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IFC Sustainability
Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines
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Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines Technical Revision
IFC is launching a three-year consultative process to revise the World Bank Group Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Guidelines. More » |
This page (www.ifc.org/ehsguidelines) contains the most updated versions of the World Bank Group Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines (known as the "EHS Guidelines").
The EHS Guidelines were developed as part of a two and a half year review process that ended in 2007. They are intended to be living documents and are occasionally updated.
The EHS Guidelines are technical reference documents with general and industry-specific examples of Good International Industry Practice (GIIP), as defined in
IFC's Performance Standard 3: Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention. IFC uses the EHS Guidelines as a technical source of information during project appraisal activities, as described in IFC's Environmental and Social Review Procedures Manual [PDF].
The EHS Guidelines contain the performance levels and measures that are normally acceptable to IFC, and that are generally considered to be achievable in new facilities at reasonable costs by existing technology. For IFC-financed projects, application of the EHS Guidelines to existing facilities may involve the establishment of site-specific targets with an appropriate timetable for achieving them. The environmental assessment process may recommend alternative (higher or lower) levels or measures, which, if acceptable to IFC, become project- or site-specific requirements.
When host country regulations differ from the levels and measures presented in the EHS Guidelines, projects will be required to achieve whichever is more stringent. If less stringent levels or measures than those provided in the EHS Guidelines are appropriate in view of specific project circumstances, a full and detailed justification must be provided for any proposed alternatives through the environmental and social risks and impacts identification and assessment process. This justification must demonstrate that the choice for any alternate performance levels is consistent with the objectives of Performance Standard 3.
General EHS Guidelines
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Translations of the EHS Guidelines are now available:
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The General EHS Guidelines contain information on cross-cutting environmental, health, and safety issues potentially applicable to all industry sectors. It should
be used together with the relevant industry sector guideline(s).
| General EHS Guidelines (full document) | |
| 1. Environmental | |
| 1.1 Air Emissions and Ambient Air Quality 1.2 Energy Conservation 1.3 Wastewater and Ambient Water Quality 1.4 Water Conservation 1.5 Hazardous Materials Management 1.6 Waste Management 1.7 Noise 1.8 Contaminated Land |
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| 2. Occupational Health and Safety | |
| 2.1 General Facility Design and Operation 2.2 Communication and Training 2.3 Physical Hazards 2.4 Chemical Hazards 2.5 Biological Hazards 2.6 Radiological Hazards 2.7 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 2.8 Special Hazard Environments 2.9 Monitoring |
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| 3. Community Health and Safety | |
| 3.1 Water Quality and Availability 3.2 Structural Safety of Project Infrastructure 3.3 Life and Fire Safety (L&FS) 3.4 Traffic Safety 3.5 Transport of Hazardous Materials 3.6 Disease Prevention 3.7 Emergency Preparedness and Response |
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| 4. Construction and Decommissioning | |
| 4.1 Environment 4.2 Occupational Health and Safety 4.3 Community Health and Safety |
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| References and Additional Sources | |
Industry Sector Guidelines
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