Safety and health in the use of agrochemicals: A guide

The information in the present guide will be of value to those directly engaged in the handling and use of agrochemicals. Emphasis has been laid extensively on safe handling and use, and on practical measures to be taken to avoid undue consequences. The guide is intended for use as a training aid in ILO technical co-operation projects to encourage action at national level.

Instructional material | 01 January 1991
In 1990, with a view to reducing the incidence of chemically induced illnesses and injuries at work, the International Labour Conference adopted the Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work Convention (No. 170), and Recommendation (No. 177). As one of its actions to promote the implementation of ILO standards on safety in the use of chemicals – including agrochemicals – at national level, the International Labour Office is preparing a training manual on the safe use of chemicals at the workplace. It has also embarked upon the task of providing basic guidelines on safety and health in the use of agrochemicals – in the recognition that agrochemicals will continue to be used in large quantities world-wide in the years to come and that an estimated 2 million people annually are poisoned by pesticides, of whom some 40,000 die. This book is the outcome of that project.

Training activities within technical co-operation programmes are carried out through existing national infrastructures – government authorities, employers and workers and their organisations – to ensure tripartite involvement in promoting safety and health in agriculture. Thus the guide will be complementary to the activities of other international agencies that contribute to safe working conditions in agriculture such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).