Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167) - Germany (Ratification: 1993)

Other comments on C167

Observation

2012
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2006

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Observations by the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB). With reference to its previous observation the Committee notes that the Government has not commented on the observations by the DGB.

Article 3 of the Convention. Consultations with the social partners. Article 4. Risk assessment. Article 13. Measures to ensure that all workplaces are safe and without risk of injury to safety and health. The Committee notes that the DGB and its affiliate Union of Construction, Agriculture and Environment Works (IG BAU) state that work in the construction industry is marred by high accident rates. Although there was an overall increase in the total number of occupational accidents and diseases from 2009 to 2010 in both relative and absolute terms, the DGB maintains that the occupational accident risk for workers in the construction industry is far above the average for workers in Germany. Construction workers also tend to take early retirement and the proportion of older workers to the total workforce in many building trades (such as carpenters, roofers and scaffolders) is significantly lower (13.9 per cent) than the average for all occupations (26.5 per cent). In addition, the number of workers in the building trades applying for disability benefits is also higher than the average for all workers; and out of every 100 roofers and scaffolders who retire, 56 are on disability benefits, compared to 23 persons out of 100 for all occupations. The DGB considers that the cause for this is the widespread failure to enforce existing standards for occupational safety and health protection. On average, there is just one labour inspector for every 10,000 industrial workers. Furthermore, an important feature of the construction industry is the large number of small enterprises whose occupational safety and health standards are rarely inspected. Finally, the IG BAU considers there to be a great need for improvement in the regulatory sphere by, inter alia, by lowering to 25 kg the maximum permissible weight for all construction materials packed in sacks, and by introducing more stringent limits for soot and particle emission from construction machines. The Committee notes with concern that the statistical information provided by the DGB and the IG BAU appears to reflect a significant and disturbing situation regarding construction workers which calls for action on the part of the Government in the form of further analysis of the cause for the above average accident risk for construction workers and for the above average number of construction workers on disability benefits. The Committee urges the Government to take all relevant measures as soon as possible to address the issues raised by the DGB and the IG BAU, in consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers, and to provide detailed information on the measures taken and their impact.

The Committee also requests the Government to respond to the remaining issues in its 2011 observation which reads as follows:

Article 30(1). Provision of personal protective equipment. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government regarding the implementation of the provision of the Convention based on a consistent application of a risk management approach. The Committee notes in particular that the Government underscores that the objective of the relevant legislation – including the ordinance on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) – is to arrive at the independent management of safety and health protection by enterprises, the core elements of such management being: risk assessment; the information and training of workers; and the inclusion of workers in decision making processes of the enterprise having regard to safety and health at work. The Government further states that therefore, as a rule, the Occupational Safety Act and the ordinances based on risk management lay down only essential framework conditions so as not to prevent employers and workers from achieving the level of autonomous action that is the aim of legislation; that these general requirements are underpinned by more concrete sub-statutory sets of rules and that employers implementing these rules can assume that they comply with the legal requirements. The Government indicates however, that a deliberate choice was made not to draw up a set of rules of this kind to assist with the implementation of the ordinance on the use of PPE as, according to the general principles set out in article 4 of the Occupational Safety Act, individual protective measures such as the wearing of PPE are subordinate to technical and organizational protective measures. The Government further states that as a result, PPE may be used either only in addition to other protective measures or only if risk assessment has showed that technical or organizational measures cannot be taken at all or merely to an extent that is considered insufficient. The Government goes on to emphasize that it should further be taken into consideration that the use of PPE in itself can impair or damage health, and that it is not advisable for the legislator to prescribe the compulsory use of PPE in certain work situations on construction sites as is impossible for all possible constraints to be covered by legislation; and that therefore only the employers can take all constraints into consideration, based on individual situation-related risk assessments. The Government also refers to the fact that other legislation specifically requires the provision and use of PPE if certain limit values are exceeded (for example the noise and vibration protection ordinance, hazardous substances ordinance and technical rules accompanying the hazardous substances ordinance, notably TRGS 500). Finally the Government indicates that the statutory accident insurance companies have made available a number of practical guides to help employers select appropriate PPE in areas including for example on the use of breathing equipment and on retaining best and coupling mans for retaining belts. The Committee wishes to recall that this approach places high demands on the enforcement of the provisions on risk assessment and their effective application in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide further detailed information on the application of this approach in practice including examples of the methods used to ensure such an effective implementation of this Article in practice.

Part VI of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the information provided regarding the elaboration of the common occupational safety and health strategy between the competent inspectorates of the Länder and the statutory accident insurance institutions, in which they agreed on core activities and harmonized information, advisory and implementing measures to reduce accidents and occupational diseases in the construction sector, in particular in building and assembly scaffolding and demolition, but that no interim reports are available for the reporting period. The Committee asks the Government to provide further detailed information on the impact of this common approach on the number of occupational accidents and diseases in the referenced sectors. In that context the Committee requests the Government to also provide information on whether and to what extent particular attention is given to occupational safety and health in demolition work involving demolition of buildings containing asbestos and any information on the incidence of asbestos related diseases among construction workers.