Strategy and Intervention

Ongoing endeavours
Nevertheless, any strategy for improving the OSH standards in tanneries will have to keep the following important aspects, relating to general attitude oftamers, in the matter:

• Small scale tamers are accustomed to accepting information through informal approaches and particularly from persons within the community;
• Tamers seem to be more responsive when within their own community and in vicinity of their accustomed work environment;
• Tamers in general are usually very practical and action oriented people;
• Tamers are likely to have more respect for advice from other independent tamers than external specialists and experts or formal programmes.

Keeping these framework conditions in mind, any endeavour which aims at overcoming the lack of awareness and lack of knowledge would have to be built around the following principles which may be applied when designing the training activities:

• Build on local practices and problems: Change is best stimulated by starting from the real problems and conditions in the companies instead of the priorities of outsiders.Approaches have to be flexible and informal. Exchange of experience among tamers can can be used to create enthusiasm for positive attitude to change. Use of good humour helps to create a relaxed atmosphere.
• Focus on local achievements: Emphasise simple improvement measures which are already in use locally, and highlight, when they were particularly designed and implemented on tanners own initiative.
• Link between occupational safety and health conditions with other management goals: Explain and highlight the link between improved occupational safety and health standards and practices and improved profit situation, cost savings, etc. again using examples from within the tanning community.
• Transfer know-how through show-how: Promote and explain improvement measures by actual demonstration on-site. Ideally, let the person on-site (e.g. another tanner) explain .the improvement measure.
• Include practical exercises: Learning by doing - particularly action or measures which directly contribute to solving existing problems.

UNIDO and OSH in tanneries
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has, for some years, been working on an integrated programme for pollution control in the tanning industry. In this line, UNIDO launched its Regional Programme for Pollution Control in the Tanning Industry in South East Asia in 1994. A Regional Programme Office was set up in Madras, India, in September 1995.

Under this programme, UNIDO is simultaneously looking at enhancing productivity, environmental performance as well as safety and health standards at work in the tanneries of the participating countries. With particular reference to the aspect of promoting occupational safety and health at work, the approach is based on a network of demonstration sites in working tanneries as well as effluent treatment plants and supporting institutions including R&D institutions and training institutes.

After assessing the prevailing safety and health standards at work in the selected tanneries, using a standardised audit checklist developed by expert working under the Regional Programme, UNIDO jointly with its national counterparts and the tamers implemented improvement measures on-site in the selected tanneries and effluent treatment plants. At the same time, the team of UNIDO experts, tamers and representatives from national specialiged agencies prepared a comprehensive training programme together with training tools. At present, training workshops are being organised in the different tannery clusters of the participating countries. These training workshops particularly aim at the managers and supervisors of tanneries as key agents of change of work conditions and practices. One of the important tools available to the trainers in these countries is the model OSH site(s) developed under the programme.

Particularly, in India and Indonesia, a supporting infrastructure concerning occupational safety and health related services has been established through agreements between tanner's associations, R&D institutions and UNIDO. Under this agreements, tamers can access professional services pertaining to work place monitoring and auditing, industrial hygiene measurement and expert guidance for on-site improvement measures.

Achievements after 2 years

• 15 OSH demonstration sites have been established in tanneries in China, India and Indonesia.
• 600 tamers of the region have been trained on occupational safety and health aspects in tanneries
• A tannery specific labour safety manual has been prepared which is available in English, Bahasa-Indonesia and Chinese.
• A specific booklet on "how to deal with hydrogen sulphide", a toxic gas generated in tanneries effluent treatment plant, has been printed and widely circulated.
• OSH related work place monitoring services have been established in two countries.

Findings and Conclusions
The activities initiated by UNIDO in the field of occupational safety and health standards at work in the tanning industry in South East Asia can be seen only as a launching pad for preparing the basis for fUrther concerted activities in this field. The existing facilities consisting of OSH demonstration sites, training packages, support services and a roster of available experts may be used by the concerned R&D institutions and industry associations for disseminating the ideas further.

Ideally, it needs to be investigated whether UNIDO should continue with these endeavours as part of its current portfolio of leather industry related technical assistance. Possible fUrther steps may be the replication of the initiative in leather industry of other counaries in Asia, Africa and South America.

At the local level, the concerned agencies and associations should foster further dissemination of occupational safety and health at work. In India, the Central Leather Research Institute has taken the initiative to include occupational safety and health as a separate theme in its "Vision Beyond Mission" proposal which attempts define the further path of development for the Indian leather industry for the coming 7-10 years. Besides Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute (SRMCRT), Porur, Madras, has created a special OSH cell with assistance from UNIDO for providing work place monitoring services to tanning industry, amongst others, in the country. In Indonesia, HIPERKES, a specialised organisation is expected to provide similar services.

Future
A better link between existing international initiatives, for example the International Programme of Chemical Safety (IPCS), and local endeavours needs to be established to facilitate access to updated information regarding hazardous chemicals and training related to safety in use of chemicals at work. One key issue would be the design of user-friendly (easily understandable) material safety data sheets for hazardous chemicals and their translation into the respective national languages, where international languages such as English are not easily understood.

Co-operation and exchange of information between the chemical suppliers and their customers in the leather sector have to be improved. The former, being experts in the field of chemical, should extend their know-how into the field of safety in use of chemicals at work in the leather industry. First attempts under the UNIDO initiative in this respect have proved very successful.

Similarly, there is an urgent need for upgradation of design of existing tannery machines made in developing countries, incorporating successful ideas such as in terms installation of active and passive guards, noise control devices, local extraction systems and operation controls (in respective national languages). Under the UNIDO project, several low cost ideas have been developed and implemented in the demonstration sites. Examples are replacement of cast-iron pinions with nylon made ones, resulting in significant noise reduction (upto 30%), installation of low-cost scrubbing devices for spray booths and noise absorbing enclosures of tanning machines of older design.

Improvement of work place layout, to the extent feasible, must be attempted. The space that can be created in a cluttered work place by simple common sense approach has to be seen to be believed. In many places mere lack of.attention and interest is responsible for an unnecessarily cluttered work place which is unsafe.

The concept of good occupational safety and health standards at work in the tanning and leather industry needs to be suitably incorporated into the syllabi of the respective national leather training and educational institutions.

Role of outside agencies and IULTCS
IULTCS may officially endorse the importance of improving occupational safety and health standards at work in the tanning and leather industry. IULTCS may also support UNIDO's initiatives in this regard and extend its combined knowledge and expertise. In this context, it has to be appreciated that the organisers of the XXV Congress have found a place for having this presentation included.

Further research by R&D institutions around the world is required with regard to assess the potential health impacts of leather chemicals on worker and environment.

International leather companies may extend their help to their local suppliers in not only ensuring acceptable quality but also providing guidance to achieve satisfactory occupational safety and health standards at work.

The support network in terms of accessibility of local expertise regarding occupational safety and health at the national level in the manufacturing countries needs to be widened. In this regard, an Indian institution assisted by UNIDO under the regional programme (SRMCRI),will, jointly with UNIDO and reputed educational and R&D institutions from USA and India,organise a national seminar on occupational safety and health and industrial hygiene, in which the positive developments in the area of improvements of OSH standards in the India leather industry will feature as a key example.

Conclusion
Occupational safety and health of workers engaged in factories is the primary responsibility of the employer. It has generally been seen that workers are exposed to avoidable and unnecessary health and safety risks in tanneries, particularly of small and medium scale, in developing countries of south and east Asia. With very little additional investment it is possible to overcome many of the existing health and safety.risks.

At the same time, such measures will result in a much better work environment leading to greater worker satisfaction, productivity and quality of products made. The employer will ultimately be able to reap much greater benefits. Agencies involved in promoting better OSH practices, in the interregnum, have the responsibility to enhance awareness and know-how of improved practices among the tanners of the region, with persistence and dedication. As the realisation that the sustainability of the leather industry in developing countries is critically dependent upon acceptable work environment in the factories becomes widespread, the task of those promoting better OSH practices will become somewhat easier.  

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