On 3 December 1984, all those working in the chemical industry and those engaged in occupational safety and health throughout the world were shocked by the industrial disaster in Bhopal.
Immediately after the disaster, the ILO started a series of activities in the field of chemical safety. Major outputs of the ILO in this field include the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention (No.174) and its accompanying Recommendation, both adopted in 1993, the code of practice on the Prevention of major industrial accidents and the Major hazard control manual. The Chemicals Convention (No.170) adopted in 1990 and its accompanying Recommendation provide an important basis for a national system for chemical safety. The Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) adopted two years ago is also an outcome which originates from ILO activities started as a follow-up to the Bhopal disaster. Another recent ILO product relevant to the prevention of major accidents is the ILO Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (ILO-OSH 2001). The full application of the guidelines will reinforce prevention programmes at the enterprise level.
On the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, we would like to call for concerted action by governments and employers' and workers' organizations to reinforce national systems for chemical safety and the prevention of major industrial accidents, including full application of the ILO instruments mentioned above.