Oc cupational Safety and Health OSH Project status The OSH Pr oject on Dev elopment and Promotion of Soft Skills and C ompetenc es for OSH Management System T ai lormade to Extractiv e SMEs is a joint pr oject between E ur o mines and IndustriAll and is c ofunded for 2 y ears 02 2019 02 2021 by the EU The pr oject focuses on identifying the curr ent OSH status of the sector in fiv e EU Member States Bulg aria Cz ech Republic Hung ary Poland Spain in order to deliv er supporting material for emplo y ees which assists in c omplying with OSH r equir ements Other objectiv es of the pr oject include raising awar eness and cr eating a network of c ollaboration among the extractiv e industry In 2019 data identifying the OSH status of SMEs in the ex tractiv e industry has been c ollected including legislation and management appr oaches for c omplianc e with leg al r e quir ements literatur e identifying the most c ommon risks for the SMEs in the ar ea of health and safety The partners of the pr oject c ompleted a questionnair e which outlined g aps and needs in soft skills and c ompetenc es Analysis of the c ompleted questionnair es helped the pr oject team to pr oduc e tools and material to better suit the needs of emplo y ees In October 2019 a workshop was org anised to discuss r esults of the cir culated questionnair es The ev ent allowed for an inter esting ex change of experienc es and ap pr oaches of the participants fr om the fiv e Member States Implementation of best practic e guide for C O and NO x K eeping work ers health y is essential to the suc c ess of min ing c ompanies and E ur omines members ar e driv en to meet the highest standards for work er health and safety F or this to happen hazards such as to xic substanc es in the work plac e need to be identified and the risks fr om an y possible exposur e associated with them need to be adequately c on tr olled The c onc entration of NO NO 2 and C O at workplac es in undergr ound mines arises pr edominately fr om the use of explosiv es and fr om mobile machines equipped with diesel engines In the past y ears significant amounts of r esear ch and impr o v ements wer e made in the ar ea of electrification diesel engine upgrades etc Thr ough its activ e in v olv ement in Sectorial Social C ommittee for Extractiv e Industries Standing W orking Party on Extractiv e Industry and the Business E ur ope Emplo y ers Network E ur omines c ontinued the dialogue with policy mak ers and trade unions on the r elevant issues ar ound health and safety of the emplo y ees Table of Contents page 24 of 35 S ustainabi li ty and Competi ti veness