General duties

• Author: International Labour Organization
• Pages: 6-13

6

MEISI05-R-2005-02-0159-1-En.doc

PART I. NATIONAL FRAMEWORK

3. General duties

3.1. Cooperation

3.1.1. This code recognizes that an effective safety and health system requires joint

commitment between the competent authority, employers, workers and their

representatives. The parties should cooperate in a constructive manner to ensure that the

objectives of this code of practice are achieved.

3.1.2. Measures for cooperation should be taken relating to the elimination or control

of hazards or risks to safety and health from the production of iron and steel. These

measures should include the following:

(i) employers, in discharging their responsibilities, should cooperate as closely as

possible with workers and/or their representatives;

(ii) workers should cooperate as closely as possible with their fellow workers and their

employers in the discharge by the employers of their responsibilities, and should

comply with all prescribed procedures and practices;

(iii) suppliers should provide employers with all necessary information as is available and

required for the evaluation of any unusual hazards or risks to safety and health that

might result from a particular hazardous factor in the production of iron and steel.

3.2. Competent authority

3.2.1. The competent authority should, in the light of national conditions and practice

and the provisions of this code, in consultation with the most representative organizations

of employers and workers concerned:

(i) devise and maintain a national policy on OSH; and

(ii) consider making new, or updating existing, statutory provisions for eliminating or

controlling hazards in the production of iron and steel.

3.2.2. Statutory provisions should include regulations, approved codes of practice,

exposure limits and procedures for consultation and dissemination of information.

3.2.3. The competent authority should establish:

(i) systems, including criteria, for classifying substances that may be hazardous to health,

i.e. raw materials, intermediary products, final products and by-products that are used

and produced in the production of iron and steel;

(ii) systems and criteria for assessing the relevance of the information required to

determine whether one of the substances listed above is hazardous;

(iii) requirements for marking and labelling substances provided for use in the production

of iron and steel, taking into account the need to harmonize such systems

internationally;