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. Fundamental rights of workers – the right-to-know and the right-to-participate in health and safety decisions in the workplace - are important considerations in this regard. Putting reliable, effective and useful information into the hands of workplace participants can lead to intervention measures that can safeguard the health and safety of those occupationally exposed and also of the general public and the environment.

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.
  
• Strengthen the global information networks of the ILO and WHO in the sharing, exchanging and delivering of chemical safety information.
  
• 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.
  
• Promote the establishment of a National SafeWork Programme, including the ratification and implementation of ILO Conventions 170, 174 and 184.
  
• 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 co-operation, etc.
  
• Establish approaches and methods to communicate relevant information from the results of international risk assessment to appropriate workplace participants and stipulate related roles and responsibilities of employers, employees and governments.
  
• 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).