Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2006, publiée 96ème session CIT (2007)

1. The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s reports and the attached legislation. It notes with interest the adoption in 2003 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Industrial and Consumer Chemicals (Management and Control) Act, which provide a legislative base for a large part of the provisions of the Convention. Given the particular importance in the present context of access to information concerning chemicals, and ongoing international efforts to develop publicly available sources of information concerning chemicals on the Internet, the Committee would like to draw the Government’s attention to the UN Recommendation on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (see http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/unrec/rev13/
13nature_e.html) in the context of the application of article 6, the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals see http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_welcome_e.htm) in the context of the application of article 7, and the International Chemical Safety Cards (see http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/cis/products/
icsc/index.htm), in the context of the application of Article 8. Based on an examination of the report and appended legislation, the Committee would like to raise the following questions:

2. As further detailed in the following, the Committee notes that the relevant legislation does not seem to contain provisions giving effect or full effect to some of the provisions of the Convention. The Government is requested to submit further information and clarifications as to whether and in what way effect has been given, or is envisaged to be given, to the following provisions of the Convention:

–         Article 2 on the definitions of terms such as “use of chemicals at work”, “branches of economic activity”, “article” and “workers’ representatives”;

–         Article 6, paragraph 2, on hazardous properties of mixtures of two or more chemicals and measures taken to ensure that hazardous properties of mixtures composed of two or more chemicals are determined by assessments based on the intrinsic hazards of their component chemicals;

–         Article 10, paragraphs 1 and 2, on the duty to ensure that all chemicals are labelled or marked, which calls for legislative provisions ensuring the manufacturers’ and importers’ duties to provide chemicals with labels and provide chemical safety data sheets to the employers as well as for provisions ensuring that all chemicals are labelled;

–         Article 12, paragraph (a), on exposure of workers to chemicals, which calls upon the Government to ensure that exposure limits or exposure criteria are established in accordance with either national or international standards; and

–         Article 18, paragraphs 2 and 3(a) to (d), on the rights of workers to remove themselves from danger resulting from the use of chemicals and the rights of workers and their representatives to information.

3. The Government is also requested to provide further information on the application of relevant legislation in practice in application of the following provisions of the Convention:

–         Article 4 on the formulation, implementation and periodical review of a national policy on safety in the use of chemicals at work and the respective roles and functions, in this respect, of the Steering Committee for Integrated Chemicals Management and Safety Programmes, the Technical Committee for Integrated Chemical Management and Safety Programmes and the Interim Committee for Prior Informed Consent (PIC);

–         Article 6, paragraph 3, on classification systems as regards transport and whether, in this context, use has been made of international standards such as the UN Recommendation on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (see paragraph 1, above);

–         Article 7, paragraph 1, and Article 9, paragraph 2, on the identification of all chemicals by labelling and marking and on the responsibility of the suppliers to forward revised labels and chemical data sheets;

–         Article 8, paragraph 2, on the criteria for the preparation of chemical safety data sheets and whether, in this context, use has been made of the International Chemical Safety Data Sheets;

–         Article 12, paragraph (d), on records of monitoring and of exposure and whether records are kept for longer than five years when a possible exposure to carcinogenic substances, with long latency periods, is concerned;

–         Article 13, paragraph 1(a) to (e), on the assessment of risks arising from the use of chemicals at work, and whether the general requirement in section 73(1) of the OSH Act is so applied in practice that employers are called upon to carry out risk assessments and to seek to eliminate or reduce the risk through the choice of chemicals used;

–         Article 13, paragraph 1(f), on the supply of personal protective equipment and whether section 73(3) of the OSH Act in practice ensures that personal protective equipment is provided at no cost to the workers;

–         Article 15 on information and training and whether the training provided also includes training regarding information on labels and in chemical safety data sheets;

–         Article 19 on responsibility of exporting States and how the Southern African Development Community (SADC) code of practice contributes to the application of the Convention in this respect; and

–         Part V of the report form on a general appreciation of the application of the Convention in practice, including labour inspection reports and statistics, to the extent available.