Public procurement and deaths at work: choosing the best bidder in social terms and making social rights and safety at work a condition for access to contracts

Question for oral answer O-000011/2026
to the Commission
Rule 142
Anthony Smith (The Left), Per Clausen (The Left), Hanna Gedin (The Left), Catarina Martins (The Left), Leila Chaibi (The Left), Marina Mesure (The Left), Pierre Jouvet (S&D), Marianne Vind (S&D), Bruno Tobback (S&D), Rima Hassan (The Left), Manon Aubry (The Left), Kim Van Sparrentak (Verts/ALE), Rudi Kennes (The Left), Marie Toussaint (Verts/ALE), Damien Carême (The Left), David Cormand (Verts/ALE), Dario Tamburrano (The Left), Mélissa Camara (Verts/ALE), Elisabeth Grossmann (S&D), Brando Benifei (S&D), Chloé Ridel (S&D), Li Andersson (The Left), Marc Botenga (The Left), Marc Angel (S&D), Özlem Demirel (The Left), Arash Saeidi (The Left), Vicent Marzà Ibáñez (Verts/ALE), Kathleen Funchion (The Left), Estelle Ceulemans (S&D), Gabriele Bischoff (S&D), Luke Ming Flanagan (The Left), Younous Omarjee (The Left), Konstantinos Arvanitis (The Left), Elena Kountoura (The Left), Emma Fourreau (The Left), Mario Furore (The Left)

In 2023, a total of 3 298 workers died in accidents at work in the EU. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work estimates the annual number of deaths caused by work-related diseases at around 170 000. Some of these deaths occur on construction sites or in services financed by public contracts. Yet contracting authorities often continue to award contracts to the lowest bidder, rather than to the tender which offers the best quality or value for money, exacerbating social dumping and insecurity at work.

Training for contracting authorities rarely includes practical modules on verifying compliance with occupational health and safety obligations or on checking the mandatory training certificates of employers, contractors and subcontractors, both at the selection stage and during contract performance.

Operators convicted of violations of labour law or health and safety rules, including where violations are committed by a subcontractor, are not systematically excluded from tender procedures. Moreover, access to public contracts is still not clearly conditional on compliance with high social and safety requirements.

• 1.Does the Commission consider the current public procurement framework to be adequate for promoting quality and safety and for achieving the goal of zero fatalities at work, rather than giving precedence solely to the criterion of the lowest price?
• 2.Will it propose EU-wide rules providing for measures to make occupational health and safety training compulsory for contracting authorities, to exclude convicted operators, to require tenderers to provide occupational health and safety training certificates, and to provide for exclusion in the event of non-compliance with these requirements and the termination of contracts or the imposition of contractual penalties?

Submitted: 9.3.2026

Lapses: 10.6.2026