Posted By Descarte I been given the task of producing around 20 global safety guidelines on certain safety topics using our own UK and EU legislation as a background. I do however have to also accomodate USA, Asia, South America, Africa, Middle East and Australasia requirements all into the same topic. I want to stay away from putting a foot note on all to say "Ensure you abide with all additional local customs, laws and regulations" as they probably wouldn't know themselves as not all sites have dedicated safety advisors, but don't think I could possibly research and read legislation for over 50 different countries on 20 different topics. I do however guess that EU legislation will be more stingent than most and would encompass most of US legislation in to it as well. Note I am not required to include any exposure limits or details just general requirements and statements. For example a driving policy - I know from experience that hailing a cab in the UK is not a major safety concern, but in africa, parts of asia and S-America caution should be aired, if not avoided using only preferred transport arranged through local clients or internal flights where required and driving with doors locaked at all times. So I guess my fairly long winded question would be, has any one got any gems of knowledge and experience of internation law on such topics as: Electricity, Safety Signs, Change Control, COMAH/DSEAR over and above that required here in the UK. Any snippets of information or direct links to relevent information would be most welcome, instead of just www.osha.gov Many thanks Des

Posted By Descarte Thank you very much for your prompt response, I will certainly look at the guidance on controlling exposure to UV radiation and sunlight as I am sure AU will probably have best practice here, as well as documents I found on Noise, major hazard facilities, workplace injury and diease reporting and plant design as I am sure there will be some minor discrepancies. Thanks again

Posted By Mike Draper Descarte I would have to agree with everything that's been said so far. We currently work in a number of countries in Western Europe and the Far East, but in the past have worked in North America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, etc. There is nothing so disheartening as thinking you know the requirements for construction, asbestos, fire/explosion, or any other topic you care to pick, especially since "it's all the same across Europe", only to find out that every workplace directive is implemented differently in each member state and that's before you start looking outside of the EC. Some examples: To remove asbestos insulation board in the UK you need a licensed contractor, a written method of work and submission to the HSE using form ASB5 with 14 days notice. In Eire, there is no licensing regime and the submission to the HSA needs 28 days notice. At a construction site in the UK, you need a construction health and safety plan prepared by the Principal Contractor, but neither of these exists in Spain. In Spain each contractor prepares their own Health and Safety at Work Plan, to be checked/approved by the Health and Safety Co-ordinator. Spain is also complicated by it's municiple government structure. In China you have to have a licence to carry out design work, that is be a local Design Institute. So even if you do all the engineering yourself, it has to be redone by the Chinese, to their standards and codes. Ironically of course, most Chinese standards are British Standards. So there's a few titbits. Mike

Posted By Jerry Lucey Robens might be a good starting point as his report did not just act as a guideline for the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974. I know that Irish and Australian legislation also encompasses this approach. It might be interesting to look at how Robens was interpreted in different countries/ continents and how the resulting legislation compares.