GB.271/17/2 - Governing Body

ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations

GB.271/17/2 271st Session Geneva, March 1998

SEVENTEENTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Report of the Director-General

Second Supplementary Report:

Activities of the Occupational Safety and Health
Information Centre (CIS), 1996-97

1. This report on the activities of the CIS covers the 1996-97 biennium.⁽¹⁾

2. The objective of the Centre is to enhance the capacity of member States to formulate safety and health information policies and strategies, and to apply appropriate methods and up-to-date knowledge in their implementation. For this purpose the Centre provides safety and health information services, and collects, processes and disseminates scientific and ready-to-use information, including full-text information in the form of compact discs and the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. The Centre also provides special support to developing countries in the form of technical cooperation projects.

3. The services and products have been continuously enhanced and include:

updated collections of laws, regulations and directives, currently containing some 3,500 safety and health items;
a major collection of full factual Chemical Safety Information Sheets (more than 100,000 available);
a collection of training materials, manuals and audiovisuals (5,000 items available);
a collection of computer databases worldwide (75 databases);
24 new CIS bulletins issued, where special emphasis has been placed on practical information;
CIS Thesaurus in three languages, an indispensable searching tool for the Web;
Chemical Safety CD-ROM: full text of 1,000 IPCS International Chemical Safety Cards, international information on safety in the use of chemicals at work and in the environment;
technical cooperation activities covering more than 40 countries in Africa and Asia helped to develop and strengthen networking between occupational safety and health institutions, in particular in Asian countries; six issues of the African Newsletter on Occupational Health and Safety and six issues of the Asian-Pacific Newsletter on Occupational Health and Safety were issued; technical support was provided to countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America.

4. Editorial work on the Fourth Edition of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, one of the world's major reference works, was finalized during the biennium. The new presentation and expanded contents were developed through an intensive process of consultation with leading experts and health and safety institutions throughout the world. A network of more than 1,000 specialists from over 60 countries contributed to the design, drafting and review of this international reference work. Detailed information is given in paragraph 42.

5. The compact discs (CD-ROMs), developed jointly with the CIS national centres in Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, containing two CIS databases (CISDOC and the Directory of Institutions) as well as data from several other national centres, continued to be successful, increasing the use of CIS information in both industrialized and developing countries. Preparation of the Encyclopaedia CD-ROM by CIS continued using specially acquired software that will produce an attractive and easily searchable compact disc in 1998.

6. Full use was made during the biennium of the potential of the Internet to improve access to information and networking. A description of the services provided by CIS, comprehensive information on selected occupational safety and health products, the CIS database CISDOC and hyperlinks to e-mail addresses and the Web sites of CIS centres are available through the CIS home page, which is accessible through the ILO Web site.⁽²⁾

Relations with CIS national centres

7. The number of national centres increased by two, with the addition of centres in Bhutan and Morocco. The number of collaborating centres underwent a net increase from 25 to 32, with new centres in Australia, Chile, Latvia, Morocco, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Venezuela. The network now covers a total of 123 centres.

8. The 34th Annual Meeting of CIS National centres was held in Madrid, Spain on 21 April 1996, in conjunction with the XIVth World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health. The Congress was organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Spain, through the national Institute for Occupational Safety and Hygiene, the ILO and the International Social Security Association. Representatives of the following 28 countries were present: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Namibia, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States and Viet Nam. Observers from Chile, China, Finland, Morocco, the United Kingdom and the European Union (representatives from DG-V and the TACIS⁽³⁾ Programme) were also present. Under the chairmanship of Dr. E. Mascias Saracho of Spain, the Meeting concentrated on new methods of information dissemination, and technical assistance to developing countries and to new national centres.

9. With its 2,000 visitors the Congress gave CIS an opportunity to display its printed and electronic products and to give demonstrations of the CD-ROM version of the ILO Encyclopaedia on Occupational Health and Safety, which is in preparation.

10. The 35th Annual Meeting of CIS National Centres was held in Helsinki, Finland, on 28 June 1997, prior to the 13th International Ergonomics Association Congress, organized in Tampere, Finland by the CIS Finnish Collaborating Centre. Representatives of the following 30 countries were present: Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Malawi, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States. Observers from Bulgaria, China, Hong Kong, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom attended, as well as representatives of the European Union, in particular from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao, Spain).

11. The agenda concentrated on the information available on the Internet, and in particular the World Wide Web, and on how information provision could be shared by CIS and the national centres on this new communication media. The question of networking between the CIS centres and of finding common areas of interest on the Web were extensively discussed. Other issues dealt with technical assistance, priorities, the Encyclopaedia and the next World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health, to be held in Brazil in 1999.

12. The Meeting was preceded by a visit to the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health (the CIS Finnish National centre) and by a three-day advanced training course on occupational safety and health information provision in Helsinki. The course put particular emphasis on the use of CD-ROMs and on new information technology, such as the Internet. This course gave many participants their first experience of such technology and sites on occupational safety and health issues. Colleagues from Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malawi, Pakistan, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, United Republic of Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe benefited from the course. Participants from developing countries were mostly sponsored by the ILO.

13. In 1996-97, CIS staff members visited the national and collaborating centres of Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United States. Technical cooperation projects funded by external resources were active in 42 countries in Africa and the Asian-Pacific region.

ILO contributions

14. In 1996-97, the ILO's regular budget contributed 14/06 Professional work-years and 14/00 General Service work-years, compared with 12/00 Professional and 13/00 General Service work-years in 1994-95. The contribution amounted to $4,195,144, which represented 77 per cent of the total budgeted expenditure of $5,452,288.

Contributions from other organizations

15. The European Commission made a contribution to the CIS of US$80,423 in 1996. The contribution for 1998 is expected to be at the same level, but has not yet been received (1994-95: US$185,569). The relationship with the European Union was further strengthened through the Harmonization of Hazard Communication process, the EU's participation in, and support for, the project on International Hazard Data Sheets for Occupations, and by other frequent meetings and contacts.

CISILO (CISDOC) and other databases

16. At the end of 1997, the main CISILO/CISBIT databases in English and French contained 52,000 records. Great emphasis has been put on legislation, training documents and practical information. The CISDOC database is one of the five flagship databases produced by the ILO which will be available on the Internet in 1998. These records are available on the Intranet and are ready to be accessed on the Web on a subscription basis. The rate of the annual subscription has been set at US$250. In addition, the CIS Bulletin Safety and Health at Work, which is the printed version of the computerized CIS database, is translated into Spanish by the Spanish national centre (see paragraph 24). Spanish-language information was added to the CIS database in Geneva with a view to making it available in electronic form.

17. The national centres contributed a significant amount of material to the database in paper form and in magnetic format. During the biennium some 84 magnetic computer tapes and equivalent media containing updates of the CISILO database were supplied for further dissemination through mainframe computers and CD-ROMs, and 12 similar updates on floppy discs were converted by the CIS desktop publishing system on camera-ready originals for printing.

18. The database containing the International Directory of Occupational Safety and Health Institutions currently covers data on 449 organizations in 151 countries. The database is made available on a CD-ROM as well as on floppy diskettes.

19. The Occupational Safety and Health Glossary database in five languages (2,590 terms, 491 pages) was also issued in Chinese by the Ministry of Labour of China and in Italian by the CIS Italian national centre.

20. Several microcomputer databases on chemicals and search software together form a computerized chemical relational database management system. It contains around 15 megabytes of chemical information and can be directly loaded and searched in PCs. Some 300 copies of this system were sold, most included in the Chemical Safety Training Modules (paragraph 25).

21. The CIS Thesaurus, or TERMS database, in English and French, was updated in a floppy disk version following frequent requests from CIS subscribers. It can be used as a search tool as well as a general classification system. In addition, all the terms were translated into Spanish by the CIS national centre in Spain. Technically the three language versions are ready to be made available on the Web. This controlled vocabulary will serve the world community dealing with safety and health at work issues as a unique search tool.

22. The Centre's home page and related information pages on the World Wide Web, created jointly in 1995 with the Collaborating Centre in Finland, is continually updated and enlarged. Thousands of Web pages, covering ILO Conventions and Recommendations on occupational safety and health, newsletters, hazard symbols and a Bulletin Board were maintained. Links to other world occupational safety and health sites have been developed. The list of CIS centres gives direct access to the home pages of the centres and to their e-mail contacts. The Asian-Pacific Internet Gopher service (text only) set up by the Asian-Pacific project in Bangkok is continuously updated. These and other related repositories, such as the Global Information Network for Chemical Safety, were interlinked. The number of monthly visitors to these pages exceeded 1,000 in early 1996.

Printed information

23. The Safety and Health at Work and Sécurité et Santé au Travail -- ILO/CIS Bulletins were issued regularly (12 issues of each) and were well received. The contents reflect the classification and subject items: laws and regulations, training materials and Chemical Safety Information Sheets as well as the specially identified priorities for all other types of materials, such as safety information sheets, standards, statistical reports, books, periodical articles, reports and proceedings and computer databases. The News and Activities section was supplemented by occasional samples of new CIS Information Sheets and other descriptive pages. These were issued under a collaboration agreement with the Canadian national centre. Each bulletin was printed in 2,100 copies (totalling 25,200 copies) in Geneva during 1996-97.

24. Safety and Health at Work was translated into Spanish by the Spanish national centre under an established copyright agreement. This brought to 6,000 the total circulation of each issue of the ILO/CIS Bulletin (in three languages). It also generated income of US$11,300 in copyright payments. Selected parts of the Bulletin were also translated into Chinese, German, Japanese and Portuguese.

25. As a result of the technical cooperation activities, a large number of other training and information materials were prepared and disseminated by the technical cooperation projects. Examples of these include:

a new updated version of the Chemical Safety Training Modules, produced jointly with IPCS, including slides, colour transparencies and databases;
the electronic repository of occupational safety and health information for Asia and the Pacific (Gopher) is continuously updated;
Workplace Fire Protection Checklist (already existing in English, Chinese and Thai) was translated into Bahasa (Indonesia);
five printed volumes of IPCS (International Programme for Chemical Safety) Chemical Safety Cards were translated by computer into Swahili, checked, printed and distributed in East Africa in printed form and on CD-ROM. CIS contributed to the IPCS cards programme in several ways; as a result, selected cards are available in 22 languages;
a collaborative effort with the European Union TACIS programme in the Russian Federation resulted in a large number of reports on key occupational safety and health materials both in Russian and in English. The same information has been assembled into a special CD-ROM.

26. The Workplace: this two-volume book (988 and 860 pages respectively) is a reference source and a guide providing an overview of the working environment, identifying future trends in health, safety and welfare. Volume I deals with the fundamentals of health, safety and welfare, Volume II focuses on major industries and occupations.

27. Several conference lectures, keynote addresses and papers were presented and published.

28. CIS publications were distributed to subscribers direct from CIS, through national centres and the ILO Publications Branch, and at congresses, conferences, seminars, symposia and workshops, as well as at exhibitions and other events concerning safety and health.

Back-up copy services

29. Twenty-three full sets of microfiches were produced and distributed to the participating national centres, sent in 276 separate updating shipments, each containing an average of 380 microfiches (comprising a full document on legislation or regulations, or a data sheet, etc.), making a total of 104,880 full microfiched documents -- several million printed pages on safety and health. In addition, 100 individual microfiche copies and 3,500 paper copies from microfiches were produced and sent to subscribers. Regular support and a considerable number of copies were given to internal ILO users of the microfiche collection. A feasibility study to convert all or part of the microfiche collection into CD format was begun.

Inquiries and custom searches

30. CIS provided 180 custom searches during 1996-97, mainly to subscribers and at no additional charge. Thousands of replies to inquiries were sent as a result of individual requests (7,000 requests for information, materials, and other mail records, including e-mail requests in 1996-97), mostly from countries still lacking national centres. The information sheets, factual databases and new training materials were of great value in providing quick and accurate replies. The direct inquiry service is the responsibility of the national centres, which base themselves on the CIS back-up materials and national experience. The Internet inquiry counter recorded visitors at the rate of some 1,000 inquiries per month. This rate is increasing.

On-line activities

31. Throughout the information industry, there has been a prolonged downward trend in the use of traditional on-line vendors that charge by the hour or by the word for the information that they make available. This is due to the continuing spread of CD-ROMs, and to the growing volume of information accessible free of charge through the Internet. CIS's revenues from its on-line hosts have participated in this decline, and by the end of 1997 one vendor had withdrawn from the market and a second had dropped the CIS database. To take advantage of the Internet trend, our Questel and Orbit hosts, now under the same management, offer Internet access to subscribers who have a password to their traditional online service, and Silver Platter Information introduced access to the CIS database via the World Wide Web in late 1997 for the same subscription fee as for a CD-ROM. For the moment it is too early to judge the impact of these innovations.

Subscriptions

32. The total number of paid subscriptions at the end of 1997 was 992 (784 English and 208 French), compared with 821 in 1995. Income from royalties for on-line access was equivalent to approximately 70 subscriptions.

33. Subscription rates for industrialized countries are Sw.frs.350 (United States: US$240) and Sw.frs.40 for developing countries; multiple subscription rates are Sw.frs.85 (United States: US$45) and Sw.frs.20 respectively.

34. The number of paid subscriptions does not include copies distributed to the national centres and ILO field offices, or those issues distributed in other languages by national centres (4,000 in Spanish).

CD-ROM

35. Since early 1987, the CISILO database has also been available on CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read-Only Memory), a method of storing large amounts of information in compact form. By the use of CD-ROM technology, the database can be queried by personal computer. In addition to the on-line computer centres, the full databases in English and French are available on two different series of CD-ROMs, one as a result of the joint efforts of CIS, the United States and the United Kingdom national centres and published by a private CD-ROM publisher, the other issued by the Canadian national centre. The total number of CD-ROM subscriptions during 1996-97 was over 1,300. Updates are issued quarterly, and the total number of CD-ROMs issued during 1996-97 containing the CISILO database was approximately 6,000.

36. A new Chemical Safety CD-ROM was produced within the framework of the Interorganization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC), with the support of the Finnish Work Environment Fund. It includes 1,000 International Chemical Safety Cards in English, Finnish and Swahili. It also contains the Chemical Safety Training Modules developed as part of CIS's technical cooperation work funded by Finnish Aid, a manual on pesticide safety, and ILO Conventions and codes of practice on chemical safety. This electronic publication, oriented towards developing countries, has already proved very successful in training and in assisting employers and workers with practical solutions. It was issued in early 1997, and some 500 of the 700 copies produced have already been disseminated.

37. The income generated by all CD-ROM sales showed an amount of US$166,446, compared to US$164,353 in 1994-95.

Information sheets

38. The service continued to disseminate selected chemical and technical information sheets. A total of 200 notes, including technical, ergonomic, medical, and chemical information sheets, were made available in English and French, based on the materials of national centres. These were disseminated widely as such, and several have been translated into other languages by the CIS national centres. This figure does not include the chemical safety cards contained in the Chemical Safety CD-ROM.

Training services and technical cooperation

39. Two regional projects, financed by Finnish Aid, received follow-up with rather limited budgets due to a temporary decline in funding in Africa and in the Asian-Pacific region. However, a considerable number of national and international training workshops were organized in developing countries emphasizing networking and chemical safety. The Asian-Pacific Network established by the Asian-Pacific national centres supported participating centres in regional information exchanges, in particular following major accidents. The Global Information Network on Chemical Safety was strengthened by national workshops in Thailand and the Philippines, and by two regional meetings held in Japan within the framework of the International Programme for Chemical Safety (IPCS). The five printed volumes of Swahili-language chemical safety cards were disseminated and used for local training in collaboration with IPCS. Several new national newsletters were started by member States, which actively promoted safety and health (including China, Nepal, Pakistan, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania and Viet Nam). Hands-on training was arranged in Thailand for Asian colleagues. A Conference on Agricultural Safety and Health, organized jointly by the US National Safety Council and ILO/CIS, was held in Illinois and Iowa (United States), for 90 representatives, mostly from developing countries, coinciding with the opening of the National Education Centre on Agricultural Safety in 1997. Collaboration with the focal points of the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) Health and Safety Programme continued, resulting in training and information activities and a major study on the informal sector.

Other activities

40. CIS presented its activities for promotion purposes at several international and national conferences and meetings, in addition to ILO meetings and conferences. CIS promotional materials were also distributed on many other occasions.

Hazard communication

41. A report on national law and practice in the area of chemical hazard communication was compiled on the basis of questionnaires received from competent authorities in a broad sample of ILO member States. This report was well received by the Working Group on Hazard Communication of the IOMC. Over 100 regulations and other publications pertaining to hazard communication were added to the CIS bibliographic database. CIS staff participated in the drafting, review and translation of the International Chemical Safety Cards produced by the IPCS, and in the steering committee for the Global Information Network on Chemicals.

Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety

42. The Fourth Edition of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, one of the world's major works of reference, was finalized during the biennium and will be published in a four-volume printed edition and on CD-ROM in early 1998. Volumes I and II were printed in 1997. Volume I contains 33 chapters including 400 articles, hundreds of illustrations and 1,224 pages. Volume II contains 27 chapters representing 250 articles and 896 pages. Volume III was issued at the beginning of 1998 (1,256 pages) and the last volume containing all the indices is expected to be ready for photocomposition shortly. Work on the CD-ROM continues and it is expected to be ready after the printing of Volume IV. Other language versions will follow. Work on the French version has already started. Volume I is translated and being checked, and work is under way on Volume II. Work has also begun on other versions, to be carried out and financed by national publishers: Volume I of the Spanish version, sponsored by the Government of Spain, is printed, and work on Volume II has been initiated. As for the Japanese and German versions, CIS coordinates the dispatch of the chapters in printed and electronic format. Advice is also given to the respective translating institutions on the photocomposition and software issues related to the production.

Financial situation

43. Extra-budgetary income (subscriptions, microfiche services, contributions, on-line and compact disc royalties, copyright payments, etc.), which had been estimated at US$1,100,000, amounted to US$1,066,016, while expenditure, estimated at US$1,257,144, amounted to US$506,544. The difference between the estimated and actual expenditure is due to the fact that work programmed for the translation into French of the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety could not be carried out as scheduled. These savings are already committed for the postponed activities.

Future trends in CIS activities

44. The fuller integration of CIS with the Occupational Safety and Health Branch will be used to pool information activities, to create specific teams to implement projects, such as the proposed Global Programme on Occupational Safety, Health and the Environment, and to integrate specialized networks -- human, institutional and electronic -- under a new Global Network. Special emphasis will be placed on the production and dissemination of topical spin-off products from the ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, combined with other practical ILO and CIS publications. Collecting and disseminating information on legislation and chemical safety, as well as information sheets, information on major hazards and training materials available in the field of occupational safety and health, will continue to be a high priority. The work on harmonizing chemical hazard communication systems will contribute to the worldwide process in providing essential information on hazards, safety precautions, and first-aid information in the form of symbols, pictogrammes, labels and standardized data sheets. The impact has already been considerable: it is practically impossible to buy paints, solvents or household chemical products anywhere on earth without seeing such symbols. Enabling national centres and other occupational health and safety institutions to produce their own home pages will be one of the main objectives for the next biennium, as will strengthening and widening the network of CIS national and collaborating centres and its integration with other networks. The objective will be to make CIS the authoritative source of information worldwide on occupational safety and health in 1998-99.

45. New sources of funding are extensively sought. These may be in the form of sales (encyclopaedia and spin-off products), technical cooperation project funding linked to ongoing work, as well as specific project work funded by external organizations such as the EU. Diversifying the sources of funding, reducing selected activities and transferring some other activities to the field will be of vital importance in the present budget climate.

Geneva, 26 February 1998.

Appendix

CIS home page on the Internet

1. For the previous report, concerning the 1994-95 biennium, see GB.265/12/4.

2. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/90travai/cis/index.htm

3. The Tacis Programme is a European Union initiative for the New Independent States and Mongolia which fosters the transition to market economy and democratic societies and the development of political links between the European Union and these partner countries.

Updated by VC. Approved by NdW. Last update: 26 January 2000.