Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

White Lead (Painting) Convention, 1921 (No. 13) - Finland (Ratification: 1929)

Application of the Convention in practice. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that, according to the Government’s report, white lead is used in low quantities in professional maintenance and restoration work where exposure is not likely to be substantial, and that authorities have not discovered cases where a worker would have been exposed to white lead or lead sulfochromate, namely during the process of stripping old paint from buildings. Furthermore, while it appears from the report that none of the 4,161 blood samples monitored by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health between June 2010 and May 2015 mentioned white lead, the Government indicates that 24 of the 42 samples obtained from painters exceeded the reference value for the non-exposed but that no sample reached the bio-monitoring level where the employer is required to take action to reduce exposure. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the results of bio-monitoring conducted by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health with regard to concentrations of white lead, and to provide statistical information on the number of inspections carried out, the outcome of these inspections, and on the number and nature of the contraventions reported.