REACH will benefit workers' health

A Europe-wide law on chemical safety and testing, known as REACH, has been praised in a new report from the European TUC's safety research arm HESA (formerly TUTB).

The report says that REACH will help avoid 50,000 cases of occupational respiratory diseases and 40,000 cases of occupational skin diseases from exposure to dangerous chemicals in Europe each year.

But it also calls for the proposals to be improved, with a requirement for more information on more substances and more compliance checks. The law is due to come into effect in 2007.

The report, The impact of REACH on occupational health, can be downloaded from hesa.etui-rehs.org/uk/newsevents/files/reach-sheffield-complet.pdf