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The 18th Meeting of the IPCS ICSC Peer Review Group was hosted by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health on 7-11 April 1997 in Helsinki. Twenty-six specialists from 18 national specialized institutions from Europe, Asia and North America, as well as from WHO and ILO went through the process of updating about 150 ICSCs. The Group, which meets twice a year, is currently devoting its efforts on updating all the cards originally prepared in 1992 and 1993, as the first step in the planned publication of a new 3volume edition in English of all the existing ICSCs by mid-1998.

The IPCS context

The IPCS, established in 1980, is a joint scientific and technical programme of the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Office (ILO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). One of the main objectives of the IPCS is to carry out and disseminate evaluations of the hazards posed by chemicals to human health and the environment.

The International Chemical Safety Cards project is carried out in the context of the cooperation between the IPCS and the Commission of the European Union (CEU). The ILO provides staff time and resources to manage the project. The Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs of the CEU participates, and contributes financially and technically, in this IPCS activity which is directly related to the protection of workers and is of relevance in the framework of the Health and Safety at Work and Toxicology Programmes of the European Union.

The ICSCs summarize essential health and safety information on chemical substances in a clear way and are intended for use at the shop-floor level by workers, and by those responsible for safety and health in factories, agriculture, construction and any other places of work. They are also designed for use by the employer when undertaking his duty of providing information and instruction to his workers. The ICSCs have a special role to play in this respect in small and medium-sized enterprises.

To a large extent, the information provided in the ICSCs conforms to the 1990 ILO Convention (No. 170) and Recommendation (No. 174) on safety in the use of chemicals at work, and to the EU Directive 91/155/EEC as amended by the Directive 93/112/EC. However, it must be emphasized that the ICSCs have no legal status and should rather be seen as an international reference with respect to chemical safety information. In addition, they may not reflect in all cases all the detailed requirements included in national legislation on the subject. The user should therefore verify compliance of the Cards with the relevant detailed requirements in the country of use.

The ICSCs are prepared through an ongoing process of drafting and peer-reviewing by scientists from specialized institutions designated by the Member States who contribute to the work of the IPCS. This process takes also account of the advice provided by manufacturers, workers' and employers' organizations, as well as Poison Control Centres and other national, regional and international institutions specialized in chemical safety, toxicology and medicine. In addition, the CEU and a number of national institutions are involved in the translation of the ICSCs into different languages.

ICSCs are created and updated using a microcomputer software designed by NIOSH (USA) which allow the selection of appropriate phrases from a standard phrases library. Each standard phrase is linked to the relevant parts of an integrated Compiler's Guide designed to facilitate the selection process. Once the standard phrases in English are translated into a specific language and included in the computer programme, the system can automatically translate all the English ISCSs to that language.

The Standard Phrase Library exists now in many languages such as English, French, Finnish, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Swahili. In all, it has already been translated in 30 languages and others are being added or considered. National Institutions which accept to translate the Cards are given the copyright to their translated version of the ICSCs. The EU and IPCS hold the rights to the English version of the cards and standard phrases which are the reference set for any translation in an other language.

Until 1995, the ICSCs have been disseminated mainly in the form of Series (about 100 cards per series) published by the European Union. The International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS) of the ILO has also distributed the cards through its technical cooperation activities in Asia and Africa. For example, the ILO has financed the translation of about 1,000 ICSCs in Swahili and is supporting the translation of the Standard phrases in Cinghalese. The cards are also available in English on a number of CD-ROM publications. Finally the cards can be found on the Internet in Japanese and will soon be available in English and other languages, such as French and Spanish. Currently, a computer programme designed to allow browsing and printing of all the cards should be made available before the end of 1997 to facilitate the use of the ICSCs by small and medium-sized enterprises as a reference to produce chemical safety cards for their own products.

Isaac Obadia
Occupational Safety and Health Branch
International Labour Office
1211 Geneva 22
Switzerland

Updated by PAP/SUT/TRS. Approved by BKL. Last updated on 19 January 2001