Day for Safety and Health at Work: chemical products in … – leonardo.it

is celebrated today, April 28, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work , recurrence established by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in order to promote the prevention of occupational accidents and occupational diseases, shedding light on the rules of safety. The celebration of the Day is also an integral part of the Global Strategy on Safety and Health at Work and the ILO promotes the creation of a global culture of prevention in the field of safety and health with the participation of all interested parties.

In 2013, the report presented on the occasion of World Day for Safety and Health at Work has addressed the issue of occupational disease prevention , while quests ‘focus of the anniversary year will be “ Health and Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work “: two themes absolutely consistent and closely linked. The ILO has in fact responded to the challenge concerning the prevention of occupational diseases with the development of an international directory related to such diseases, supplemented by criteria for the identification and recognition, many diseases are caused by its chemical agents.

In the occasion of this day, the ‘ILO has now published the report “ Health and Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work ” with which we examine the situation relating to ‘use of these products and their impact on the workplace and the environment, also analyzing the strategies put in place at national and international level in the field of chemical safety, and presenting elements to establish national programs that help to ensure the rational management.

“ The production and use of chemicals in workplaces around the world is one of the most significant challenges of the programs for the protection of jobs ” says the report “ they are essential to life and their benefits are widespread and widely recognized. Pesticides that improve the scope and quantity of food production, to pharmaceutical products that treat diseases, to cleaning products that help to improve the hygienic conditions, the chemicals are essential for a healthy life and for the convenience of the modern world [...] However, control exposure to these products in the workplace and the limitation of emissions to the environment are challenges that governments, employers and workers continually strive to address “

The main problem is represented by risks associated with exposure in these products and, although in recent years there have been considerable progress with regard to their regulation and management, the challenge is without a doubt still open.

Accidents, with serious impacts on human health and the environment, and continue to occur too often, workers exposed to directly to potentially hazardous substances are not properly informed, trained and protected. “ You need a global response – says the ILO report – consistent with the scientific and technological progress, global growth in the production of chemicals and changes in ‘organization of work. Similarly, it is important to continue to develop new ways to have more readily than information on the risks posed by chemicals and related security measures, as well as organize and use this information to structure a systematic approach to health and safety in the use of products chemicals in the workplace. “

A lot of the impacts that exposure to these products may have on the human body: if a chemical agent is in a physical form that allows it to easily penetrate into the body, and is in sufficient quantity to cause a certain amount or extent of exposure, it can lead to a situation of poisoning, or even death, even following a single exposure. Situations, these widely documented and recognized, as opposed to those resulting from exposures minor but repeated over time.

In these cases, the difficulty in determining the extent of the impact on health in the workplace arising from exposure to chemicals is due to ‘ inability to recognize the different types of effects that may occur and the long latency period that can elapse before symptoms start to appear . The lack of information on the consequences of exposure to chemicals has also long hampered recognition of the link between a case of exposure occurred, for example, 20 years ago, and a case of cancer occurred today.

Although the extent of the disease due to chemicals remains unknown then, in September 2012, during the International Conference on Chemicals Management, the World Health Organization (WHO) has circulated a note on the global burden of disease attributable to them also include information relating to the economic and social costs related to poor management of chemicals, including the cost of inaction and the implications for health.

The results of the study show that in 2004, the year for which data were available, globally 4.9 million deaths (8.3% of the total) and 86 million years of life lived in the net of disability (5.7% of the total) were found to be attributable to environmental exposure and management of some chemicals. These data include occupational exposures and not, as the smoke produced within the environment from the use of solid fuels, outdoor air pollution and passive smoking, respectively, with 2 million, 1.2 million and 0.6 million deaths each year. These data follow the professional particulates, chemicals involved in acute poisoning and pesticides involved in poisoning involuntary, respectively 375 000, 240 000 and 186 000 deaths each year.

Data absolutely appalling that reveal how much more there is to do in the area of ??prevention, because the right to work does not turn into a death sentence. It is no coincidence today also marks the day is dedicated to the memory of the victims of asbestos: since the nineteenth century, a period when the industrial revolution sparked the massive use of asbestos, you began to suspect that the ‘asbestos was linked to serious respiratory diseases such as pleural mesothelioma. But no one cared a risk to the health of workers who went to support only the most well-known then shyly diseases such as tuberculosis and asbestos continued to be used in many processes, for which it was a key issue due to its fireproof and sound absorbing. They had to wait until 1992 because in Italy was launched a permanent solution to what was becoming, especially in certain working environments and geographical, an issue of great importance and gravity . The law sanctioned only 275 that year to ban the use of this deadly material and dispose of all cleaning products, which it contained, such as recognizing occupational diseases related diseases – cancer of the pleura and lung cancer – causing programs to assist victims. The areas most affected by asbestos-related diseases have been the north-west and north-east of the peninsula, with particularly high concentrations in the provinces of Alessandria and Gorizia in Monfalcone area alone there are more than one thousand five hundred people in the last twenty ‘ years, died of lung cancer, but estimates that about four thousand deaths each year in our country and more than twenty million tons of asbestos still be reclaimed . In this regard, it is worth remembering that even the inhalation of a single fiber of asbestos, which measures one thousandth of a human hair, is potentially able to trigger the disease. Of course, regular and prolonged exposure increases the risk exponentially. Although the medical and scientific community has recognized for decades, then the related risks, although there are many committees that strive to support victims of asbestos and prevent new cases, although for some time the institutions and legislators have dealt with the problem, asbestos remains a killer who wanders in the foot.