Peer-review meeting for International Chemical Safety Cards

International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs) provide essential health and safety information on chemicals to promote their safe use. They are used at the “shop floor” level by workers and employers in factories, agriculture, construction and other workplaces and often form part of education and training activities. International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs) are prepared and peer reviewed by a number of experts covering the following subject areas: - chemical hazards, occupational health, environmental hazards, toxicology and emergency response. The experts are drawn from institutions which collaborate with the WHO International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS). The ICSCs are a joint activity between WHO and the International Labour Office. There are currently around 1700 ICSCs on individual chemicals. The meeting will aim to update a proportion of the ICSC collection, prioritizing the oldest ICSCs, using up to date data for those chemicals. The information in an ICSC is expressed using a dictionary of standard sentences and parameters, with the assistance of a Compiler's Guide. This facilitates automated display of translated ICSCs through the use of translated dictionaries of the ICSC sentences and parameters. The meeting will also update participants on the ongoing exercise with a working group to update the Compiler's Guide, and suggestions to be incorporated into the revised Compiler's Guide will be collated. ICSCs which are proposed for update will be peer reviewed by the scientific experts. The update of the ICSC Compiler’s Guide by a working group will be discussed to obtain input from the wider group of experts.