1.

2 HSE Management
HSE principles are included in Suppliers Code and in the certification systems.
These issues are also included in farmer training (depending on the certification system).
Issues regarding HSE arise, however, at all levels of the supply chain.
Cocoa harvest is labor intensive during peak season and working conditions are
very demanding, with low skilled work, high job demands, and poor ergonomic and
physical conditions. Therefore, a certain task carried out by labor can be more hazardous
than usual.
1.2.1 Plant Protection Products
The chemical plant protection products that the government provides are,
according to cooperatives and farmers, never sufficient for the farms. According to
NGOs interviewed, farmers therefore buy other products (e.g., from China), which
do not have written instructions in the language understood by farmers. Even if
written instructions in the language understood by farmers exist, illiterate farmers
may not seek help from literate persons. Therefore, chemical products may not be
mixed and applied properly and could prove risky for the person using them.
Furthermore, products are often not stored properly. They are usually kept in
homes, and people (including children) often sleep near them.
Spraying tanks are washed in water sources from which communities draw
drinking water. The assessment team will observe that cooperatives that participate
in The Cocoa Plant usually have a storage room for crop protection products and
employ spraying brigades who mix, apply, and clean up on the same day, using
protective equipment (which are not always free of cost to the farmers and therefore
some farmers choose not to use them). It, however, does not ensure that farmers do
not keep additional products at home or apply more products themselves.

1.2.2 Personal Protective Equipment

Farmers (not only workers) may not have the awareness, knowledge or
funds to use personal protective equipment when pesticides / fertilizers are applied
or other hazardous work is carried out at the farms.

1.2.3 Carrying Heavy Loads

The handling of heavy weights is another risk. Cocoa bags weigh up to

65kg, and no assisted lifting techniques were visible only at the factory.
1.2.4 Accidents
People working at the farms are (according to farmers) exposed to several
other HSE risks. They include: (1) risk of falling dead trees (burnt by landowners
for planting or fuel) is acute in some areas; (2) snake and insect bites, some
poisonous, some bearing diseases (e.g. malaria); other biological hazards such as
parasites are also common; and (3) cuts and subsequent infections from using
machetes, injuries from machetes were most prevalent. In spite of the trainings that
explain to farmers that they should use a hand-held crusher (hard piece of wood)
to open the cabosses, for easy handling, workers always use machetes because
using the crusher is harder work.
People engaged in transportation are exposed to road accidents; streets are
not paved properly (mostly dirt roads with ruts), especially in rural areas, and may
pose dangers to the drivers. The maintenance of trucks also poses a risk.

1.2.5 Access to Medical Help

The remoteness and isolation of the farms makes the transportation of

patients in case of an accident difficult. First aid kits are needed. The cooperatives
have to build

a health center/hospital/clinic with Fairtrade premiums. In one cooperative,

for example, all members of the cooperative are treated at such a facility at
subsidized rates (20% of the cost of the treatment). The local residents, who are not
members of the cooperative, can also avail themselves of the medical facilities but
at full cost. However the cooperative management informed the team that the stock
of medicines at this health center was very limited.

1.2.6 Hygiene and Sanitation

The assessment team will notice where unhealthy living conditions in
camps and villages with very rudimentary sanitation facilities, no electricity, and
no improved drinking water. Camps/villages in which a majority of the members
participate in The Cocoa Plant have to make sure their labors camp/villages
cleaner and better maintainance than average. The cooperatives have to make a
program for good sanitation practices at some camp/villages through an
arrangement with the goverment.
1.2.7 Potable Water
Access to clean drinking water is a major problem in most villages/camps
in remote area. The problems are villages had water pumps, although not all of
them were working, only several have access to the national water system (PDAM)
or have improved water wells. Washing clothes or instruments that are used for the
application of plant protection products which not allowed contaminate water
sources.