Anne Main Condemns EU Health and Safety Directive
21st March 2006
An EU Directive, due to come into force on the 1st July, threatens to cause not only significant damage to the Organ industry across Europe, but could also have a significant effect here in St Albans, home of the International Organ Festival.
An EU Directive, due to come into force on the 1st July, threatens to cause not only significant damage to the Organ industry across Europe, but could also have a significant effect here in St Albans, home of the International Organ Festival.
This new EU Directive aims to eliminate the use of hazardous material in electronic and electrical goods, but perversely it will also lead to a ban on the use of a lead alloy in Organ pipes. This change in material could mean that an entire industry will be lost, and the pipe organ, as is currently used, will be relegated to history.
In St Albans, the Organ in the Abbey is in need of repair, but should this Directive be enforced the Abbey would be forced to spend many thousand pounds more on its restoration. Concerned by this, Anne Main, MP for St Albans has asked a number of Parliamentary questions of both the Secretaries of State for Industry and Health. Anne is trying to establish that the Directive should not apply to this specialised area, and that it is totally inappropriate to legislate for an industry that has encountered no real problems.
Anne said, 'I was very concerned to read about the detrimental effect that this new Directive may have on Organs and Organists all over Europe, and in particular here in St Albans. Experts from the Institute of British Organ Building have told me that this particular alloy gives a distinctive sound to the Organ and apparently there is no known substitute that will give equivalent musical results. They have also reassured me that the personnel in the industry are not at risk, and they have no evidence that pipemakers have suffered as a result of their trade. It seems that this is yet another badly thought out EU Directive, that will only serve to irreversibly damage another traditional British industry, and possibly impact heavily on our cultural and liturgical life.' "
