Chemical Safety

The main goal of the course is to provide students with awareness of the legal framework concerning use of chemicals in an working environment.

Students will reach an extensive knowledge of the legislation on health and safety on the workplace, with a special emphasis on the risks related to chemicals, so to be able to answer to questions such as: what are the duties on chemicals producers in order to minimize health risks on the employees of firms that do actually use these chemicals in their production ? What are the statutory obligations of every single employer in Europe in order to provide the highest possible safety on the workplace when using dangerous chemicals or carcinogens ? How is the legislative framework enforced ?
In addition to this, classes will focus on legal assessment of chain of causation between use of chemicals and illnesses or death from cancer, which turns to be the main point in criminal and civil law cases where employers are held responsible for health problems allegedly related to use of chemicals. This is essential to the aim of having a clear understanding or the law of chemicals in the workplace.
Attention will be drawn especially on the rationale behind the rules and on cases, with an aim at delivering a real competence and understanding, trying to avoid useless memorizing just a set of procedures and rules.