceeded, the employer shall devise and implement an action plan comprising technical and/or organisational measures designed to prevent the exposure exceeding the limit values, taking into account in particular:

3.  On the basis of the risk assessment carried out in accordance with Article 4, workplaces where workers could be exposed to levels of optical radiation from artificial sources exceeding the exposure limit values shall be indicated by appropriate signs in accordance with Council Directive 92/58/EEC of 24 June 1992 on the minimum requirements for the provision of safety and/or health signs at work (9th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) ( 11 ). The areas in question shall be identified, and access to them limited where this is technically possible and where there is a risk that the exposure limit values could be exceeded.

4.  Workers shall not be exposed above the exposure limit values. In any event, if, despite the measures taken by the employer to comply with this Directive in respect of artificial sources of optical radiation, the exposure limit values are exceeded, the employer shall take immediate action to reduce exposure below the exposure limit values. The employer shall identify the reasons why the exposure limit values have been exceeded and shall adapt the protection and prevention measures accordingly in order to prevent them being exceeded again.

5.  Pursuant to Article 15 of Directive 89/391/EEC, the employer shall adapt the measures referred to in this Article to the requirements of workers belonging to particularly sensitive risk groups.

Article 6

Worker information and training

Without prejudice to Articles 10 and 12 of Directive 89/391/EEC, the employer shall ensure that workers who are exposed to risks from artificial optical radiation at work and/or their representatives receive any necessary information and training relating to the outcome of the risk assessment provided for in Article 4 of this Directive, concerning in particular:

Article 7

Consultation and participation of workers

Consultation and participation of workers and/or of their representatives shall take place in accordance with Article 11 of Directive 89/391/EEC on the matters covered by this Directive.

SECTION III

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Article 8

Health surveillance

1.  With the objectives of the prevention and timely detection of any adverse health effects, as well as the prevention of any long-term health risks and any risk of chronic diseases, resulting from exposure to optical radiation, Member States shall adopt provisions to ensure appropriate health surveillance of workers pursuant to Article 14 of Directive 89/391/EEC.

2.  Member States shall ensure that health surveillance is carried out by a doctor, an occupational health professional or a medical authority responsible for health surveillance in accordance with national law and practice.

3.  Member States shall establish arrangements to ensure that, for each worker who undergoes health surveillance in accordance with paragraph 1, individual health records are made and kept up to date. Health records shall contain a summary of the results of the health surveillance carried out. They shall be kept in a suitable form so as to permit consultation at a later date, taking into account any confidentiality. Copies of the appropriate records shall be supplied to the competent authority on request, taking into account any confidentiality. The employer shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the doctor, the occupational health professional or the medical authority responsible for the health surveillance, as determined by Member States as appropriate, has access to the results of the risk assessment referred to in Article 4 where such results may be relevant to the health surveillance. Individual workers shall, at their request, have access to their own personal health records.

4.  In any event, where exposure above the limit values is detected, a medical examination shall be made available to the worker(s) concerned in accordance with national law and practice. This medical examination shall also be carried out where, as a result of health surveillance, a worker is found to have an identifiable disease or adverse health effect which is considered by a doctor or occupational health professional to be the result of exposure to artificial optical radiation at work. In both cases, when limit values are exceeded or adverse health effects (including diseases) are identified:

Article 9

Penalties

Member States shall provide for adequate penalties to be applicable in the event of infringement of the national legislation adopted pursuant to this Directive. These penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Article 10

Technical amendments

1.  Any modification of the exposure limit values set out in the Annexes shall be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 137(2) of the Treaty.

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2.  Amendments to the Annexes of a purely technical nature shall be adopted by the Commission in line with:

Those measures, designed to amend non-essential elements of this Directive, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 11(2). On imperative grounds of urgency, the Commission may have recourse to the urgency procedure referred to in Article 11(3).

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Article 11

Committee

1.  The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee referred to in Article 17 of Directive 89/391/EEC.

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2.  Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1) to (4) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

3.  Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5a(1), (2), (4) and (6) and Article 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

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SECTION IV

FINAL PROVISIONS

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Article 13

Practical guide

In order to facilitate implementation of this Directive the Commission shall draw up a practical guide to the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 and Annexes I and II.

Article 14

Transposition

1.  Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 27 April 2010. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.

2.  Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the provisions of national law which they adopt or have already adopted in the field covered by this Directive.

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Article 14a

1.  Without prejudice to the general principles of protection and prevention in the area of health and safety of workers, France may, until 31 December 2017, derogate from the application of the provisions necessary to comply with this Directive in Mayotte as an outermost region within the meaning of Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter ‘Mayotte’), provided that such application requires specific technical facilities that are not available in Mayotte.

The first subparagraph does not apply to the obligations set out in Article 5(1) of this Directive, or to the provisions of this Directive which reflect the general principles laid down in Directive 89/391/EEC.

2.  All derogations from this Directive resulting from the application of measures existing on 1 January 2014 or from the adoption of new measures shall be preceded by a consultation with the social partners in accordance with national law and practice. Such derogations shall be applied under conditions which, taking into account the particular circumstances prevailing in Mayotte, guarantee that the resulting risks for workers are reduced to a minimum and that the workers concerned benefit from reinforced health surveillance.

3.  The national derogating measures shall be reviewed every year, after consultation with the social partners, and shall be withdrawn as soon as the circumstances justifying them no longer subsist.

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Article 15

Entry into force

This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 16

Addressees

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

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ANNEX I

Non-coherent optical radiation

The biophysically relevant exposure values to optical radiation can be determined with the formulae below. The formulae to be used depend on the range of radiation emitted by the source and the results should be compared with the corresponding exposure limit values indicated in Table 1.1. More than one exposure value and corresponding exposure limit can be relevant for a given source of optical radiation.

Numbering (a) to (o) refers to corresponding rows of Table 1.1.

For the purposes of this Directive, the formulae above can be replaced by the following expressions and the use of discrete values as set out in the following tables:

Notes:

Eλ (λ,t), Eλ

spectral irradiance or spectral power density: the radiant power incident per unit area upon a surface, expressed in watts per square metre per nanometre [W m-2 nm-1]; values of Eλ (λ, t) and Eλ come from measurements or may be provided by the manufacturer of the equipment;

Eeff	effective irradiance (UV range): calculated irradiance within the UV wavelength range 180 to 400 nm spectrally weighted by S (λ), expressed in watts per square metre [W m-2];

H	radiant exposure: the time integral of the irradiance, expressed in joules per square metre [J m-2];

Heff	effective radiant exposure: radiant exposure spectrally weighted by S (λ), expressed in joules per square metre [J m-2];

EUVA	total irradiance (UVA): calculated irradiance within the UVA wavelength range 315 to 400 nm, expressed in watts per square metre [W m-2];

HUVA	radiant exposure: the time and wavelength integral or sum of the irradiance within the UVA wavelength range 315 to 400 nm, expressed in joules per square metre [J m-2];

S (λ)

spectral weighting taking into account the wavelength dependence of the health effects of UV radiation on eye and skin, (Table 1.2) [dimensionless];

t, Δt

time, duration of the exposure, expressed in seconds [s];

λ	wavelength, expressed in nanometres [nm];

Δ λ	bandwidth, expressed in nanometres [nm], of the calculation or measurement intervals;

Lλ (λ), Lλ

spectral radiance of the source expressed in watts per square metre per steradian per nanometre [W m-2 sr -1 nm-1];

R (λ)

spectral weighting taking into account the wavelength dependence of the thermal injury caused to the eye by visible and IRA radiation (Table 1.3) [dimensionless];

LR	effective radiance(thermal injury): calculated radiance spectrally weighted by R (λ) expressed in watts per square metre per steradian [W m-2 sr -1];

B (λ)

spectral weighting taking into account the wavelength dependence of the photochemical injury caused to the eye by blue light radiation (Table 1.3) [dimensionless];

LB	effective radiance(blue light): calculated radiance spectrally weighted by B (λ), expressed in watts per square metre per steradian [W m-2 sr -1];

EB	effective irradiance (blue light): calculated irradiance spectrally weighted by B (λ) expressed in watts per square metre [W m-2];

EIR	total irradiance (thermal injury): calculated irradiance within the infrared wavelength range 780 nm to 3 000 nm expressed in watts per square metre [W m-2];

Eskin

total irradiance (visible, IRA and IRB): calculated irradiance within the visible and infrared wavelength range 380 nm to 3 000 nm, expressed in watts per square metre [W m-2];

Hskin

radiant exposure: the time and wavelength integral or sum of the irradiance within the visible and infrared wavelength range 380 to 3 000 nm, expressed in joules per square metre (J m-2);

α	angular subtense: the angle subtended by an apparent source, as viewed at a point in space, expressed in milliradians (mrad). Apparent source is the real or virtual object that forms the smallest possible retinal image.

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ANNEX II

Laser optical radiation

The biophysically relevant exposure values to optical radiation can be determined with the formulae below. The formulae to be used depend on the wavelength and duration of radiation emitted by the source and the results should be compared with the corresponding exposure limit values indicated in the Tables 2.2 to 2.4. More than one exposure value and corresponding exposure limit can be relevant for a given source of laser optical radiation.

Coefficients used as calculation tools within the Tables 2.2 to 2.4 are listed in Table 2.5 and corrections for repetitive exposure are listed in Table 2.6.

Notes:

dP	power expressed in watt [W];

dA	surface expressed in square metres [m2];

E (t), E

irradiance or power density: the radiant power incident per unit area upon a surface, generally expressed in watts per square metre [W m-2]. Values of E(t), E come from measurements or may be provided by the manufacturer of the equipment;

H	radiant exposure: the time integral of the irradiance, expressed in joules per square metre [J m-2];

t	time, duration of the exposure, expressed in seconds [s];

λ	wavelength, expressed in nanometres [nm];

γ	limiting cone angle of measurement field-of-view expressed in milliradians [mrad];

γm	measurement field of view expressed in milliradians [mrad];

α	angular subtense of a source expressed in milliradians [mrad];

limiting aperture: the circular area over which irradiance and radiant exposure are averaged;

G	integrated radiance: the integral of the radiance over a given exposure time expressed as radiant energy per unit area of a radiating surface per unit solid angle of emission, in joules per square metre per steradian [J m-2 sr -1].

Table 2.1

Radiation hazards

Table 2.2

Exposure limit values for laser exposure to the eye — Short exposure duration < 10 s

Table 2.3

Exposure limit values for laser exposure to the eye — Long exposure duration ≥ 10 s

Table 2.4

Exposure limit values for laser exposure of skin

Table 2.5

Applied correction factors and other calculation parameters

Table 2.6

Correction for repetitive exposure

Each of the following three general rules should be applied to all repetitive exposures as occur from repetitively pulsed or scanning laser systems:

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STATEMENT BY THE COUNCIL

Statement by the Council on the use of the word ‘penalties’ in the English version of legal instruments of the European Community

In the opinion of the Council, when the word ‘penalties’ is used in the English version of legal instruments of the European Community, this word is used in a neutral sense and does not relate specifically to criminal law sanctions, but could also include administrative and financial sanctions, as well as other types of sanction. When Member States are obliged under a Community act to introduce ‘penalties’, it is up to them to choose the appropriate type of sanction in conformity with the case law of the European Court of Justice.

In the Community language data base, the following translations are made of the word ‘penalty’ in some other languages:

in Spanish, ‘sanciones’; in Danish, ‘sanktioner’; in German, ‘Sanktionen’; in Hungarian, ‘jogkövetkezmények’; in Italian, ‘sanzioni’; in Latvian, ‘sankcijas’; in Lithuanian, ‘sankcijos’; in Dutch, ‘sancties’; in Portuguese, ‘sanções’; in Slovak, ‘sankcie’; and in Swedish, ‘sanktioner’.

If, in revised English versions of legal instruments where the word ‘sanctions’ has previously been used, this word is replaced with the word ‘penalties’, this does not constitute a substantive difference.

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( 1 ) OJ C 77, 18.3.1993, p. 12 and OJ C 230, 19.8.1994, p. 3.

( 2 ) OJ C 249, 13.9.1993, p. 28.

( 3 ) Opinion of the European Parliament of 20 April 1994 (OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 146) confirmed on 16 September 1999 (OJ C 54, 25.2.2000, p. 75), Council Common Position of 18 April 2005 (OJ C 172 E , 12.7.2005, p. 26) and Position of the European Parliament of 16 November 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal), European Parliament Legislative Resolution of 14 February 2006 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Decision of the Council of 23 February 2006.

( 4 ) OJ C 260, 15.10.1990, p. 167.

( 5 ) OJ L 177, 6.7.2002, p. 13.

( 6 ) OJ L 42, 15.2.2003, p. 38.

( 7 ) OJ L 159, 30.4.2004, p. 1. Directive as corrected in OJ L 184, 24.5.2004, p. 1.

( 8 ) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1. Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

( 9 ) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

( 10 ) OJ C 321, 31.12.2003, p. 1.

( 11 ) OJ L 245, 26.8.1992, p. 23.