Monitoring chemical risks in the working environment

Where employees perform activities which could jeopardise their health due to exposure to chemical substances, employers are obliged by law to implement technical, organisational and other measures which effectively eliminate exposure or at the very least reduce exposure to the lowest possible level. Employers’ obligations in this regard are monitored by the authorities responsible for health protection in cooperation with the authorities of labour inspection.

State surveillance activities

The Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic (Úrad verejného zdravotníctva Slovenskej republiky, ÚVZ SR) is responsible for protecting workers from physical risks related to exposure to chemical products or substances at the workplace. Currently, ÚVZ assesses the risks of chemical substances at varying levels: when new products are designed; where new technology and working methods are elaborated; when industry proposes new ways of using and storing chemicals; and when new procedures for the handling of dangerous waste are proposed. The authority draws from expert opinions in order to guarantee sufficient protection of all workers.

During checks at workplaces where chemicals are used, ÚVZ looks at the employers’ risk assessment document and operating manual, as well as at the overall quality of these documents. Furthermore, it examines the procedures in place for handling chemical substances and products. Also, the preventive healthcare arrangements provided for workers are monitored carefully.

In particular the authority pays strict attention to the handling of poisonous and highly poisonous chemical substances and agents, focusing on the way these are stored and registered, while also ensuring that the qualifications of employees handling these substances are up to scratch.

One of the most important aspects of the surveillance is to monitor the presence of dangerous chemical substances in the workplace and to make sure that these do not exceed a level which would represent a health risk to the workers. ÚVZ inspectors therefore take air samples and do analyses in randomly selected workplaces on a regular basis.

The inspection bodies pay greatest attention to dangerous occupations, that is, jobs with an increased risk of chemical-related occupational diseases and contamination or other occupational health damage. At present, about 1% of the total number of workers in Slovakia performs jobs which are classified as being dangerous due to exposure to chemical substances at the workplace.

In the list of physical risk factors, chemical substances have been ranked in third place just after noise and dust according to the number of workers exposed to such risks at the workplace. The total number of dangerous jobs that fall into this category is approximately 15%. Most workers, however, are exposed to a combination of physical risks at the workplace.

Therefore, in addition to the measurements and controls of chemical risks at the workplace, an important part of ÚVZ’s work is to issue decrees to employers that effectively implement protection and preventive measures in order to eliminate physical risks for workers or to reduce the risks to the lowest possible level. This work includes carrying out targeted preventive medical checks of workers and monitoring the measures implemented by employers.

Furthermore, ÚVZ also provides information and consultancy services to employees and employers.

Findings of the inspection

In recent years, ÚVZ has carried out annual checks on approximately 16,000 organisations, of which about 50% were very small enterprises with up to 9 employees and 25% were enterprises with 50 to 249 employees.

As part of the controls of chemical substances in the working environment, ÚVZ inspectors take about 7,000 air samples a year and make more than 25,000 analyses.

These measures have thus far revealed the following issues:

• many, mainly small, enterprises did not have risk assessment documents and operating manuals, or these documents were simply not drawn up properly;

• several small enterprises started their operations without approval from the ÚVZ

• safety data on chemical substances and agents was unsatisfactory as the information was often incomplete or even false, or such information was simply not provided by the supplier;

• in agriculture, where the controls focused on the handling of chemical substances applied to plants, a positive trend was noticed as many agricultural enterprises used specialised suppliers to apply agricultural chemicals. This decreased the amount of chemicals stored and used, and thus reduced the level of exposure to chemicals of agricultural workers. However, some shortcomings remain in terms of storage and disposal of old or redundant chemical substances.

Commentary

Over the last five-year period, the total number of new cases recorded in relation to occupational diseases caused by chemical substances or products fluctuated between 11 and 38 cases a year. When compared with all occupational diseases and other occupational injuries, this fluctuation means that diseases caused by chemicals represent between 2% and 6% of the overall number. The results of ÚVZ controls of chemical substances in the working environment are in line with the general trend of a decreasing number of employees being exposed to harmful factors at work. These findings also support the tendency of a decline in the total number of occupational diseases and other occupational injuries in Slovakia.

Slávka Matulová, Institute for Labour and Family Research