IIW History 1990-2015

Examples of abuse of the health and safety of young people

The meeting in Bucharest was unique in that a joint seminar was held with researchers from the host nation on occupational health aspects of welders in that country. It was a means of providing technology diffusion to a Member Country of IIW in much the same way as the Working Group Regional Activities (WG-RA) was operating. As a consequence of visiting and providing assistance to developing countries it was quite common for IIW members to see exploitation of child labour and the total lack of consideration for the safety of young children working in welding. 26 This was of particular concern to IIW. The strengthening of ties with under developed nations was encouraged along with cultural change to eradicate child exploitation in countries where this was manifest. Education was the key to this and was a constant theme employed by the Chair of WG-RA Mr Chris Smallbone (Australia) in presentations to national and international audiences. Technology transfer, therefore, needed to be done with a certain degree of sensitivity to the social and economic restraints existing in these countries. Attracted by low labour costs and sometimes different regulatory regimes, transfer of heavy engineering work to developing countries, in Europe and Asia, had become more common from 1990 on. As a corollary to the lack of a safety culture and structure in such countries, risk assessments of welding conditions were more likely not to be undertaken. 27 The potential for ‘pollution exporting’ to such countries, through the building of polluting factories there, was also considered to be problematic and unacceptable, as were companies not controlling the risk to the workforce through the use of their consumables, or their products. IIW had set up the SC-ENV, mentioned previously, as a focus for these companies and other interested parties, to ensure that the correct processes were followed in engaging with developing nations through optimum use and innovation of welding and joining technologies. 28

LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS