Strengthening Regional and National Capacities For Implementing the Globally Harmonized System for Chemical Classification and Labelling (GHS) GHS Implementation: A Labour Perspective Reg Green International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions

▪ The workers most likely to have the least protection against chemical hazards are overwhelmingly those living in countries that do not have a comprehensive chemical classification and labelling system. ▪ The situation is unlikely to change very much unless countries without such systems are encouraged to adopt and implement the GHS. ▪ The GHS system falls into the category of necessary but not sufficient for ensuring chemical safety. It will also be very important to establish and promote the necessary laws and infrastructures to support the GHS. ▪ The GHS system is coherent with and provides support for the principles elaborated in the ILO Convention on Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work (C.170) and its accompanying Recommendation (R.177). Some preliminary observations

What are the responsibilities and where do they lie? ▪It is governments that have the duty to protect their citizens and it is employers that have the responsibility for ensuring that their activities, products and processes do not cause harm to workers or the outer environment. ▪ Initially, external support will be necessary for many governments. Ultimately implementation of the GHS at national level must become a self- financed permanent commitment and part of the government reporting process should be to indicate steps being taken to ensure that this happens and the extent to which it is succeeding. ▪ An important indication of the degree of commitment to the GHS on the part of governments will be the extent to which workers and their trade unions are involved.

Worker and trade union involvement …duties of workers ▪ co-operate as closely as possible with their employers in the discharge by the employers of their responsibilities and comply with all procedures and practices relating to safety in the use of chemicals at work. ▪ take all reasonable steps to eliminate or minimise risk to themselves and to others from the use of chemicals at work.

Worker and trade union involvement …rights of workers ▪ the right to remove themselves from danger resulting from the use of chemicals when they have reasonable justification to believe there is an imminent and serious risk to their safety or health, and to inform their supervisor immediately. ▪ The right to be protected against undue consequences where they remove themselves from danger in accordance with the provisions of the previous paragraph or where they exercise any other rights under the Convention

Worker and trade union involvement …rights of workers and their representatives ▪ information on the identity of chemicals used at work, the hazardous properties of such chemicals, precautionary measures, education and training; ▪ the information contained in labels and markings; ▪ chemical safety data sheets; ▪ any other information required to be kept by this Convention.

The GHS and national level coordination ▪ Development of the GHS was largely a top-down approach involving those already knowledgeable about sophisticated chemical classification and labelling programmes. For the GHS to succeed in developing countries and countries in transition however, it needs to have a large bottom-up component. ▪ At national level there should be a GHS coordinating body to bring together representatives of all those with an interest in promoting chemical safety – government ministries and agencies, emergency services and safety inspectorates, employers organisations, trade unions, consumer and environmental organisations, insurance companies, financial institutions, etc. ▪ Countries should identify suitable indicators against which to bench mark their progress and this information should be made available on a regular basis to UNITAR and ILO in order for them to develop a global picture and identify needs and priorities around the world.

Effectiveness ▪ Coordination should be as transparent and efficient at possible. It should not be overly bureaucratic, but it should enable all concerned to be assured that activities are delivering what they promise. ▪ Failure to do this will almost certainly result in donor ‘fatigue’ and stakeholder disillusion.

Conclusions ▪ The proposed activities will require the commitment of sufficient initial donor funding and the commitment of participating governments to the development of long-term self-financing for the management of the GHS and chemical safety more broadly. ▪ Chemical safety requires permanent commitment from all stakeholders together with the development of the necessary structures and well defined rights and responsibilities. ▪ The development and implementation of appropriate worker education and training programmes will be a crucial component if the proposed activities are to be effective and future chemical safety maximised

Conclusions (Cont) ▪ The ICEM looks forward to working with the ILO, its tripartite constituents and UNITAR in order to promote the widest possible adoption of the GHS and the ILO Chemical Safety Convention.