ILO, OECD and UNEP/FAO Chemical Safety Activities: A Comparative AnalysisForeword |
The improvement of working conditions and environment and the well-being of workers is the general objective of the major ILO Programme on Working Conditions and Environment. This Programme covers two main areas namely occupational safety and health, including the dissemination of occupational safety and health information; and conditions of work and welfare facilities. The Programme also has the responsibility for activities relating to the elimination of child labour and to the environment.
The ILO programme of work in chemical safety has been and continues to be the responsibility of the Occupational Safety and Health Branch. As chemicals continue to constitute 80 per cent of all occupational safety and health hazards, chemical safety has been identified by member States as one of the major issues of this decade, and has been given a high priority in the core programme of the ILO in working conditions and environment.
The adoption of the Chemicals Convention (No. 170) and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 177) by the International Labour Conference (ILC) in 1990, along with the entry of the Convention into force in 1992, paved the ground for the establishment of future activities and the re-affirmation of the ILO mandate in this field. The provisions of the Chemicals Convention were translated into practical guidance in the form of a code of practice and a training manual on safety in the use of chemicals at work. The Office has also developed approaches and techniques through the delivery of national and regional training seminars and symposia in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia including the Middle East. Technical cooperation projects helped to establish and strengthen national capacities in the area of chemical safety information in more than 40 African and Asian countries.
Subsequent to the work on chemical safety, the work developed in the field of the prevention of major industrial accidents culminated in the adoption by the ILC of the Convention concerning the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents (No. 174) and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 181) in 1993. In this area, technical cooperation projects were also used to establish major hazard control systems in Asia. A number of training seminars were held in Europe and Asia, including the Middle East and the ILO was requested to provide technical advisory services following major industrial accidents in Senegal and Thailand. Instrumental to these activities was the Code of Practice on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and the Manual on Major Hazard Control.
The chemical safety programme constitutes a major component for action in the overall efforts to improve working conditions and environment. In particular, chemical safety features in all activities aimed at strengthening tripartite safety and health institutions particularly national safety councils. Activities in chemical safety also play a crucial role in the efforts aimed at promoting national action for accident prevention.
Within the framework of the active partnership policy, the implementation of the chemical safety programme is carried out under the following subprogrammes:
As this document aims at facilitating United Nations interagency coordinating mechanisms, it will concentrate on the efforts which address the cooperation with the UN and other agencies.
Given its unique tripartite structure, the ILO occupies a crucial position at the international level. It continues to play a leading role among the UN and other agencies in the general programme on chemical safety, having maintained a high quality caliber of competence and expertise in this field. Such a role has been re-affirmed within the framework of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). In order to maintain such status, the ILO coordinates its work with the work of others within the United Nations system in the following manner:
The IPCS is a joint programme which was established by the WHO, ILO and UNEP in 1980 to implement a number of key chemical safety activities, primarily the evaluation of the effects of chemicals on health and the environment; information which is essential to the safety and health of workers, the general public and the environment. It consists of a Central Unit which is located in the WHO, an Intersecretariat Coordinating Committee (ICC) and a Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) in which an employers' and workers' representative, named by the Governing Body of the ILO, participate. The ILO's input in the work of the IPCS consists of the following main items:
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, endorsed the work of the four sessions of its Preparatory Committee and gave rise to Agenda 21, an action plan for developing the planet sustainably through the twenty-first century. Chapter 19 of Agenda 21 addresses the Environmentally Sound Management of Toxic Chemicals including the Prevention of Illegal International Traffic in Toxic and Dangerous Products. Two essential problems were recognized in this chapter: (i) the lack of sufficient scientific information for the assessment of risks entailed by the use of a great number of chemicals and (ii) the lack of resources for assessing chemicals for which data are at hand. Chapter 19 states that "collaboration on chemical safety between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) should be the nucleus for international cooperation on environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals" and that "cooperation with other programmes such as those of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Communities and other regional and governmental chemical programmes should be promoted". Six programme areas were identified in Chapter 19 as being necessary areas in which to establish and strengthen activities. These are:
The very significant input of the ILO in the drafting of the UNCED Agenda 21, Chapter 19 on environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals was instrumental in ensuring that the tripartite approach to chemical safety was recognized, particularly in the areas of classification and labelling of chemicals and chemical hazard communication and training. In January 1992, a Coordinating Group for the harmonization of chemical classification systems, based on work initiated by the ILO in 1990, was established within the IPCS, with the ILO providing the secretariat for the Group. This Group includes representatives from national, regional and international bodies, as well as representatives from workers' and employers' organizations and non-governmental organizations concerned with public and environmental protection. Under the leadership of the ILO, and based on its report on the Size of the Task of Harmonizing Existing Systems of Classification and Labelling for Hazardous Chemicals issued in November 1992, the Group has elaborated terms of reference and workplans to establish a globally harmonized system by the year 2000 and has started the necessary technical work. The Office has accepted to lead the task of harmonizing classification criteria for physical hazards of chemicals and has already issued a report on the subject which will serve as a basis for further action in the next biennium. Within the framework of our activities which are related to UNCED, the ILO is also involved with the work of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the Interagency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD).
Acting upon UNCED's recommendations, the ILO has played a key role in the ongoing elaboration of a new basis for expanded and strengthened interagency cooperation in chemical safety. The founding organizations cooperating presently in the IPCS, namely the ILO, WHO and UNEP, organized an International Conference on Chemical Safety (ICCS) which was hosted by Sweden in Stockholm in April 1994, as recommended by UNCED. The ILO contributed to preparing this meeting by being very active in the drafting of key conference documents, by hosting a preparatory consultation in December 1993, and providing part of the Conference Secretariat. During its session, the ICCS established itself as the Registrar of the International Forum on Chemical Safety with a mandate to advise international organizations and coordinate action at the national level aimed at implementing the Recommendations of UNCED. Similarly, and in order to strengthen inter-organization cooperation, the WHO, ILO, UNEP, FAO, UNIDO and OECD signed, in March 1995, a Memorandum of Understanding establishing the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC). The impact of the ILO on the IOMC includes the participation in its Inter-Organization Coordinating Committee and the preparation of workplans and documents for the IFCS. The ILO also manages the harmonization of systems of classification and labelling of chemicals within the IOMC.
In collaboration with UNEP, the ILO has been carrying out a series of activities in the field of chemical safety as well as in the general area of training. Since well-managed safety and health programmes can make an important contribution to the protection of the general environment, our collaboration with UNEP has further strengthened. In the field of chemical safety, our activities with UNEP are conducted under the following headings:
In the field of chemical safety, our collaboration with WHO continues with the Programme on Chemical Safety and with their Environmental Health Department.
Ongoing work in the field of chemical safety involves continuous collaboration with the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE); the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UNCETDG); the Organization for Economic and Cooperative Development (OECD); the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW); and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
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