Chemical Safety in Asia: Law and PracticeChapter 6Future Directions in Occupational Safety and Health |
The future directions in occupational safety and health in Asia have been set by a number of conclusions which were adopted by the Sub-regional Tripartite Seminar on Occupational and Chemical Safety and Health for Selected Asian Countries, held in Bahrain on 10-12 November 1997. These conclusions include the following:
1. The competent authority in each country is called upon to promote interministerial coordination at the national level. This could be done in a number of ways, one of which is the establishment of a national tripartite Committee or Council on "Occupational Safety and Health and the Environment". The composition of this body should include the Ministries of Labour, Health, Environment, Agriculture, Industry and others concerned, as well as representatives from the employers' and workers' organizations and non-governmental organizations. Such coordination would avoid overlap of legislations enacted at the national level and would facilitate the adaptation of national legislations with international instruments.
2. The Ministries of Labour of the ILO member States are invited to review, in consultation with other government Ministries and agencies, and with the most representative employers' and workers' organizations, the occupational safety and health Conventions with the view of ensuring their application and subsequent ratification. Attention is particularly drawn to Conventions such as the:
3. The Asian countries need to develop and promote a regional mechanism for the exchange of information in occupational safety and health and to sustain the cooperation in training and research in the field. Such mechanism could be achieved through the creation of an information centre connected with the occupational safety and health authority in each country and to coordinate activities with other similar national centres in other countries. Inter-regional cooperation between Asian countries could be further enhanced by the organization of joint seminars, training and research activities in the field of occupational safety and health.
4. Asian countries should cooperate in the development and production of a directory of available Asian resources in the field of occupational safety and health. This could include lists of consultants, institutions and bodies, as well as current research activities in each country.
5. Attention should be paid to the safety and health of migrant workers given the heavy reliance of the Gulf States on labour force from other Asian countries. In
addition to the need of joint cooperation in the field of socio-labour affairs, use could be made of a number of ILO Resolutions and principles on this topic.
6. The competent authorities in the Asian countries are urged to:
- support and promote training programmes on the application of the Chemical Safety and the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Conventions for government officials, including inspectors, employers and workers;
- establish and strengthen chemical safety units within the Ministry of Labour and within the overall framework of other national committees or relevant bodies;
- promote the provisions of other internationally-known instruments related to chemical safety such as the Basel Convention and the UNEP/FAO Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure in conjunction with ILO Conventions relating to chemicals and the prevention of major industrial accidents.
7. Employers' and workers' organizations are urged to establish their own occupational safety and health entities and to recruit qualified occupational safety and health personnel. The establishment of joint employers/workers bodies is also called for in order to promote cooperation in this field for the purpose of promoting the employers' responsibility and the workers' duties and rights in occupational safety and health.
8. Factory inspectorates are urged to extend their role so as to include advisory and training services. This should include close cooperation with employers' and workers' organizations and all non-governmental organizations and bodies concerned with the field.
9. Social security institutions are urged to provide or support occupational safety and health services to enterprises in the form of training on accident prevention programmes as this will reflect a considerable reduction in compensation payments, in addition to the saving of human suffering and the promotion of quality products with a subsequent positive contribution to the national economy and output.
10. The cooperation between the ILO, the ALO and the Executive Bureau of the GCC in occupational safety and health should be maintained and further strengthened. This cooperation could take the form of the organization of joint training and research activities and exchange programmes.
11. The ILO is expected to support the efforts of its constituents in Asia which aim at the promotion of national and inter-regional activities in occupational safety and health. This support could take the form of strengthened technical cooperation, exchange of information and the organization of regional meetings and seminars.
12. Occupational safety and health, and chemical safety in particular, should be promoted at the national level among students who constitute the future labour force. This necessitates the introduction of these subjects in the education curricula as a mandatory subject. Based on experience, high school students are well prepared to pursue and assimilate a course in general chemical safety since they would have already completed the necessary science and mathematical skills. Such a course would cover an overview of chemicals and their significance to life, their potential effects on workers, the public and the environment, safety in their use and the control of exposure to their hazardous effects. It may be noted that the ILO, within the framework of its Action Programme on Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work which was implemented during 1996-97, has developed a text which is aimed at high school students and which is based on the scope described above. It may also be noted that the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) referred to in previous chapters has also provided a draft for a similar text.
13. Given the ILO's role in promoting occupational safety and health at the national and regional levels, the West Asian constituents have expressed the dire need to strengthen the ILO's occupational safety and health capabilities in this region in a manner similar to its activities and programmes in other regions.
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