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ILMC Brochure
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Commitment and
Support
The international lead industry recognizes that exposure to lead
can result in risk to human health and the environment. The industry is
committed, through the International Lead Management Center (ILMC), to work
with governments, industries and the international community to manage the risk
of lead exposure.
The Environment Ministers of the
Organisation for Economic Cooper-ation and Development (OECD) recognized in the
1996 Declaration on Risk Reduction for Lead that the industry has experience in
the sound management of lead production and the prudent use of lead products,
including the development of alternative solutions.
The International Lead Management Center
is thus charged with the implementation of a voluntary Industry Lead Risk
Management Project. The ILMC Risk Management Project is consistent with the
recommendation in the UNCED Agenda 21 for action by governments and industry to
enhance the sound management of chemicals.
Although ILMC was founded and is sponsored
by the lead-producing industry, liaison and cooperation has been established
with the lead products applications sectors. ILMC expertise and advice is
therefore available across the full range of issues associated with production,
applications, recycling and disposal.
ILMC complements and supports existing
international risk management activities and responds to the individual needs
of countries who wish to introduce such projects in either industry or their
local communities.
The Center welcomes inquiries and requests
for either advice or assistance. Requests for assistance are assessed through
the Center's considerable network of technical, metallurgical and occupational
expertise. ILMC provides assistance by working with national govern-ments and
interested parties to identify the most appropriate risk management options.
ILMC activities are supported by an
extensive and growing database containing consensus health materials and
detailed lead risk informa-tion for mining, refining, manufacturing, recycling
and associated case studies. The database will also maintain a register of
those agencies and organizations able to assist with the funding of community
projects.
The International Lead
Management Center
The International Lead Management Center
was founded in July 1996 and is based in Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina, in the United States of America. The Center was established by the
international lead industry in response to the need for coordinated
international action on the issue of lead risk management.
The Center was founded by the following
major mining and lead-producing corporations:
- Aberfoyle Ltd., Australia
- ASARCO, Inc., United States of America
- Boliden, Sweden Cominco Ltd., Canada
- Doe Run Company, United States of
America
- Met-Mex Penoles S.A. de C.V., Mexico
- Mount Isa Mines Holdings, Australia
- Noranda Mining and Smelting, Inc.,
Canada
- Pasminco Ltd., Australia
- Union Miniere, Belgium
The terms of reference and activities of
the Center are under the auspices of an Executive Board comprising
representatives of the 10 sponsoring companies. Guidance and direction on
priorities, project feasibility and action programs are provided by a Policy
Advisory Group that includes independent experts with international experience
and expertise in:
- Lead mining, smelting, refining and recycling
- Occupational and public health
- Risk reduction programs
- Technology transfer
- Social policy and economic issues
Activities of The
ILMC
Pilot Programs
ILMC will assist and cooperate with
government agencies interested in assessing and reducing the risk of lead
exposure. ILMC anticipates that the objectives of the Lead Risk Management
Project can be demonstrated through the introduction of specially designed
Pilot Programs in specific countries. These Pilot Programs address distinct
lead exposure issues unique to each country's cultural, technical, geographic
and socio-economic circumstances.
The expertise available to ILMC will
ensure that the Pilot Programs are both effective and sustainable. All
investigative data, research, analysis and program documentation, including any
training modules, will be retained by the government agency responsible for
implementing a Pilot Program.
Risk Management Teams
When ILMC receives a request for
assistance from a government agency or industry sector wishing to initiate a
lead risk management program, a "Risk Management Team" will be assigned to
collect, collate and analyze all the available data. This process will
invariably involve several meetings between the ILMC team, government agencies,
industry and community representatives. The multi-stake-holder consultative
framework for interaction between the interested parties is based on
subsidiarity. The extensive range of options for lead risk management,
including costs and benefits, are fully considered and discussed so that the
necessary measures to introduce an effective program can be formulated.
Worker Health and Hygiene Training
Programs
ILMC will assist any government agency or
industry that recognizes a need to assess and reduce lead exposure. Good
operating practices and hygiene procedures are the most important factors in
reducing occupa-tional lead exposure. Experience has shown that those companies
with the lowest levels of exposure have invariably the highest operating
standards and the best hygiene procedures.
Occupational health and hygiene training
programs are available to assist industries wishing to improve current
practices. Where necessary ILMC will provide training for local indus-try-
based occupational hygienists so that they can deliver risk management programs
at their own locations and facilities.
Information and educational materials
designed to provide workers with informa-tion about personal risk management
are available in English. Translation into Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese
and other languages can also be arranged.
Outreach To Consumer Industries
Many lead-bearing finished products are
essential to the social and economic needs of modern societies. Various
applications could, however, have the potential to pose a risk of exposure to
either the population or the environment.
ILMC has established liaison with relevant
industry and consumer organizations in order to ensure a cooperative approach
to minimize exposure.
Particular emphasis is given to increasing
the level of recycling lead-bearing materials to fully exploit the cost
benefits and to reduce possible environmental risk.
ILMC can provide advice in those cases
where a government agency intends to legislate against the production of a
specified lead-bearing material on the most appropriate substitute and a
transition frame-work consistent with multi-lateral trade laws and rules.
Information Resources and Databases
An essential requirement for a successful
Risk Management Project, and in particular the investigation work of a Risk
Management Team, is an information database. ILMC has established an extensive
database covering such issues as:
- International inventory of standards
and best practice - for occupational exposure
- Occupational and environmental case
studies - for risk management projects
- Usage, properties, risks and options -
for lead bearing products
- International inventory of standards
and control - for industrial emissions
- Research results assessing risk
reduction benefits - for exposure reduction
- Exposure assessments and environmental
sampling - for abatements
- Material collection systems, recycling
technology - for recycling
- Community-based risk management
programs - an inventory of risk reduction experience
Internet Services
Information is available electronically on
the Internet at: http://www.ILMC.org . Visit the interactive ILMC web site
being developed to offer additional information on:
- Risk Management and Control Protocols
- Environmental Management Systems
- International Lead Exposure Standards
Testing
- Methods and Procedures
- Product Definitions
- Codes of Practice
- NewsCasting
- Pilot Programs
- Fact Sheets
- Diary of ILMC Activities
- An electronic inquiry and comment
hotline to the ILMC office.
NewsCasting
NewsCasting is the quarterly bulletin of
ILMC and features articles covering all the international activities of the
Center.
There are regular Pilot Program updates
and features explaining the role and achievements of the lead industry's
voluntary risk management strategy.
The bulletin was first issued in June 1997
and if you wish to receive this free publication or obtain back issues, please
contact the Center.
Product and Application
Information
Risk Management Information for products
and applications is available for the following:
- Ceramics - Pottery and Glass
- Communication and Power Cables
- Fishing Sinkers
- Lead Coatings, Piping and Sheet
- Lead Pigments - including paints and
children's toys
- Lead Shot
- Lead Solder - foodcans and electronics
- Leaded Gasoline
- Life Cycle Inventory for Lead-Acid
battery
- Miscellaneous - including modeling and
wheel weights
- Noise Insulation Plumbing Radiation
Shielding Stabilizers
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