World Day for Safety and Health at Work
«The Use of Chemicals at Work» is this year’s motto of the World Day of Safety and Health at Work on 28 April. The use of chemicals is a also a major topic at ETH.
The World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an initiative of the International Labour Organization (external page ILO), a special unit of the United Nations (UN). The world day is held every year on 28 April and was launched in 2003 by the ILO. The date was not chosen randomly: 28 April is the day when the victims of occupational accidents and sicknesses have been commemorated globally since 1996 on the initiative of the International Federation of Trade Unions.
In its twelfth edition this year’s world day is focusing on safety and health when using chemicals at work. The reason is that although governments, employers and employees have made much progress in recent years as regards reducing hazards when handling chemicals, there is still great potential for improvement around the globe, writes the ILO in its latest Download Report on safety and health in the use of chemicals at work.
Safety memo up for grabs
For the many students and researchers who regularly work with chemicals in the laboratories and workshops of ETH, handling hazardous substances is not an exceptional situation but everyday life. The Safety, Security, Health and Environment (SSHE) staff unit of ETH Zurich would like to take the occasion of the world day to raise ETH employees’ awareness of the safety precautions when handling chemicals.
Awareness of safety at ETH is at a very high level. The SSHE staff unit has therefore come up with something special for 28 April: within the framework of a small exhibition in the HC0 building on Hönggerberg, ETH employees can participate in a competition on the topic of hazard labelling. A memo game specially created for this world day by the SSHE staff unit, which is based on the international hazard, prohibition, warning, rescue and instruction symbols. The competition at the HC0 will run from 28 April to 9 May, and anyone who fails to win a prize can purchase the Safety Memo at the external page ETH store. On the occasion of the world day, the SSHE staff unit is also launching a series of talks that refer to the subject of chemicals at work at work and comprise seven dates between May and November.
Series of articles on the world day for safety and health in the workplace
What can happen if you do not wear a pair of goggles during a chemical experiment? And how are the 100 tonnes of special waste generated at ETH annually actually disposed of? In the run-up to the world day of 28 April, we will publish a loose series of articles on how chemicals are used at ETH on this platform. The current issue of the life ETH community magazine also deals with the subject of safety at ETH Zurich.
Further information: www.ethz.ch/sgu-worldday