BRAZIL: The Parliament of the Republic of Brazil has just ratified ILO Convention No. 174 on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents, as well as ILO Recommendation No. 181 on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents. It will now be up to Brazil's president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, to follow this up and hopefully approve the decision of Parliament.
Both the Convention and Recommendation were adopted by the ILO on June 22, 1993, and since 1994, Brazilian trade unions have worked to get this ILO instrument into national law.
According to the CUT trade union confederation, major accidents are not frequent in Brazil, but when they do occur, the impact on workers, public health and the environment is more serious than in some industrialised countries because the companies and public services are not in a position to respond properly with emergency measures.
For two years now there has been a national tripartite group working on this issue with the aim of building a national policy for the prevention of major accidents and to prepare public emergency services.
See the full text of ILO Convention No. 174 and ILO Recommendation No. 181 on the associated links.