DOLE supports call vs asbestos use

With the health and safety of the country’s workforce as one of its paramount priorities, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday issued a call strongly supporting the bid against asbestos use as it pushes for its inclusion in the list of chemicals identified as hazardous to both health and environment.

Our call against the use of asbestos is in line with the country’s position in the upcoming 5th Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade in Geneva, Switzerland, DOLE Acting Secretary Danilo P. Cruz said in a press release.

Concerned with the exigency to ensure workers safety against the danger posed by asbestos, Cruz issued the DOLE’s call to include asbestos in the roster of chemicals and pesticides, which will be severely restricted or banned by parties to the convention due to health and environmental risks.

The DOLE, through the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC), fully supports the country’s stand against asbestos use, hence, it vies for its inclusion in the Conventions list of chemicals for doable restriction and/or ban. Given such legal embargo at a global level, we could avert the proliferation of asbestos-related diseases in all workplaces, Cruz said.

The Philippines is one of the signatories to the Rotterdam Convention, an international treaty designed to protect developing nations from toxic trade and hazardous chemical use. In the Conventions fifth meeting on 20 to 24 June 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland, the inclusion of asbestos in the Convention’s watch list of hazardous chemicals will be discussed.

In the battle against the killer dust at the national level, the DOLE, through its Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC), together with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Health (DOH), and Department of Science and Technology (DOST), comprised the National Program for the Elimination of Asbestos-Related Diseases (NPEAD), an inter-agency government body which implements strategies for the elimination of asbestos-related diseases in the country.

Being one of the prime movers of the NPEAD, Cruz said that the DOLE continues its advocacy to ensure better, safer, and sustainable condition in all workplaces, stating that “the DOLE commits itself to ensure workers safety and to heighten an extensive “zero tolerance against asbestos in all of the country’s workplaces.”

In the recent national observance of the International Workers Memorial Day, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), and Associated Labor Unions (ALU) handed-over the Statement/Call to Action on Asbestos to Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, which highlighted the trade unions stance to bolster the NPEAD’s thrust to ensure the health and safety of workers and workplaces against continued asbestos exposure.

To help develop the NPEAD, Cruz said the OSHC has initiated consultations with concerned agencies for the building up of the profile of asbestos use in the country, adding that the OSHC is currently gathering relevant data on asbestos use.

The term “asbestos” describes a group of naturally occurring fibrous serpentine minerals of three main types chrysotile (white), amosite (brown), and crucidolite (blue), which have been used and continues to be used in building materials and consumer goods. —http://www.philgreenjobs.dole.gov.ph/news.php