"Safety First"

Most countries that manufacture fertilizers have introduced regulatory initiatives to reinforce safety over the years, in particular:

• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) adopted by the United States in 1970. The resulting annual US benchmarking index compares the safety performance of the different fertilizer manufacturers.

• Directive (91/115/EEC) and its amendment (93/112/EEC) implemented in the European Community, define the safety information to be given on fertilizer products, as well as the way in which it must be expressed.

• Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies on a Local Level (APELL) is a programme developed by UNEP in conjunction with governments and industry with the purpose of minimizing the occurrence and harmful effects of technological accidents and environmental emergencies.
  The strategy of the APELL approach is to identify and create awareness of risks in an industrialized community, to initiate measures for risk reduction and mitigation, and to develop coordinated preparedness between the industry, the local authorities and the local population.

Since 1950, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have shared a common definition of occupational health:

"Occupational health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job."

Occupational safety and health involves the protection of the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The concept can also be expanded to include the protection of:

• co-workers,
• family members,
• employers,
• customers,
• suppliers,
• nearby communities,
• other members of the public who are impacted by industrial activities.