ILO, OECD and UNEP/FAO Chemical Safety Activities: A Comparative AnalysisChapter IIIDescription of Instruments |
ILO Convention concerning Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work, 1990 (No. 170) and Recommendation concerning Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work, 1990 (No. 177).
The purpose of Convention No. 170, adopted by the International Labour Conference (77th Session, 1990), is to protect workers against the risks associated with the use of chemicals at their workplace. It applies to all branches of economic activity in which chemicals are used. It covers all chemicals without exception and provides for specific measures in respect of hazardous chemicals. The Convention sets out the responsibilities of competent authorities, suppliers of chemicals, employers and workers. It requires ratifying States - in consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers and other interested parties who may be affected - to formulate, implement and periodically review a coherent policy on safety in the use of chemicals at work. It gives the competent authority the power to prohibit or restrict the use of certain chemicals or to require advance notification and authorization before use.
The Convention also requires that classification systems be established. In addition, it states that all chemicals should be marked to indicate their identity and that hazardous chemicals should be labelled so as to provide essential information on their classification, their hazards and safety precautions to be observed. It also requires that chemical safety data sheets for hazardous chemicals be provided to employers. Chemical suppliers are responsible for ensuring that chemicals have been classified, marked and labelled and have chemical safety data sheets.
Employers have the responsibility to ensure that chemicals used at work are labelled and marked and that chemical safety data sheets have been made available to workers. They are required to ensure that workers are not exposed to chemicals to an extent which exceeds exposure limits, and that they assess, monitor, record the exposure of workers, and make an assessment of the risks arising from the use of chemicals and protect workers by appropriate means. They are responsible for informing workers of the hazards associated with chemicals in the workplace and for providing appropriate education and training to workers.
Workers are to cooperate as closely as possible with their employers in the discharge of their duties and comply with practices relating to safety in the use of chemicals at work. They have the right to remove themselves from danger when they have reasonable justification to believe there is an imminent and serious risk to their safety or health. They have the right to the information on chemicals required by the Convention.
Finally, the Convention establishes a responsibility on exporting States. In this regard, Article 19 states that when, in an exporting member State, all or some uses of hazardous chemicals are prohibited for reasons of safety and health at work, this fact and the reasons for it shall be communicated by the exporting member State to any importing country.
The Recommendation provides additional details together with guidelines on how the principles of the Convention should be translated into national legislation. Detailed information concerning the adoption of the Convention and Recommendation is given in Provisional Record Nos. 24 and 30 of the International Labour Conference (77th Session, 1990).
ILO Convention concerning the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents 1993 (No. 174) and Recommendation concerning the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents, 1993 (No. 181).
The purpose of the Convention, adopted by the International Labour Conference (80th Session, 1993), is to protect workers, the public and the environment against the risk of major industrial accidents. It requires ratifying States - in consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers and other interested parties who may be affected - to formulate, implement and periodically review, a coherent national policy for the protection of workers, the public and the environment against the risk of major accidents. This policy should be implemented through preventive and protective measures for major hazard installations and, where practicable, it should promote the use of the best available safety technologies. Competent authorities are tasked with establishing a system for the identification of major hazard installations.
Employers are required to identify any major hazardous installation within their control: to notify the competent authority and to maintain a major hazard control system including provision for the identification of hazards and assessment of risks; technical measures such as design and safety systems; organizational steps such as staff training, emergency plans and procedures, and measures to limit the consequences of a major accident. They also are required to prepare a safety report based on the above-mentioned requirements and review, update and amend the report according to certain standards. Employers also are required to inform the competent authorities of all major accidents and prepare detailed reports of the accident.
With respect to the responsibilities of competent authorities, they are required to ensure that emergency plans and procedures containing provisions for the protection of the public and the surrounding environment are established. They are also required to establish a public information and warning system, and a siting policy, with appropriate separation from major hazard installations and populated areas. They are required to have properly qualified and trained staff to carry out their responsibilities and to inspect, investigate, assess and advise on matters.
The Convention also sets out the rights and duties of workers and their representatives. They shall be consulted to ensure a safe system of work, including having adequate information about the hazards, recommendations made by authorities and be consulted in the preparation of reports and emergency plans. They shall be regularly trained and have the right to interrupt an activity where they have reasonable justification to believe there is an imminent danger of a major accident.
Article 22 states that the Convention also establishes the responsibilities of exporting states "When, in an exporting member State, the use of hazardous substances, technologies or processes is prohibited as a potential source of a major accident, the information on this prohibition and the reasons for it shall be made available by the exporting member State to any importing country".
The accompanying Recommendation calls for an international exchange of information, in cooperation with other international inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, related to mechanisms used for implementing the Convention, good safety practices, major accidents and techniques for dealing with accidents. In addition, the information exchange should include technologies and processes that are prohibited for reasons of safety and health.
The Recommendation further states that the national policy used to implement the Convention should be guided by the related ILO Code of Practice. Recognizing that a major accident could have a serious impact on health and the environment, it calls on countries to promote systems to compensate workers as quickly as possible and address adequately the effects of the public and the environment. Finally, it states that enterprises with more than one establishment should provide equivalent safety measures in all establishments.
There are several other ILO instruments of interest to the field of chemical safety. These include the Convention concerning Protection against Hazards of Poisoning arising from Benzene, 1971 (No. 136) and its accompanying Recommendation, 1971 (No. 144). The Convention states that whenever less harmful substitute products are available they should be used instead of benzene. Furthermore, the use of benzene is prohibited in certain work processes to be specified by national law, including the use of benzene as a solvent or diluent unless in a closed or similar system. Additional provision is made for measures to be taken to ensure protection of workers exposed to benzene. In addition, all necessary measures shall be taken to prevent the escape of benzene vapour and to limit the concentration of benzene in the air in places of employment. The Convention also calls for appropriate personal protection against skin contact and for regular medical examinations. Its accompanying Recommendation includes a series of technical measures for the prevention of hazards and for occupational hygiene to protect workers from benzene poisoning.
Other instruments of interest include the Convention concerning Prevention and Control of Occupational Hazards caused by Carcinogenic Substances and Agents, 1974 (No. 139); and the Convention concerning the Protection of Workers against Occupational Hazards in the Working Environment due to Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration, 1977 (No. 148).
In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention (No. 155) and its accompanying Recommendation, 1981 (No. 164) provides a framework in the area of occupational safety and health, providing for the adoption of a national occupational safety and health policy and describing the actions needed at the national and enterprise levels to promote occupational safety and health and to improve the working environment. The Occupational Health Services Convention (No. 161) and its accompanying Recommendation, 1985 (No. 171) provide for the establishment of occupational health services to contribute to the implementation of the occupational safety and health policy.
As indicated, there are twenty-one OECD Council Acts relating to chemical safety. Although the Acts are not officially categorized, most can be divided into four general categories:
There is one Council Act that does not fit within the four categories described above, i.e., Recommendation concerning Information Exchange related to the Export of Banned or Severely Restricted Chemicals [C/84/37/Final]. This is unique in that the focus is on assisting primarily non-OECD countries in their management of chemicals. As described below, the importance of this Act is based on the fact that through the OECD effort the major exporting countries were able to agree on a framework for action, setting the stage for the development of the London Guidelines. However, this Act has been effectively superseded by UNEP and FAO efforts in this field.
There was also a couple of Council Acts dealing with pollution prevention and control, which are somewhat related to the work on chemicals. The first Act, Recommendation on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control [C90/164/Final/1991], recommends that member countries practise life-cycle management, taking into account the effects of activities and substances on the environment as a whole and the whole commercial and environmental life cycles of substances when undertaking assessments and implementing controls. In this regard, it recommends that countries take into account the guidance which is part of the Act. The second Act related to pollution prevention and control, Recommendation on Implementing Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers [C/96/41/Final/1996], recommends that member countries establish, implement and make publicly available a pollutant release and transfer register, in accordance with the OECD Guidance to Governments.
At the outset, the OECD Chemicals Group concentrated on the investigation of chemicals which were unduly persistent in a biologically active form, were widely distributed through air, water or the food chain, and/or were accumulated or transformed in exposed organisms. As a result, in 1973, the Council adopted a Decision restricting the use of PCBs (which was superseded by the 1987 Act) and a Recommendation on measures to reduce emissions of mercury to the environment.
In the last several years, the OECD Chemicals Programme has undertaken new work on reducing the risk of specific chemicals or groups of chemicals. While this work has emphasized the sharing of information on management of chemicals, a number of countries volunteered to take the lead in reviewing and analysing national experience in risk reduction on selected chemicals or groups of chemicals. This included the identification of possible further national or international risk reduction activities. It led to the 1996 Council Resolution(Endnote 1) concerning the Declaration on Risk Reduction for Lead.
Specifically, the Council Acts in this category would include:
This Act recommends that member countries accept, to the largest extent possible, the proposed system of testing related to the determination of the biodegradability of anionic synthetic surface active agents.
This Act calls on member countries to reduce all man-made emissions of mercury to the environment to the lowest possible levels.
In this Act, member countries agree to apply controls on PCBs throughout their life cycle. In effect, member countries decided to ban all new uses of PCBs as of 1 January 1989 (including articles containing PCBs and equipment requiring the use of PCBs). For existing uses of PCBs, member countries agreed to apply appropriate controls in order to prevent fires involving PCBs or other releases of PCBs into the environment. It was further recommended that member countries take steps to accelerate the withdrawal of PCBs from use and take action to control contamination and to ensure the appropriate disposal of waste containing PCBs.
This Resolution takes note of the Declaration on Risk Reduction for lead, adopted at the Ministerial Level Meeting of the EPOC. It invites the Secretary-General of the OECD to bring the Declaration to the attention of non-OECD countries and international bodies. It also, inter alia, instructs the EPOC to develop a framework for cooperation among industries in implementing a voluntary programme for risk reduction on lead.
The Ministerial Declaration states that the Governments of the OECD countries will "develop, continue or strengthen, as appropriate, national and cooperative efforts considered necessary to reduce risks from exposure to lead ..." Furthermore, the Governments agreed to "give highest priority to actions which address the risk of exposure from food and beverages, water, air, occupational exposure and other potential pathways in accordance with Annex 1"; and to review lead levels in the environment and exposure of sensitive or high risk populations, the latter including certain groups of workers. The Declaration also states that the OECD countries will extend cooperative efforts to share, including with non-OECD countries, information about exposures, risk reduction options and technologies to reduce, and to encourage industries to make best use of their expertise on management of risks and make expertise available to all countries. The Declaration invites non-member countries to implement the measures in the Declaration, invites standard organizations to develop or modify international standards, testing procedures and product definitions to reduce the release of lead, and invites other international organizations to take the declaration into consideration in their work.
In the mid-1970s, several countries were developing policies for the routine scrutiny of chemicals before marketing or manufacture. At the same time, there was concern that differing national policies might result in distortions in trade. Furthermore, there was a recognition that consistent policies could lead to the reduction in duplicative efforts. Therefore, OECD work moved away from the management of risks of specific chemicals to the development of policies and instruments to support more broadly based approaches to chemicals control.
Council Acts in this category would include:
This Act recommends that member countries make all efforts to ensure that the potential effects of chemicals and chemical products are assessed prior to marketing. In this regard, member countries should agree to develop procedures to assess the potential effect. The intent of the Recommendation is to encourage concerted approaches in member countries towards the prevention of unintentional effects of chemicals.
This Act recommends that member countries take into account the guidance set out in the Act in the national procedures for anticipating the effects of chemicals. The guidance is primarily directed towards new chemicals and seeks to identify the health and environmental hazards of the chemical and its likely exposure.
This Act also seeks to improve concerted action on chemicals and to utilise resources more effectively by setting the stage for acceptance in one country, of data generated in other countries. This is based on establishing the confidence that such data is valid. By this Act, member countries agree to accept data generated in other countries, for purposes of assessment and protection of health and the environment, if the data is generated in accordance with the OECD Test Guidelines and the OECD Principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). The Test Guidelines and GLP Principles, which are set forth in annexes, are recommended for use by member countries.
This Act calls for sufficient information on the properties of new chemicals to be available in member countries before marketing to ensure that a meaningful assessment of hazards to health and the environment can be carried out. It recommends a minimum pre-marketing set of data which can serve as a basis for the first assessment (with flexible application). The categories of "Data Components" in the minimum pre-marketing set of data include: chemical identification data; production/use/disposal data; recommended precautions and emergency measures; analytical methods; physical/chemical data; acute toxicity data; repeated dose toxicity data; mutagenicity data; ecotoxicity data; and degradation/accumulation data.
Another group of Council Acts facilitate international cooperation in the testing and assessment of chemicals (including facilitating exchange of confidential data). The initial group of Acts seek to have countries share national experience, whereas the later acts reflect concerted efforts on the part of OECD countries to "share the burden" of addressing the large quantity of existing chemicals for which further information gathering, testing and/or assessment is needed.
The Council Acts in this category include:
This Decision is described in the previous section.
This Recommendation calls on authorities to ensure that the notifiers of new chemicals have the right to use the data submitted or else not accept the data.
This Act strives to help avoid duplication of effort in developing data on chemicals. It recommends that member countries take steps which will allow for exchange of confidential data and sets out suggested principles to govern the exchange of confidential data among member countries. The Council Act is limited to the exchange of information among competent authorities and limited to information to facilitate the hazard assessment of chemicals.
This Recommendation sets out a list of specific types of data which should be disclosed and exchanged for purposes of assessment and other uses relating to the protection of health and environment. The list of information, which should be considered non-confidential (i.e., not subject to restriction on the exchange between governments, nor on disclosure to the public) includes, inter alia:
This Act was prepared in response to the need to identify, assess and control select existing chemicals on a more anticipatory and systematic basis and the need for shared and coordinated efforts in order to more effectively protect health and the environment from the potential hazards of existing chemicals. Therefore, member countries agreed to strengthen national programmes to systematically investigate existing chemicals in order to identify those chemicals which need to be managed or controlled. It further sets out, and recommends the use of, guidance on selection criteria for health and environmental purposes and guidelines for preparing chemical reviews. It should be noted that in the guidance for priority setting, one of the bases is workplace exposure.
This Act has several objectives which include: ensuring that test data is of high quality, valid and reliable; and minimising duplicative testing of chemicals (through mutual acceptance of data). As such, it serves to facilitate implementation of the Decision concerning the Mutual Acceptance of Data [C/81/30/Final] described above. It establishes that countries which have laboratories that test chemicals in accordance with the Principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), based on Decision [C/81/30], shall establish procedures for monitoring compliance. It also sets out the basis for member countries to recognize the assurance by another member country that test data has been generated in accordance with GLP, and sets out "Guides for Compliance Monitoring Procedures for GLP" and "Guidance for the Conduct of Laboratory Inspections and Study Audits."
This Council Act establishes the cooperative effort among member countries to investigate high production volume (existing) chemicals in order to identify those which are potentially hazardous to the environment and/or the health of the general public or workers. This cooperative effort involves the selection of chemicals, the acquisition of an agreed-upon basic data set and making an initial assessment of the potential hazards of each chemical. The Act also recommends that further cooperative activities be undertaken to: e.g. develop more in-depth assessments of those chemicals found to be potentially hazardous and to address non-HPV chemicals of concern. As part of the Act, member countries agreed to share, worldwide, the information on the chemicals investigated via the IRPTC and invited the IPCS to use the results of the investigations. The Act also contains provisions relating to the reduction of risks, calling on member countries to strengthen national programmes aimed at reduction of risk from existing chemicals to the environment or health of the public or workers. It calls on member countries to collaborate in the development of criteria to determine which chemicals are suitable candidates for concerted risk reduction actions and to take concerted regulatory or non-regulatory action to reduce the risks of selected chemicals taking into account the full life cycle of the chemicals.
As part of the OECD Chemical Accidents Programme, four Council Acts have been issued:
By this Act, member countries agreed, inter alia, to consult and exchange information in order to prevent accidents which are capable of causing transfrontier damage, and reduce damage should an accident occur. An appendix sets out procedures for implementing the Decision. Consistent with the scope of the OECD work on chemical accidents, the Act defines "hazardous installation" to include those industrial installations capable of causing serious damage to human health or the environment, including property, outside the installation site ..."
It should be pointed out that the provisions of this Council Act have been incorporated into the UN/ECE Convention on Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents.
By this Act, member countries agreed to provide information to the potentially affected public including information on actions to be taken in the event of an accident as well as general information concerning the nature and potential effects of possible accidents at a hazardous installation. The Act also recommends that countries take action to facilitate public participation. An appendix contains guidance for the implementation of the Decision-Recommendation.
This Act establishes the principle that the Polluter Pays Principle should be applied as far as possible in connection with accidental pollution and, in this regard, recommends use of guiding principles set out in an Appendix.
This Act recommends, inter alia, that countries establish or strengthen national programmes for chemical accident prevention, preparedness and response. In so doing, the Act recommends that member countries take into account the Guiding Principles for Chemical Accident Prevention, Preparedness and Response, the Executive Summary of which is appended to the Recommendation. The Act also recommends that member countries promote the wide dissemination and use of the Guiding Principles and support their application in non-OECD countries. It also instructed the Secretary-General to facilitate the wide distribution of the Guiding Principles worldwide, and invited other international organizations to use and disseminate the Guiding Principles.
The Guiding Principles set out comprehensive guidance related to the roles and responsibilities of public authorities, industry, labour and other interested parties in the range of activities involved with accident prevention, preparedness and response at fixed installations (including for example, establishment of a control framework, planning and construction of installations, operations, safety performance and evaluation, siting, community awareness and emergency preparedness planning and accident response). [Thus, the Guiding Principles cover basically the same issues as ILO Convention No. 174 and its related guidance materials.]
The OECD Guiding Principles also include a section on bilateral and multilateral technical and financial assistance. UNEP IE has prepared supplemental text, being distributed in conjunction with the Guiding Principles, outlining the responsibilities of stakeholders in countries receiving technology or investments.
The growth in world trade in chemicals, and the increasing concern about the risks of hazardous chemicals, lead to the development of the FAO international Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides in 1985 ("FAO Code"), and of the UNEP London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in International Trade in 1987 ("London Guidelines"). These two voluntary instruments contain information exchange procedures in assisting countries to increase chemical safety by providing notices of control actions taken by other countries to ban or severely restrict chemicals for health or environmental reasons. The London Guidelines and FAO Code also call on countries exporting chemicals banned or severely restricted for domestic use to provide information to importing countries.
These two instruments were expanded in 1989 to include the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. PIC is the principle that a chemical banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasons should not be shipped in international trade without the agreement of the importing country. The two instruments set out a procedure which helps importing countries learn more about the characteristics of potentially hazardous chemicals that may be shipped to them, and to initiate a process to formally inform other countries of decisions on whether to allow the import of such chemicals in the future. The overall aim is to promote shared responsibility between exporting and importing countries in protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of certain hazardous chemicals being traded internationally. The PIC procedure seeks to improve chemical safety, recognizing the limitations of some countries as not having sufficient legal/regulatory systems or the financial or human resources to implement systems to gather information and implement informed decisions concerning the use of chemicals in their national situation. PIC assists importing countries by highlighting those chemicals which may be of concern, due to actions taken by other countries, thus providing a basis to focus limited resources on those chemicals of potentially great risk. The PIC procedure then provides basic information about these chemicals, and establishes the means for obtaining further information needed for making health and environmental decisions about future use of the chemical. It also provides a means to disseminate these decisions to other countries and encourages exporting countries to take measures to ensure that unwanted exports do not occur.
Chemicals are included in the PIC procedure based on the fact that they have been the subject of a control action in some country or countries to ban or severely restrict them due to health or environmental reasons. Furthermore, certain pesticide formulations are included where there is evidence of serious risk to human health under conditions of use in developing countries.
Work is underway, as a joint effort of UNEP and FAO, in cooperation with other organizations, to establish the PIC procedure in a legally binding instrument. In November 1994, the FAO Council agreed that the FAO Secretariat should proceed with the preparation of a draft PIC convention, as part of the FAO/UNEP programme on PIC and in cooperation with other international and non-governmental organizations concerned. The May 1995 Session of the UNEP Governing Council authorized the UNEP Executive Director to prepare and convene, together with the FAO, and in consultation with governments and other relevant international organizations, an intergovernmental negotiating committee with a mandate to prepare an international legally binding instrument for the application of the PIC procedure.
The first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee took place in March in Brussels and the second session took place in September 1996 in Nairobi. It was expected that negotiations would be concluded in 1997.
UNEP was also invited by its Governing Council in 1995 to convene a Government-designated group of experts to consider whether further measures were needed to reduce the risks from a limited number of hazardous chemicals, and requested the Executive Director to report thereon to the Council at its 19th Session (January/February 1997). The group of experts met in April 1996 in Copenhagen and adopted a number of recommendations for submission to the Governing Council.
Endnote 1:
Resolutions are another action which can be taken by Council. Whereas Decisions and Recommendations call on countries to take action, Resolutions focus on actions to be taken within the OECD. In this case actions are to be taken by the Environment Policy Committee to support member countries in the implementation of the Declaration on Lead which was adopted by the Committee meeting at Ministerial Level.
Endnote 2:
A Resolution is an action which can be taken by Council; it can be distinguished from Decisions and Recommendations in that Resolutions call for action by the OECD whereas Decisions and Recommendations call for action by member countries (although they may also contain a call for action by the OECD).
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