The Parliamentary Committee on work with chemicals

Safety and protection of health of employees who deal with chemicals and, especially those who are exposed to carcinogenic chemicals was the subject discussed during the session of the Committee for State Supervision which took place on 28 February 2008 in the building of Parliament. The meeting was chaired by MP Arkadiusz Czartoryski. Members of Parliament received information prepared by the National Labour Inspectorate.

The Chief Labour Inspector Bożena Borys-Szopa emphasized the fact proved by many years of experience: employers do not fully respect legal regulations concerning safety of work with chemicals. One particularly visible example of it is OSH trainings which usually omit the topics of chemical risks and methods of reducing them. Moreover, employers seem not to notice how important it is to inform employees about properties of used chemical substances, harmful effects of their application, methods of handling and storing them safely, danger zones etc. As a result, they fail to fulfil their duty to eliminate or minimize the risks related to the use of chemical substances. This is particularly the case with proper identification of the risks, which frequently results in serious accidents at work.

Inspection results and activities undertaken by the National Labour Inspectorate within this field were presented to Members of Parliament by the Deputy Chief Labour Inspector, Roman Giedrojć. Among numerous examples of irregularities detected by labour inspectors the speaker described situation of an employer who, unaware of the danger related to packaging of sodium hydroxide (a caustic substance), permitted a female employee to work without adequate means of individual protection. While working, she was wearing flip-flops and a kitchen apron without chemical-proof properties. It is common knowledge, however, that contact of sodium hydroxide with skin causes serious chemical burns and slowly healing wounds.

Roman Giedrojć informed that due to the need to improve the observance of chemical safety regulations and, consequently, also increase safety and protection of employees’ health, the CLI applied to the Minister of Health for amending regulations concerning: medical checkups of employees, occupational safety and health related to the occurrence at the workplace of chemical substances as well as substances, preparations, factors or technological processes with carcinogenic or mutagenic effect. The motions concerned introduction of changes which would eliminate interpretative doubts and lack of cohesion with other provisions. The response received implies that the Ministry of Health has already started work on draft projects of regulations amendments, considering the suggestions of the CLI.

MP Arkadiusz Czartoryski, the Chairman of the Committee for State Supervision presented a draft desiderate to the Minister of Health. It made allowances for amendment of regulations concerning safety and protection of health of employees dealing with chemical factors, especially carcinogenic chemicals. In the desiderate, based on motions of the National Labour Inspectorate resulting from the conducted inspections, the committee postulates that regulation of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of 30 May 1996 be amended with respect to medical checkups of employees, preventive health care and medical certificates for purposes specified in the Labour Code. The aforementioned initiative aims at specifying the duty of visiting workplaces by doctors who offer preventive health care to employees in the event of occurrence at the workplace of dangerous chemical factors and at unifying the content of attachment 1 with other provisions (e.g. designation of category specification concerning carcinogenic chemical substances). At the same time, the committee postulates that amendments be introduced to regulations of the Minister of Health of 1 December 2004 concerning substances, preparations, factors and technological processes of carcinogenic and mutagenic effect which occur at the workplace. The aim is to eliminate interpretative doubts resulting from the lack of definitions for terms like: ‘contact with’ or ‘exposure to’ substances or preparations of carcinogenic or mutagenic effects. The postulate also concerns the regulation of 30 December 2004 on occupational safety and health related to occurrence of chemicals at the workplace. The aim of the latter is to specify the duty to carry out biological monitoring comprising control measurement of lead levels in blood.

“According to the committee - draft desiderate informs - the aforementioned provisions are vital and their projects should be presented as soon as possible. Due to this fact, the Committee for State Supervision requests intensification of works on amending the regulations and presenting the current state of advancement.”

The session was attended by Anna Tomczyk, Deputy Chief Labour Inspector.