Recent developments

HIV/AIDS Guidelines for the mining industry being developed

Given the continuous rise of HIV/AIDS, in particular in many African countries that have important mining sites, or are currently promoting mining as an industry for sustainable development and receiving additional FDI in the sector, a need for sound guidance exists.

Although there is guidance for the mining sector on good practices to prevent and deal with the spread of HIV/AIDS (in particular the International Finance Cooperation (IFC) HIV/AIDS guide for the mining sector, and an International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) manual being developed on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis), no truly tripartite guidance exists.

In order to fill this gap and to provide a set of comprehensive and coherent guidance to be used by employers, workers and their representatives, as well as governments, the ILO is currently developing tripartite ILO guidelines on HIV/AIDS for the mining sector, together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE). The guidelines will be based on the ILO code of practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work as well as relevant international labour standards, and will provide specific guidance relevant to the mining sector in a stand-alone format.

Useful links/resources

• ILO code of practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work
  
• IFC HIV/AIDS guide for the mining sector
  

Code of practice on safety and health in underground coalmines

In order to foster the widespread adoption of good safety and health practices, ILO published a code of practice on safety and health in coalmines in 1986. The Governing Body of the ILO decided that it should be revised in view of the considerable changes in the industry, its workforce, as well as significant developments in safety and health standards.

The resulting new Code of practice on safety and health in underground coalmines, reflects all these developments and provides up-to-date guidance to all those concerned with safety and health in coalmining. The code is available in English, French and Spanish. It has also been published in Chinese; translations into Hindi and Polish are forthcoming.

The full text of the code, a two-page overview as well as a short presentation are available here.