"The chemical industry has often been blamed as the main culprit in a range of environmental hazards. But, to be fair, the chemical industry is the sector that is currently investing most to reduce the environmental impact of its activities and deliver better protection of workers' health at work. Even so, the consensus is that there is still a long way to go, and that REACH is a step in the right direction.Successful delivery of the REACH objectives could be further improved if industrial relations and the whole labour relations set-up that in Europe goes by the name of "social dialogue", were carried out in accordance with each country's best practices, and if the clearest, most participatory and transparent voluntary agreements were to be implemented with the involvement of the stakeholders concerned.Italy's national chemical industry monitoring centre - an Industry Ministry agency - has pointed out that the chemical industry has invested and is still investing most in innovation in both area and sectoral industrial relations and social dialogue systems. ..."

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