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Although it may come as a surprise, the harmful, toxic, and ecotoxicological properties of the commercial substances are unknown. However, publicly available information indicates that workers as well as the general population are exposed to substances that are highly toxic and are present in the workplace, environmental contaminants, and food products. Chemical risk is an invisible enemy, but is chemical risk a real danger? In Spain in it estimated that each year 4,000 workers lose their lives, 33,000 become ill, and 18,000 suffer accidents due to workplace exposure to harmful chemical substances.

Is the management of chemical risk satisfactory at the company level? How are REACH guidelines applied? What are some of the difficulties and advances in relation to risk prevention in companies, and public policies for addressing chemical risk?

These are just some examples of the topics to be discussed at the IV Forum on Chemical Risk organized by Trade Union Institute of Environmental Work and Health (Instituto Sindical de Trabajo Ambiente y Salud - ISTAS) held in Seville from March 10-12, 2010. Sustainlabour will take part throughout some of the sessions and will present ongoing work activities carried out as part of the Strategic Approach to Chemical Management (SAICM) in Latin America, as well as in Benin, Mali, Senegal and Togo as part of the Global Pesticides Project.

ISTAS Forum Programme available here (in Spanish).

For more information visit the ISTAS website.

Part-time wage earners, migrants, precarious workers, domestic workers, housewives, women from the North and South. We move the world!

Join forces in demanding Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, and above all, a better world that is distinct –demand social justice and environmental sustainability.

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Seoul, Korea – A new international coalition has launched a campaign to demand that Samsung accept responsibility for the many deaths of its young workers from occupational cancer. The Coalition – the “Samsung Accountability Campaign” – includes Supporters for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry (SHARPS), Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), Asian Network for the Rights Of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) and International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT).

SHARPS is now asking concerned people around the world to join their campaign for international solidarity to raise awareness about occupational disease in the electronics industry and bring accountability to Samsung (and the rest of the electronics industry), especially now that it has become a leading global brand that is promoting itself as a “green company” around the world.

From March 1-3, 2010, the seminar “Global Agreement for Employment, Decent Work and Sustainable Development” is set to take place in Montevideo, Uruguay. Organized by the Programme for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) of the ILO and the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), it includes the participation of more than 20 trade union leaders from the entire region.

The seminar’s main objective is to reinforce training of unionists in order to better implement activities as part of the sustainable development and decent work agenda. In addition in aims to strengthen TUCA´s work in the area of labour and environment, and advance toward trade union proposals for action related to these themes.

During the seminar Sustainlabour will present the training manual “Decent Work and Sustainable Development”, elaborated specifically as a resource for the training of Latin American unionists through ACTRAV and ILO´s International Training Centre (ITC).

Download the training manual here (in Spanish)