INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE
BUREAU INTERNATIONAL DU TRAVAIL
OFICINA INTERNACIONAL DEL TRABAJO
GB.t75/tg/U
175th Sesslon
GOVERNING BODY
CONSEIL D'ADMINISTRATION
CONSEJO DE ADMINISTRACION
Geneva,
30-31 May 1969
Eighteenih ftem on the
Agenda
Rtr]PORT OF THE DIRECTOR.GENERAL
Fifth Supplenentary
Report
Activities of tlre Inte
saielx-a4-HeeJ-gJsIerriatlag-tesLr.e,-lgJS)
f,rqli-lJaqlqrv !o -3I Dgc-ejl!Lntrgduction
1. The last report on the actlvitles of the CISI covered a
period. of fifteen nonthsl the present lepg{t - llS ninth of its
i<i-nO - covers only twelve nonths and cclncldes with the 1968
financial year"
2. At its 1?3rd Session (Ncver-,ber 1968) the Governj.ng Body ,
approved. the incoilie and expenditure estlnates of the CIS for L959.'
3. Infornati<-:n on the actlvities of the Centre in 1958 will
be found. in the fcrllowlng paragraphs I the layout follows that of
previous reports.
1
e lfi-4ul e-s-o-f-.!JteU,Ls-t*SeE-,1+ sq-o_!L the. qgY glgll]E gyr
-supplenen.cary
Reportr PP. 105-109.
Appendix Xx;-SbCone
c
'
Se
d.raft ninutes of the 173rd Session of the Governlng
YIJ/Llt and GB.L73/2L/29, paragraphs 56-51 and Appendix I.
See
Body, p"
-2
Natlonal Ce4tggs
and
!I-S
i{qOdqtrarl-eJ5.
4. There has been no change in the nuriber cf CIS national
centres, wirlch at present stands at 33 (in 32 coru:tries). Thel'r
contribution to the worlt of the CiS is, it r,rill be rei.leHbered,
entirely volrmtaryl thus the benefit whlch the Centre derives
froni this asslstance 1n countri-es where the aational centres alre
partlcularly active 1s offset by shortcor:ings in other countries"
5. The job of filling the nost glaring EaPg falls on the
CIS itself, which 1s finding it lncreaslngly dj.ffleult to eope
with this heavy add.itional r,rorkload. Thls will clearly be the
major problern facing the Centre in coming years"
6" Missions to natlonal centres were undertaken i-n 1968 in
Cana{a, the Federal RepubJ-i.c of Gerntany anil the United Kingdor:;
for econc,my reasons they were carried out by officlals on hone
leave. As-a result it iuas posslble tc secure renewed cc,-op€rf,"tion
frorr soi11e centres anJ. to overcone tet,rporary difflculties. However,
the nul,iber and d-uration of such n.,issj-cns is linited by the
financial rescurces of the CIS, and especially by the need' to gl-ve
priority to the CIS publicatlons prograrirne, which nakes 1t
increasingly diffieult to devote tine to missions.
7 " An i-dea of the contributions niade by the various courrtri-es
in the forn of abstracts will be gained. fron the following flgures,
which lndlcate the nunber of abstracts prepared by sorle of tl;:.e
princlpa] naticna.l centres in L958, with the ccrrespc,ndin8 figures
ior L9A7 shornin in brackets: Uniteil Kilgdor.r, 523 (3i9);
Czechosl-ovakia e 2gg (247); Federat nepubi-ib cf Gernanlr^ 229 ^(219) ;
(183);
France, 183 (29O); Unite<1 States, i51 (289) ;_ Ita1y, 13?
(99);
(zo;;
Pciand,'55
Ausiraiia, 60 (105); Switzerlancl',' ??
Netherlanlls, 48 (57 ) ; Canada , 39 (8) ; Beiglu;l, 3i (43) ;
USSR, 28 (rf ) ; Swed.en, 25 (18) ; Den:::ark, 24 (B) ; Bsr garia,
L9 (341 ; Yugoslavia, t9 (3); Rur.iania, L6 ('1); liustria, 13 (22);
Spaln, 1t (5); and fibw Zealand, 1l- (4). These are, cf eourse,
-.---
rro Licrr€ than the bare figures"
B. CIS headquarters proCuceci" 517 abstracts 1n L968 (495 in
;967) " The reCuction in the contribution of soile natlonal centres
d.isclosed in paragraph ? 1s rmdoubtedly due to their efforts to be
nore seiective; however, it also lndicates the relatively low_
priority given by sone cbntres to co-oileratlon with the CIS and
the neagre resourees they devote to this wc-rrk"
9. The Tenth /innual }4eetlng of CIS lVationa} Centres was held
at ILO headquarters on 22 and 23 May 1968. The 25 irarticipants
included representatives of the natlonal centres in Belgluf,:
Czechosloveikia, France, Fed.eral Republic o!-Gernany, Italy, .the
-
Netherland,s, Rtlr..ania, Spain, Switzerland, USqR?- Uir_i-ted Klngdon'
anC the Uniiecl StateS, and iepresentatives c.f the idorld. Health
Or.ganization, the Eurcpean Coal and Steel Connurrity and the
International Labour Office.
3
10" The lvieetlng consi-dered ihe work done by the natlona]
eentres and by CIS hea"dqr;arters fron July L96'7 to lviay 1968,
speclal attention being given to tlr.e publieity canpaigns iaunched.
tn 1967 and r95B and to the study ccurses in doeur,ientation
technlques for CIS users sponsored by the French natlonal eentre.
11. The Meeting alsc apprcved a proposal to establish a
snall advisory eoui:ilttee to help the CIS deal with urgent
problens arlslng between plenary neetings of national centres.
The CoH iittee inctudes, in additlon to the representative of
the Director-Genera} c-rf the ILO, representatives of the nationaL
eentres which distrlbute a special edition of CIS publicatlons
(France, Italy and Rulania) r of national centres j-n countrles
with Liore than a hundred subscribers (Federal Republic of Gernany
and the United Kingdon) and of three other nati-onal centres
deslgnated by the Plenary ivleetlng for a period of two years
(.australia", Czechoslovalcia a.nd the Uniied States)
.
of National CentTes was preeeded.r oo
2l May L968, by a neeting cf a sriall wcirking party to exanine
the CIS proposals for putting its docriilentatlon on nlcrocards.
The use of various kinds <;f equlpnent for read.i ng and reproduction
of iiicrocards was d.encnstrated.
12.
The ivieeting
lLO- J911l;:r'i-bu!ios
13. The IL0fs contrlbution in kind to the CIS in 1958
to $f13? r2oo ($iZzr3C0 in 1967); this represents the
cost of the staff and services ilade avallable to the CIS by the
Office, e.g. salari-es, allowances and related ccstsl co-operation
of the adnlni-strative and flnancial services of the Offlce; and
prenlses, heating, lighting and naintenance" This contrlbution
1n kind iras suppli:rrenteC by a eash contrj-bution of $40r000" The
aggregate ILO contribution for 1958 thus represented. about
60 per cent of the total resources of the CIS (63 per cent in
aracunted
L967).
-fu tzi:gg-t.-p-{--h!-grgelj-qJlr}^-09.rus.{-i-e"qe
14 " In 1968 the CIS <-rnce again received a grant from the
European Ccal and Steel Cur.ir:uni.ty ($fZr000) and a contrlbution
froni the World llealth Organization ($i4;000, conslstlng of $3,000
in the forn c.:f a cash contrlbutit,n and $Ir 00O in the forn of subscrlptions rrade available by tr{H0 to develcplng countrles) "
ffi-&rv-rges
15" In 1958 the CIS received 21597 abstracts (21689 in L9,67)
and distributeC 2rL7 2 elSlLASI__qeLds (2,f60) in Eng11sh, Freneh ar:d
Gernan. L siiaj-lar servlce has been provided in Italian slnce L96A
by the Ital-ian ltlatlc-,nalriccident Preventi-on Instltute (EIIPI), the
4
CfS nationa]- centre for Italy.
At the end. of 1968 the total
number of cards issued by the CIS since its establishment in
1960 stood- at 18,703.
16. The OccupAifq4el- S-a
bulletin
contj-nued. to a
and trrench.
Und.er the terms of an agreement with the Frencfi llatlona]Research and safety rnstitute
the crs national centre for
France 4?5OO copies of the bul]-etin are distributed. i.n France
und.er the joint sponsorship of the crs and the rnstitute.
rn
ad.d.ition, the Rumanj-an I',{inlst:ry of labour - the CfS nation.al
centre for Rr.manj.a - has sj-nee L967 been publishing a Rumanian
ed"ition of the bulletin lvhich nolv has a circulatlon of 2,OOC.
W. fn L{arch-/rpri1 195B the CfS published the eighth
edition of its @.
rnd"ex. This is a cumulative
alphabetical ind.ex covering aJ-J- the subjects dealt vrith by the
CfS 1n its flrst 91 card- series (February 1960-December 1967),
complete rrith sJmonJn-ls and. other useful cross-references. fn
addj-tlon to the rnd-ex, whi-ch ls set up 1n three languages by
means of an automatic punch tape and card. typewriter, the crs
has si-nce L967 been issui-ng a quarterly supplement which makes
it easier for users to retrieve information and. thus consld.erab1-y enhances the value of the CIS card. ind.ex.
18. OnJ-y one fnform?@_!lfgS-!. was published. in IiSB;
it is entitled. rllToise in rndustiyirancl 1s an abri-dged versj-on
of an extensive stud.y pubrished, in L967 by the Worl-d. Iiealtti
organization. The crs continued- j-n 1968 to prepare other
Informati-on Sheets which wi]-]- be published in-1969, to the
extent that resources permit.
19" fwo CIS Bibliog:.ap-higs were published_ in 1968. They
relate to the frrThe
ollovrzn$ subjeets: r'0ccupationar Hazard-s of
Asbestos'r and
Cost of Occupational Accid.ents and Diseases the Economics of Safety and. FIeaIth".
20. Iemand. from national centres and subscribers for
for C_Iq photocopies and mlcrofllms remalned. heavy. fn 1968
tlr" CIS gomp1eted its stud,ies of the possibili-ty of transferri-ng
the steadiIy increasing buJ-k of the d.ocuments in its possession
to microcards so as to save storage space. The find,ings were
communicated. to the cIS national centres 1n l,{ay }968, and the
ry9rk of reprod-uetion on mj_crocard.s w111 begln in L969 with the
financlal help of some centres.
Subscrlptions
2L. There was a heartenj-ng growth in 1968 in the number
of CIS subscribers - froi:i 1,157-on l1 Deceinber Lg57 to 11350 orl
31 December 1968, -oI an increase of 193 (+27 in L967, -5' i.n a966,
-32 in 1965 and. -6 i-n L96D. The favourable trend. wnicfr began
i-n 1967 has tlius continued- and. become more marked..
5=
22. In or.Aer to.o'btain a complete picture of the CIS
circulation , the ,fol,lowing should be added to the 11 350
subscr,ibers mentioned above3; ' th€ lr447 subseribers to the
Italian edition of the abstraet eapds; .the 4riQO reclpients
of the abstracts bulletin d.istributed in Franee by the French
I[ational Researeh ahd Safety Institute:, and the 2r000 reclpien.ts
of the Rrmanian edition of the bultretin. This gives a tot,al of
nearly 9r300 d.irect reeiplents of infornation prod.uced. by the
CIS.
.23. ?he fo1-1.owing figures, wlth the eorresponding d.ata
for L967 shown in brackets_, illustrate the geographical distribution of the 1,350 subscri-ptlons serviced directly from Geneva
on l1 December 1958: France, l-77 (fe 31; _tr'ederal Republie of
Germany, 139 (138); United. Kingd,om, 110 (95); Unlted States,
93 (Bz)j l:lether]-andsr T2 (+:); Relgiun, 5q (19); nustraU.a,
57 (51); Spain, 50 (46); Srvitzerland, 40 (36); Czechoslovakia,
32 (21); Cinatla,
30 (z:); Ind.ia, 30 (:f); Swedenr.2g (zr);
.Japan,
Po1and , 25 Q).6
23 (zf) i {uggslavia, 22 (25); Norway,
(fg);
United. Arab Republic, 2L (19); and. Israelr 19 (19).
2t
24. The posltive trend toward"s stability of subscri'ptions
noted in the prrevious report was conffu:roed, the number of
subscriptions not renewed in 1958 being only LL5, conpared. with
133 i.n 1967,"1!0 in L965, 189 in 1965 r-2l:6 in L964 and 289 in
19630
25. .At the end of 1958 the number of subscribers to each
as foIIows, the L967 figures
of the services al'alIabIe was
rrfu].lrt subscriptlons ( card.s anC.
being shovrn in brackets:I'bu11etln"
subseriptions, 3oB Ql+);
1011 (B82);
buI1;tin),
I'extra, buiJ.etin" subseriptions, 31 (fg). -The bieakdown
of
subscriptions b.rr CfS rvorking Language i,vas as follows: Snglish
editionl 7\+- (fBr);., French-edltlon-3gg (351); aniL German
ed.ition', 237 (zz37.t
Flnancial Sltuation
26. On 31 December 1958 the annual extra-buiLgetary income
of the CIS (fron subscriptions and. outsid.e grantsr plus the
balance carrled over from the previous year) amounted, to about
$156 t4O0, inel-ud.lng about $70,700 in subscrlptions (as compared
rrlth $641500 in L967; the 1963 esilmates had arnounted. to
$64,00C). Desplte the regular inerease in staff, printing
and supply eosts, extra-budgetary expend.iture - e$timated'at
$14OrOO0 - was cut to about $134,0O0 through cautious fi-nanciaJ.
management and rational.lsation measllres, 'whieh con'tinueil. ln 1968.
"
* The 0ccupationql
:Safetrr gnll iJeal,.th APstqacls bulletin
yet
was not
as lar"rrched
'1
on 1 January 1969.
-6
27. The breakd.own of CIS income and expenditure in 1968
estimates fpr L969r os
the CIS budget
and L969 1s apparent from .Q^ii,
-i +^
]^..
{-1^^
1n)rA
Q^^ai
l411.,a
-.rSession.
The
Bod.y
Governing
its
173rd
^by
the
approved,
at
^^.-^*-igross
Ievel
income,
whleh
to
some
revised
of
amounted.
#294r00O
1n 1968, 1s estlmated at about $3O9r000 for 1969. The revised
].eve]- of gross expenditure, whieh was approximately $271r000 in
1968, 1s estimated at about $299,000 for 1969.
Ibopaganda
28. Several oriented. propaganda campaigns were launched.
1n 1958 by the most active natlonal centres and by CIS head.quarters. fhrough the efforts of its national centre j:e the
United States, the CIS was represented. at the exhibltion
organised in St. trouis in May 1968 en the occaslon of the annual
Conference of the Aroerlcan fndustrlal Hygiene Association. In
additlon, the ad.vertising fold.er published. in three languages
in 1967 was r.eprlnted. and. )-ent effeetive support to the propaganda efforts of the CLS and. its national eentres.
Conclusions
29. The sample survey of more tkran 300 subscribers carried.
out in 1955-67, the results^of which have already been commrmicated to the Governing Bod.yz, vlas fol-J-owed in A967-68 by an
internal study of the operatlon of the CIS carried. out by the
The reeomuendations
Management Servlces Branch of the Office.
resulting from the stud.y are being carefully examined..
30. The Governlng Body wiJ-I. have before it at its
February-i\larch L97O Session a comprehenslve report on the
work of the Office 1n oceupational safety and health, whieh
will d.ea1 fuIIy and. in detall with the problems of the CIS.
Experience to d-ate shows that the CIS servlces even if they
are not always properly used- are appreciated by an lncreasingly
wld.e range of usersq this is clear from the growj-ng number of
requests for add.itional. d.ocuments and. lnformatlon recei-ved. by the
CfS. Ten years after its establishment, the CIS is reapi-ng the
beneflts of its patient effort to provid.e high-quality service
for 1ts users.
Geneva, 21 l\Iay 1969.
1 S"" d.raft mlnutes of .the. 173rd Session of the Governing
Body, p. VIIA1' and. GB. L73/21/29, paras. 56-6L and Append.ix I.
2 See l,fiinutes of the ]-?1st Session of the G
,
Append.ix ilx
pp.107-109.