International Commission on Occupational Health

The International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) , is an international non-governmental professional society, founded in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

during the Expo 1906

Milan International (1906)

The Milan International was a world's fair held in Milan in 1906 titled L'Esposizione Internazionale del Sempione, or sometimes The Great Expo of Work...

as Permanent Commission on Occupational Health.

The International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) aims at fostering the scientific progress, knowledge and development of occupational health and safety in all its aspects. Today, ICOH is the world's leading international scientific society in the field of occupational health with a membership of 2,000 professionals from 93 countries and is recognised by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) with close working relationships with ILO

Ilo

Ilo is a port city in southern Peru, with some 58,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the Moquegua Region and capital of the province of Ilo.-History:...

, WHO

Who

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, UNEP and ISSA

Issa

Issa or ISSA may refer to:Issa*Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, Somali scholar*Darrell Issa, a Californian Representative*List of The Belgariad and The Malloreon characters#Issa, a divine character in David Eddings's fantasy series The Belgariad and The Malloreon*Issa or Isa, the Arabic name for Jesus in...

ICOH Activities

The most visible activities of ICOH are the triennial World Congresses on Occupational Health, which are usually attended by some 3,000 participants. The 2000 Congress was held in Singapore, the 2003 Congress in Iguassu Falls (Brazil), the 2006 Centennial Congress in Milan, (Italy) and the 2009 Congress in Cape Town (South Africa). ICOH 2012 Congress will be held in Cancun (Mexico), while ICOH 2015 shall be in Seoul (Republic of Korea).

At the ICOH 2006 General Assembly, the President highlighted the overriding importance of permanent training and education of experts in order to face the rapidly changing world of work, the need to develop occupational health services throughout the world (including the development and dissemination of basic occupational health services - BOHS), the importance of creating BOHS guidelines, tools, training, and pilot projects and the intention of making a global survey on the OHS situation in ICOH member countries. Cooperation with WHO, ILO and other NGO partners is among the priorities of the current ICOH Strategy (ICOH Centennial Declaration).

Presidents and Secretaries General from ICOH foundation

Presidents: M. De Cristoforis 1906 - 1915, L. Devoto 1915 - 1936, D. Glibert 1936 - 1940, T. Stowell 1948 - 1951, P. Mazell 1951 - 1954, S. Forssman 1954 - 1969, L. Noro 1969 - 1975, E. Vigliani 1975 - 1981, R. Murray 1981 - 1987, S. Hernberg 1987 - 1993, J. F. Caillard 1993 - 2000, B. Knave 2000 - 2003, J. Rantanen 2003 - 2009, K. Kogi 2009–present.

Secretaries General: L. Carozzi 1906 - 1957, E. Vigliani 1957 - 1975, R. Murray 1975 - 1981, L. Parmeggiani 1981 - 1988, J. Jeyaratnam 1989 - 2000, K. S. Chia 2000 - 2003, S. Iavicoli 2003–present.

Current ICOH Officers and Board Members

Officers

President - Kazutaka Kogi (Japan)
Vice President - Suvi Lehtinen (Finland)
Vice President - Bonnie Rogers (USA)
Secretary General - Sergio Iavicoli (Italy)
Past President - Jorma Rantanen (Finland)

Board Members

Giovanni Costa (Italy)
Marilyn Fingerhut (USA)
Michel Guillemin (Switzerland)
John Harrison (United Kingdom)
Seong-Kyu Kang (Republic of Korea)
Norito Kawakami (Japan)
Thomas Kieselbach (Germany)
Timo Leino (Finland)
Jorge Morales (Mexico)
Antonio Mutti (Italy)
Francisca Uche Ojomo (Nigeria)
Mary Ross (South Africa)
Shrinivas Shanbhag (India)
Claudio Taboadela (Argentina)
Harri Vainio (Finland)
Frank Van Dijk (The Netherlands)
Sheng Wang (P.R. of China)
Peter Westerholm (Sweden)

ICOH Scientific Committees

ICOH has 35 Scientific Committees and one Network. They cover a broad scope of challenges and problems in work life, including traditional risks of occupational injuries and diseases, and the risks of “new work life”. The Scientific Committees focus specifically on the areas of competence and promote and carry out research in their respective fields. Most of these committees have regular symposia, scientific monographs and review the abstracts submitted to the International Congresses.

Accident Prevention
Aging and Work
Allergy and Immunotoxicology
Cardiology in OH
Education and Training in OH
Epidemiology in OH
Fibres
Health Services Research and Evaluation in OH
History of Prevention of Occupational and Environmental Diseases
Indoor Air Quality and Health
Industrial Hygiene
Musculoskeletal Disorders
Neurotoxicology and Psychophysiology
Occupational and Environmental Dermatoses
Occupational Health Nursing
Occupational Medicine
Occupational Toxicology
OH and Development
OH for Health Care Workers
OH in the Chemical Industry (MEDICHEM)
OH in the Construction Industry
Radiation and Work
Reproductive Hazards in the Workplace
Respiratory Disorders
Rural Health: Agriculture, Pesticides and Organic Dusts
Shift work and Working Time
Small-Scale Enterprises and the Informal Sector
Thermal Factors
Toxicology of Metals
Unemployment, Job Insecurity and Health
Vibration and Noise
Women Health and Work
Work and Vision
Work Disability Prevention and Integration
Work Organisation and Psychosocial Factors

ICOH Concrete Actions for the Asbestos Ban

ICOH relations with International Organizations (WHO, ILO) have received critiques, notably on the issue of asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

: "Part of the explanation for this bland acceptance of the asbestos cancer epidemic is that the WHO and the ILO have allowed organizations such as the International Commission on occupational Health (ICOH) and other asbestos industry consultants and experts to manipulate them and to distort the scientific evidence. The WHO and the ILO were lulled into inaction by conflicting scientific reports of the epidemic."

Actually, ICOH has set among its main priorities the Asbestos Ban, taking a very clear position in favour of the global ban of asbestos. Through its official bodies and individual members ICOH took actions at all levels of activity, global, national and workplace levels:

After the "Call for an International ban for asbestos" produced by the Collegium Ramazzini, the ICOH Officers Meeting in Paris, 30–31 August 1999, chaired by the ICOH President at that time, Professor Jean-Francois Caillard, decided to endorse it. Furthermore the endorsement of the "Call for an International ban for asbestos" was approved by the ICOH 2nd General Assembly on 1 September 2000, in connection with the ICOH 2000 Congress.
The need for a continuous follow-up was recognised during ICOH 2000-2002 triennium and the ICOH President, Prof. Bengt Knave, decided to establish a Task Group on Asbestos (including members of the Board), that presented in the ICOH Board Meeting of 1–2 March 2002, an article by Benedetto Terracini "World Asbestos Congress: Past, Present and Future, Osasco (Brazil) 17–20 September 2000", as a report. The article was endorsed by the Board.
The European Conference on Asbestos 2003 on 3–6 September 2003, drafted and adopted the “Dresden Declaration on Protection of Workers against Asbestos”. The Declaration was drafted with strong input by ICOH President and the Secretary of the Scientific Committee on Industrial Hygiene and it summarizes the contemporary effort of ICOH which has the scientific role to “provide guidance and support for a well-governed process to eliminate the use of asbestos”. For this aim, ICOH Past President, Prof. Jorma Rantanen, during the 13th Session of the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health made the proposal for elimination of asbestos related diseases as a priority for ILO/WHO collaboration. The Committee unanimously approved the proposal.
ICOH commitment in this field was also attested by the full support to the Asian Asbestos Conference 2006 organized in Thailand on 26–27 July 2006 by the Ministry of Public Health and co-sponsored by the International Labour Office (ILO), the World Health Organization (WHO), International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) and the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH). During the Conference, Prof. Jorma Rantanen declared ICOH's unequivocal support for a global asbestos ban; this position is rooted in the experiences of ICOH members who have observed the dire consequences of hazardous asbestos exposures on their patients in industrialized countries. Prof. Rantanen urged that concerted action be taken by international agencies, national governments, trade unions and NGOs to raise awareness of the asbestos hazard and to highlight the long-term economic benefits of transferring to non-asbestos technologies.
The "Bangkok Declaration", recalling the ILO resolution on Asbestos, the ILO Conventions on Occupational Cancer (No. 139), the Safety in the Use of Asbestos, the WHO Global Strategy on Occupational Health for All and the WHA Resolution 58.22 on Cancer Prevention and Control and considering the ICOH International Code of Ethics for Occupational Health Professionals, declared the support of its signatories for a global asbestos ban and was widely disseminated through many networks.
For the current triennium 2009-2012, a new ICOH Working Group on the Elimination of Asbestos-related Diseases has been set. The Working Group will mainly focus on examining the existing regulations and bans in order to develop specific recommendation for actions and guidelines.

At the national level the expert input of ICOH members to the decisions concerning the ban of asbestos can be found for example in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Japan and Norway.
The ICOH members also were most instrumental in production of the "Asbestos, asbestosi, and cancer: the Helsinki criteria for diagnosis and attribution"- a document that has been taken in use in everyday practices in diagnosing, recognition and compensation of asbestos related diseases and has also been used in courts in some countries in defence of victims of the diseased persons. ICOH members also train the experts in occupational medicine and safety by using the research and criteria documents as a support for education.

ICOH Core Documents