IFCS Indicators of Progress Priorities for Action beyond 2000 and Forum Recommendations QUESTIONNAIRE Please provide the information described on the following pages concerning your country, giving the current status, and, to the extent possible, that foreseen in the near future. Important Note: At its 63 rd meeting, the IFCS Forum Standing Committee (FSC) recommended that the IFCS Secretariat post completed questionnaires on the IFCS website, to increase transparency and for ease of reference. Please check the following box if your country does NOT wish to have its completed questionnaire posted for public viewing on the IFCS website: If you do not check this box, your completed country questionnaire will be posted at www.ifcs.ch following its submission. Please complete: COUNTRY:TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 2008 Reporting year: 2006 2007 2008 (circle appropriate year)
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1. NATIONAL CAPABILITIES AND CAPACITIES FOR CHEMICALS MANAGEMENT Priorities for Action E1 and E2 1 1a) Has a comprehensive National Chemicals Management Profile, or other equivalent strategic national plan, been developed through a multi-stakeholder process 2? National Profile Other equivalent strategic national plan X If "Yes" to either of the above, please indicate the original publication date and the date(s) of any revisions. ORIGINAL 1995, Revised 2001 If "Yes" to either of the above, please list all ministries, agencies and organizations that participated: Ministry of Labour,Energy, agiculture,environmental Management authority,workers trade union,international Labour Organisation, University of the West Indies, If "No", is your country in the process of developing or planning on developing a Comprehensive National Chemicals Management Profile? Expected completion date NA If "No", have equivalent measures such as a government investigation on chemical safety followed by legislative measures been undertaken? If "Yes", please describe: NA 1 The Priorities for Action Beyond 2000 may be viewed on the IFCS website at www.ifcs.ch. 2 A multi-stakeholder process is a process involving all concerned national ministries and other government institutions, as well as other interested national parties. 2
1b) Has your country developed any of the following on the sound management of chemicals? National Policies If yes, please provide year completed. If development is in progress, please provide the expected completion year? Started No National Priorities National Strategies 2005 National Action Plans 2005 1c) Has your country established an inter-ministerial/intersectoral coordinating mechanism (e.g. committee or body) to facilitate the comprehensive treatment of chemical safety issues? Yes X If "Yes": What is the name of the "mechanism"?-pesticides AND TOXIC CHEMICALS BOARD / UNDER THE MINISRTY OF HEALTH When was it established?- 1986 2. CLASSIFICATION AND LABELLING OF CHEMICALS Priority for Action B1 2a) Has your country initiated work to adopt and implement the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)? X If "Yes", what is the expected date (year) GHS will be fully operational? TO BE DETERMINED 2b) Has your country ratified and implemented ILO Convention 170 on Safety in the Use of Chemicals at Work 3, or instituted comparable measures? NO 3 ILO Convention 170 may be viewed on the ILO website at: http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm 3
3. NATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ON HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS Priority for Action C1 3a) What arrangements are operational in your country for the exchange of information on hazardous chemicals? Please describe. Please indicate if the established infrastructure includes: 1) website where national partners can gain access to chemical information sources, Yes x NATIONAL REGISTRY- AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND DISEASE REGISTRY 2) institutional directory listing sources of information 4. NATIONAL PROCEDURES ON SAFETY INFORMATION FOR HAZARDOUS MATERIALS IN CIRCULATION Priority for Action C3 4a) Does your country have procedures in place to ensure that any hazardous material put into circulation is accompanied, at a minimum, by appropriate and reliable safety information that is easy to access, read and understand? If "Yes": Are the procedures consistent with the safety data sheets of the 1990 International Labour Organization Chemicals Convention (No.170)? Do they conform to the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling Of Chemicals? 5. ECOLOGICALLY SOUND AND INTEGRATED STRATEGIES FOR PEST MANAGEMENT Priority for Action D1 4
5a) Has your country prepared integrated pest management strategies? If "Yes", were national studies done to develop the strategies? 6. OBSOLETE STOCKS OF PESTICIDES AND OTHER CHEMICALS Priority for Action D2 6a) Are there any obsolete stocks of pesticides and/or other chemicals in your country? 6b) Has your country prepared an action plan for disposal of obsolete stocks of pesticides and other chemicals? If "Yes", has the action plan been implemented? X If "Yes", has the action plan been completed? If "No", is work in progress to prepare an action plan? 2008 If yes, what is the expected completion date (year)? If no, why not? 7. NATIONAL SYSTEMS FOR PREVENTION OF MAJOR INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & RESPONSE Priority for Action D4 7a) Has your country implemented a national system for emergency preparedness and response, in accordance with international principles 4?HAZWARP 4 Ref. OECD Second Edition 2003 Guiding Principles for Chemical Accident Prevention, Preparedness and Response, undertaken in cooperation with other international organizations, including ILO, IMO, UNECE, UNEP, UNOCHA (UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit) and WHO. 5
No If "No", is work in progress to implement the system? expected completion date (year)? 2008-2009 7b) Is there a national law requiring the system? Yes No X ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (EMA) IS CURRENTLY DRAFTING A REGULATION 7c) Has your country ratified and implemented ILO Convention 174 5 on Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents? If "No", are efforts under way to do so? nox 8. INTERNATIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF PESTICIDES 8a) Has your government implement the revised International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (November 2002) 6 as the basis for a comprehensive life cycle approach to pesticide management? No x If "No", are efforts under way to do so? No x 8b) Have the provisions of the Code of Conduct been implemented through other pieces of legislation or by other means? 5 ILO Convention 170 may be viewed on the ILO website at: http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm 6 The International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides may be viewed at: http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpp/pesticid/ 6
If "Yes", please briefly describe. THE PESTICIDES AND TOXIC CHEMICALS ACT 1986 AND REGULATIONS OF 1987 9. POISON CENTRES Priority for Action D7 9a) Have poison centre(s) been established in your country? If "Yes", please indicate classification level for each poison centre: WHO Status of Development Classification A well-established centres, the full range of clinical analytical and other relevant facilities and cover the whole country. B well-established centres, but lack some of the related facilities or do not provide full coverage to the country. These centres require further development in order to meet the ideal criteria for centres given in the IPCS Guidelines C certain facilities for poison control, but require major support to develop further areas of activities, according to the criteria in the IPCS Guidelines, and should expand coverage through the country. Centre (Name & location) POISON INFORMATION CENTRE Date Classification - Classification - Classification - Established initial 2000 current MAY 2006 C C B 9b) Is strengthening of poison centers planned? If "Yes", for what time period? 7
YES for the next six months 9c) If there are no established poison centres in your country, is work under way in your country to establish a poison control centre with related chemical and analytical facilities for the first time? If "Yes" when do you expect the poison control centre to be operational? Please provide location and date (year). 10. POLLUTANT RELEASE AND TRANSFER REGISTERS/EMISSION INVENTORIES Priority for Action D8 10a) Has your country established: An air emission inventory? X A land emission inventory? A water emission inventory? A waste inventory? A Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR)? If "No", is work being initiated to design a PRTR or emission inventory system? 10 b) Has your country implemented a system comparable to the PRTR (e.g. the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)? 8
Yes 11. PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL TRAFFIC IN TOXIC & DANGEROUS PRODUCTS Priority for Action F 11a) Has your country developed a national strategy, or other national measures (e.g. legislation, action plans) for the prevention of illegal traffic in toxic and dangerous products? If "Yes", when was it prepared? Please indicate date (year) 12. Children and Chemical Safety (Forum IV Recommendation) 12a) Has your government prepared, through multi-stakeholder consultation, initial national assessments of children s environmental health and chemical safety? If "No", are efforts under way to do so? No not definite 12b) Has your government taken action to promote harmonized data collection, research, legislation and regulations, and the use of indicators of children s environmental health? If "Yes", please briefly describe: If "No", are efforts under way to do so? NOT SEEN AS A MAJOR PROBLEM 13. HAZARD DATA GENERATION (Forum IV Recommendation) 9
13a) Has your government established national priorities for information generation for chemicals that are not produced in high volumes? If "No", are efforts under way to do so? Other Forum IV Recommendations address: Please provide brief information on specific actions your government has taken to respond to the recommendations of Forum IV in these areas: Occupational Safety and Health; -PROCLAIMATION OF OSH ACT 2004(AS AMENDED) ON FEBRUARY 2006 Acutely Toxic Pesticides risk management and reduction;-currently MONITORED UNDER A LICENSING PROCEDURE Capacity building; -CHEMICAL SAFETY LEGISLATION AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS ARE BEING STRENTHENED INFOCAP (Information Exchange Network on Capacity Building for the Sound Management of Chemicals ) implementation.-no SPECIFIC ACTION TAKEN IN THIS AREA Forum V Recommendations: Please provide brief information on specific actions your government has taken to respond to the recommendations of Forum V in these areas: 1. Applying Precaution in the Context of Chemical Safety provision of information on tools and approaches capacity building/skill sharing initiatives to support application of tools and approaches 2. Heavy Metals (Mercury, Lead, Cadmium) initiate actions that will address the health, including occupational health and the environmental impact of mercury, lead and cadmium; initiate, continue, and intensify actions, as appropriate, to address the excess supply of mercury on a global scale through a variety of possible measures, such as an export prohibition preventing excess mercury from re-entering the global market and a global phase out of primary production of mercury; activities, including environmentally sound use, storage, recycling and disposal of mercury, lead and cadmium and partnerships programmes and voluntary 10
agreements to promote management of problems related to mercury, lead and cadmium; support and contribute to the Global Partnerships for Mercury Reductions; 3. Toys and Chemical Safety identify chemicals of concern used in toys, and potential substitution options, develop strategies for sharing information on chemicals commonly used in toys and adverse effects from their use, encourage countries and regions to develop and share the results of surveillance of chemical content of toys with other countries and all stakeholders, promote research on impacts of chemicals on product safety and children s health in the context of toy use, and support educational efforts to increase awareness of issues of chemical safety and toys among critical groups such as parents and children, health care professionals, small and medium scale manufacturers and the informal sector. guidance for toy safety 11
Details of person completing the questionnaire: IFCS National Focal Point: Yes X No GAEKWAD RAMOUTAR Name: SAFETY AND HEALTH INSPECTOR II Title: LABOUR AND SMALL AND MICO ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT Ministry IDC BUILDING, CORNER DUNCAN AND INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, Address PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD, WEST INDIES Tel: Fax: Email: 623-1462 624-6591 gaekwadramoutar@yahoo.com Date: Signature: FEBRAURY 14, 2008 Please provide the following additional information: Does the IFCS National Focal Point have direct access to the Internet in his/her office? If "No", does he/she have access to the Internet in the building where he/she works? 12