| Safety and health at work EU-OSHA

“HARVEST” by Paul Lacoste (France, 2014) wins the sixth edition of the Healthy Workplaces Film Award at the 57th International DOK Leipzig Festival. The film offers an unusual look at a precarious job between poverty and self-determination.

Award winner 2014 Synopsis:

South of France, mid-September. 20 men and women, all broken by life, gather to harvest the good Lord’s grapes. During the harvest, the twenty grape-pickers will endure heat waves, sticky hands, clipper-induced blisters, waged grape battles and experience short-lived friendships. They will face the October storms and will have passionate discussions. Somehow, a kind of a utopic community will emerge…

Jury statement:

‘“There is no easy way of life”, says one of the characters in this meaningful film which develops a carefully crafted narrative through a flowing storyline and a visual approach in unison with the landscape. The characters are treated with dignity and respect and beneath the small talk there are deeper stories to be told; sub-plots emerge, each one like a small fruit on the bunches of grapes they are picking. A special community is described through impressive images in the style of an impressionist painting, producing a complete film with strong detail – true to nature and true to its protagonists.’

Since 2000, the GPA have recognised outstanding and innovative occupational safety and health (OSH) initiatives from across Europe. The GPA highlight the benefits of good safety and health in the workplace and serve as a platform for sharing and promoting good practices.

Taking part is an excellent way of promoting your organisation’s commitment to OSH. The competition can also serve as a great source of motivation when working towards improving workplace safety and health.

EU-OSHA’s Focal Points select one GPA winner per participating country. The GPA winners are promoted and celebrated at a dedicated awards ceremony during the Healthy Workplaces Summit, held in the last year of each campaign.

The award honours a documentary that focuses on the human being in a changing world of work. The film should deal with the effects of political and economic change on the way we work and live, or work-related topics such as physical and psychosocial conditions, existing and new risks at work.

Information on rules, regulations and deadlines for applications can be found on the website of Doclisboa.

Film criteria

Award winners: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

GHS has been adopted by many countries around the world and is now also used as the basis for international and national transport regulations for dangerous goods.

The hazards of chemicals are communicated through signal words and pictograms on labels and safety data sheets.

New red-framed pictograms replace the familiar orange danger symbols.

New terms have replaced old ones:

mixtures for preparations
hazardous for dangerous
pictograms for symbols
hazard statements for risk phrases
precautionary statements for safety phrases
signal Words (e.g. Danger, Warning) replace the Indications of Danger.

Download our poster and leaflet on the hazard pictograms explained

Watch Napo in.... Danger: Chemicals!

CLP — Guidance for employers and workers — Chemical labels are changing — how will this affect you?
CLP — poster — New chemical labelling — CLP pictograms and hazard classes
CLP — leaflet — Chemical labels are changing — how will this affect you?

Classification

In most cases, suppliers need to decide on the classification of a substance or mixture. This is called self-classification.

In some cases, the decision on the classification of substances is taken at the community level to ensure adequate risk management. Member States, manufacturers, importers and downstream users may propose the classification and labelling of a substance to be harmonised across the European Union. Information will also be made available in the C&L inventory.

These are usually the most hazardous substances: carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction or respiratory sensitisers, biocidal or plant protection products. All previously harmonised substance classifications under the previous legislation (Dangerous Substances Directive) have been converted into CLP harmonised classifications. It is mandatory for the suppliers to apply this harmonised classification and labelling.

Key points

Look out for new hazard labels and safety data sheets (SDS).
Train workers to understand and recognise the CLP-labelling information.
Check that your use of the substance or mixture is covered in the SDS and is not advised against.
Follow the advice provided on the new labels and in safety data sheets.
Check whether the classification has changed.
Evaluate the risks to workers and update your workplace risk assessments if necessary.
If you are an employer, communicate these changes to your workers.
If you have any questions about the new label or safety data sheet, speak to your supplier.

Source: DG Employment

ECHA web pages on the classification of substances and mixtures (23 EU languages)

Labelling

Suppliers must label a substance or mixture contained in packaging according to CLP before placing it on the market either when:

A substance is classified as hazardous
A mixture contains one or more substances classified as hazardous above a certain threshold

OSHwiki article on Labelling of chemicals