Prevention of occupational and environmental diseases by implementation of ISO14000 and BS8800 for industries

Rapid industrialization usually brings both economic development and environmental pollution, which often produces occupational diseases in the workplace and environmental diseases in the nearby community. From experience of documenting 17 occupational diseases, we found that they resulted from a lack of a comprehensive hazard communication system. The spillage of such unknown chemical hazards also produced environmental diseases for the neighbouring factories and community. Because the general treatment of occupational and environmental diseases must include the identification of hazard and taking preventive procedures to avoid further exposure, it is essential to recognize and control the hazard at the start of an industry. Thus, implementation of the life cycle assessment in ISO (International Organization of Standardization) 14000 series will guide an industry to identify and minimize the use of hazardous chemicals. A similar practice of risk assessment and reduction for every unit operation in the production process proposed by BS (British Standard) 8800 will also help to improve occupational health. Although implementation of such systems is a voluntary compliance, actual practice demands the same systems in related or satellite factories and has a strong market implication. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.