Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

Manual 5:PESTICIDES AND HEALTH,SAFETY & THE ENVIRONMENTNational Profile to Assess the National Infrastructurefor Management of ChemicalsThrough the IFCS, all countries have been encouraged to assess theirexisting infrastructure and capabilities for managing chemicals throughpreparation of a National Profile to Assess the National Infrastructure forManagement of Chemicals. It should involve and reflect the views andconcerns of the different stakeholders (interested parties) including tradeunions.A standardised format and guidance on how to prepare the Profiles hasbeen developed by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research(UNITAR).The preparation of a National Profile, which highlights chemicalmanagement priorities and areas of need as identified at the country level,can provide a good starting point for the development of a national actionprogramme for integrated chemical management – linking occupationalhealth and safety with public/community health and environmentalconcerns. A participatory, multi-stakeholder process can set the stage forcollaborative action among all concerned parties to strengthen chemicalsmanagement.As part of the IUF’s HS&E/Global Pesticides Project, IUF affiliatedagricultural trade unions in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda have beenparticipating in the preparation of National Profiles in their own countries.The unions want to ensure that the Profiles reflect the problems faced byagricultural workers using or exposed to pesticides, and set priorities anddevelop action programmes to deal with the problems identified.National Profiles are publicly available on the UNITAR web page, plus oncompact disk, allowing comparison of chemical management systems indifferent countries http://www.unitar.org/cwm/nationalprofilesCollectivebargainingOften the bargaining process can bring about improvements in theworkplace much more quickly than waiting for national legislation tochange, which can be a very slow process. Encourage your union todevelop agreements on the use of chemicals, using as a basis theprovisions in the ILO Conventions No. 184 on Safety and Health inAgriculture and No. 170 Concerning Safety in the Use of Chemicals atWork 1990.245 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers