Nepal Steps Up Workplace Protection From Hazardous Chemicals

Nepal is strengthening efforts to protect workers from hazardous chemicals as their use expands across agriculture, manufacturing, construction, healthcare and other industries, creating a growing need for better prevention, stronger workplace practices and closer coordination between government agencies, employers and workers.

The International Labour Organization, working with Nepal's Ministry of Youth, Labour and Employment, brought these groups together for a national policy dialogue in Kathmandu focused on practical ways to improve chemical safety. Industry representatives, technical experts and development partners also joined discussions covering workplace risks, national policies and the capacity needed to manage potentially dangerous substances safely.

Nepal has made progress in developing its laws and institutions for occupational safety and health, though gaps in implementation, coordination, technical expertise, chemical risk management and data sharing continue to affect how consistently workers are protected.

Chemical Safety Requires Stronger Workplace Prevention

A major part of the dialogue focused on preventing exposure before workers have to rely on personal protective equipment. Participants discussed removing hazardous chemicals where possible or replacing them with safer alternatives, followed by engineering controls and safe working systems that reduce the chance of exposure during everyday tasks.

Personal protective equipment should serve as the final layer of protection rather than the main response to chemical hazards, reflecting a preventive approach in which risks are controlled as close to their source as possible.

This approach carries particular importance as chemicals become more widely used across Nepal's economy, including in workplaces where employers and employees may have limited access to specialist safety knowledge or resources for identifying chemical risks.

Global Standards Could Support Nepal's Safety System

Participants reviewed Nepal's current legal, policy and institutional arrangements alongside international practices, including the Global Framework on Chemicals, relevant ILO labour standards and the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.

The discussions were designed to turn these standards into workable priorities for Nepal, covering clearer institutional responsibilities, improved identification of workplace hazards, stronger technical skills and better awareness among the people who handle chemicals.

Numan Özcan, Director of the ILO Country Office for Nepal, highlighted the importance of social dialogue and cooperation between governments, employers and workers in identifying practical priorities and creating safer working environments.

The Kathmandu dialogue forms part of an ILO project focused on integrating occupational safety and health into Global Framework on Chemicals implementation programmes. The initiative is supported by Germany's Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and operates under the ILO's Safety + Health for All flagship programme.

National Coordination Seen as Key to Protecting Workers

Group discussions concentrated on three broad areas: institutional frameworks, workplace chemical risk management and capacity building. Participants considered how agencies could work together more effectively, how employers could strengthen prevention inside workplaces and what training would help workers and managers recognise hazards before exposure causes harm.

Improved information sharing is another part of the challenge, since reliable data can help authorities understand where chemical risks are concentrated and direct inspections, training and other resources towards workplaces that need them most.

Participants identified areas for follow-up and developed recommendations intended to support Nepal's implementation of the Global Framework on Chemicals. The work is expected to feed into future policy development, institutional improvements and capacity-building programmes, giving Nepal a more coordinated system for managing chemical hazards while helping workers across different industries carry out their jobs in safer and healthier conditions.