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IFCS Occupational Health and Safety

Programme Area C: Information Exchange on
Toxic Chemicals and Chemical Risks

The populations involved and the characteristics associated with chemical exposures in the workplace present challenges and opportunities which demand special attention for effective information exchange on toxic chemicals and chemical risks. More details about Programme Area C .

This initial listing of selected resources has been compiled by an IFCS Champion Work Group on OSH. It is intended to provide information and guidance. The mention of specific resources or their producers does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

There are many interlinkages between the recommendations, thus the resources listed in many cases support several recommendations, although listed only under one. Unless otherwise indicated, the resources list are available only in English.

Suggestions of additional resources for listing on the website may be submitted to the IFCS Secretariat. Please indicate the programme(s) and specific recommendation(s) that the resource supports.

Worldwide Initiatives

Recommended action items:

Establish a means of developing and updating internationally evaluated sources of information on chemicals in the workplace by intergovernmental organizations, in forms and languages suitable for use by workplace participants.
Make the information on workplace chemicals from intergovernmental organizations readily and conveniently available to employers, employees and governments.
    • International Chemical Safety Cards
      International Chemical Safety Cards provide essential health and safety information on chemicals to promote their safe use. They are used at the “shop floor” level by workers in employers in factories, agriculture, construction and other workplaces and often form part of education and training activities. ICSCs provide information on the intrinsic hazards of specific chemicals together with first aid and fire-fighting measures, and information about precautions for spillage, disposal, storage, packaging, labelling and transport. Over 1400 ICSCs are available and may be downloaded in English from the web site. The documents may be searched for by ICSC reference number , Chemicals Abstract Service Registry Number (CAS), main name or synonym. They are available in 15 other languages (including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Swahili Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese as well as many European languages).

    • IPCS INCHEM
      IPCS INCHEM provides a means of rapid access to information on chemicals commonly used throughout the world, which may occur as contaminants in the environment.

    • INTOX Databank
      The INTOX Databank is a collection of documents useful to those who work in poisons centres or who are involved in the diagnosis and management of poisoning. The content includes internationally peer-reviewed documents about industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and plant, fungal and animal toxins, and about the treatment of poisoning, analytical toxicology and poisons centre operations.
Facilitate the development and updating of information on workplace chemicals by reliable sources in forms and languages suitable for workplace participants and the ready and convenient access to that information by employers, employees and governments.
    • Control Banding
      Control Banding is a complementary approach to protecting worker health by focusing resources on exposure controls. Since it is not possible to assign a specific Occupational Exposure Limit to every chemical in use, a chemical is assigned to a "band" for control measures, based on its hazard classification according to international criteria, the amount of chemical in use, and its volatility/dustiness.

    • CHE Toxicant and Disease Database
      The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) Toxicant and Disease database (September 2005) summarizes links between chemical contaminants and ~180 human diseases or conditions. The database is designed to reflect the current state of knowledge about toxicants and human disease, organized by disease categories. The database focuses primarily on human epidemiological studies and animal data were included for only a few diseases. The database is searchable by toxicant or by specifying a disease category. Chemicals that have been linked to a condition are placed in one of three categories based on the strength of evidence for the association: strong evidence, good evidence and limited/conflicting evidence. The database is a work in progress. The website describes the significant limitations of the database that are important to keep in mind.

    • The NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (NPG)
      This U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) publication is intended as a source of general industrial hygiene information on several hundred chemicals/classes for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals. The NPG does not contain an analysis of all pertinent data, rather it presents key information and data in abbreviated or tabular form for chemicals or substance groupings (e.g. cyanides, fluorides, manganese compounds) that are found in the work environment. The information found in the NPG should help users recognize and control occupational chemical hazards.
Promote the establishment of a National Safe Work Programme, including the ratification and implementation of ILO Conventions 170, 174 and 184.
    • International Occupational Safety and Health Information Center (CIS)
      CIS is the knowledge management arm of the InFocus Programme on Safety and Health at Work and the Environment (SafeWork). Its goal is to ensure that workers and everyone concerned with their protection have access to the facts they need to prevent occupational injuries and diseases. CIS continuously monitors world literature on occupational safety and health through its contacts with publishers and with 136 focal points ("CIS Centres") at the national or regional level. Summaries and citations of the most useful publications, as well as products based on the collected information, are disseminated electronically and in print. The network of CIS Centres contributes to the exchange of information among persons responsible for the establishment and implementation of national policies and programmes.
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Implement an integrated approach to the safe use of chemicals in the workplace by establishing new mechanisms to expand and update ILO Conventions related to hazardous substances and linking these to various other actions, such as those associated with codes, information dissemination, enforcement, technical cooperation etc.
Establish approaches and methods to communicate relevant information from the results on international risk assessment to appropriate workplace participants and stipulate related roles and responsibilities of employers, employees and governments.
    • International Project Risk Assessment: Methods, Procedures and Critical Factors - John Walewski and G. Edward Gibson, Jr., Center Construction Industries Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
      This document presents the initial findings of the joint Center for Construction Industry Studies (CCIS) and Construction Industry Institute (CII) research investigation of risk assessment procedures for international construction projects. The primary purpose of this research is to better understand and to improve risk identification and assessment techniques for international capital facility projects. This document outlines the findings from these initial tasks and provides guidance for future research activities along with specific insights for project management professionals.
Strengthen chemical safety related information dissemination among social partners and through public media at national and international levels.
Stress the importance of the workers’ right to know in all sectors (formal and informal)
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Selected general references:

CISDOC/CISILO - The CIS Bibliographic Database
The CIS bibliographic database contains about 65,000 citations of documents that deal with occupational accidents and diseases as well as ways of preventing them. The types of documents are: laws and regulations, chemical safety data sheets, training material, articles from periodical publications, books and standards. Every record contains a detailed bibliographic description, a full abstract and indexing descriptors drawn from the CIS Thesaurus. The CISDOC database is updated on a continuous basis.
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Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety (ILO) 2001 - B. O. Alli
This practical guide to the development of effective occupational health and safety policies and programmes focuses on the key topics essential to promoting health and safety in the workplace. It presents a concise overview of the issues involved, together with specific guidelines for policy design and implementation at both national and enterprise levels. The operational aspects of meeting health and safety requirements are also covered, with detailed sections on legislation and enforcement, occupational health surveillance, and preventive and protective measures, as well as health education and training. There is an explanation of the main concepts in occupational health and demonstrates how relevant ILO Conventions and Recommendations define workers' rights and allocate duties and responsibilities to competent authorities, employers and workers. Examples are given of good practice in the surveillance of workers' health and of the working environment, occupational health services, and reduction of the incidence of work-related injuries and diseases. Much practical advice is given to authorities, employers and workers, along with a glossary, a list of related publications and an example of a health and safety policy.

IPCS Chemical Safety Training Modules
The Training Modules on Chemical Safety have been compiled in order to introduce safe use of chemicals at places of work, to present classification systems for the labelling and transport of dangerous goods, to allow the reading and use of chemical safety cards, to give a basic overview of toxicology and to disseminate information on selected, widely used, hazardous substances. It contains material usable in handouts, demonstrations and exercises, as well as slides, colour transparencies and diskettes containing text files and databases.
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CIS Occupational Safety and Health Glossary
ILO - International Occupational Safety and Health Information Center (CIS)
Occupational safety and health is an interdisciplinary field, which uses specialist terms and expressions from subject areas as diverse as engineering, medicine, law, the physical sciences and psychology. This glossary includes terms from all these fields and more. Terms are in five (5) languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Russian.
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