제 목 : Commission to Conduct Study of AIDS in the Workplace
일 자 : 1997년 04월
제공처 : Safety ＆ health
The European Commission plans to conduct a feasibility study that deals
with several aspects of HIV and AIDS in European Union workplaces.
According to Bernard Le Goff from the European Commission's Health and
Safety Directorate, the study will examine discrimination against
HIV-infected employees, as well as investigate the nature of preventive
education and training programs in place. The commission will work with
several nongovernmental organizations. The study also will investigate a
cross-section of businesses.
The extent to which HIV-in-fected employees are wrongly regarded by
employers and co-work-ers in the European Union as a "health hazard" is
largely unknown. Evelyn de Bie from the Flemish AIDS Coordination Center
in Belgium says the community attiudes appear more realistic than several
years ago.
"I think we have gotten beyond co-workers worrying about catching AIDS
from an infected person's coffee cup," says de Bie.
No European country permits dismissal from work purely on the grounds
of being HIV-positive, although this apparently has occurred. In Germany,
the Labor Court has rules that employers are responsible for providing
information to deal with the fears of work colleagues of an infected
person. France is the only country that has laws specifically dealing
with discrimination against HIV-positive workers. The French laws aim
to avoid isolating sufferers and encourage them to seek counseling and
treatment, similar to U.S federal law.
Medical settings are an occupational area where contact with the virus
is possible. The risk of being exposed to the virus through needlestick
injuries and cuts may have worsened in recent years by increased time
pressure on staff which has resulted from budget reductions.
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