Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2002, Publicación: 91ª reunión CIT (2003)

The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period ending September 2001, the replies to its previous comments and the attached legislative texts.

Article 13, paragraph 2 of the Convention. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that labour inspectors, by virtue of section 26(1) of the Factories Act, are empowered to order the discontinuation of work in cases in which they consider that the safety and health conditions of workers are not ensured. However, the Committee notes, firstly, that this text only applies to workplaces used for building operations or in ports and, secondly, that the notice for the discontinuation of work may be appealed within 14 days of its receipt. The Committee recalls in this respect that, by virtue of Article 13, paragraph 2(b), of the Convention, measures with immediate executory force are to be taken in the event of imminent danger to the health or safety of the workers. It therefore requests the Government to indicate, firstly, whether the powers of injunction referred to above are recognized for labour inspectors in all workplaces covered by the Convention and to supply copies of any relevant text in this respect and, secondly, whether labour inspectors may, as envisaged by the Convention, make or have made orders by the competent authority requiring preventive measures with immediate executory force notwithstanding any appeal in the event of imminent danger to the health or safety of the workers. If this is not the case, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would rapidly take the necessary measures to give full effect to the relevant provisions of the Convention and if it would provide information on the progress achieved in this respect with its next report.

Article 14. Noting that the annual report of the Industrial Safety Division contains statistics of employment accidents and the consequent investigations, the Committee requests the Government to describe the procedure for the notification of employment accidents and to indicate whether, as envisaged by this provision of the Convention, labour inspectors are notified of cases of occupational diseases and, if not, to take measures for this purpose and keep the ILO informed.

Articles 7, 10, 16 and 21. The Committee notes that the personnel of the labour inspectorate includes 16 inspectors, two specialists each for the construction, chemistry, mechanical engineering and electricity sectors and general inspectors for 1,842 registered workplaces in 2000 employing 54,218 workers, principally in the water supply and sanitary health services branches. It notes that the report on the activities of the labour inspectorate communicated to the ILO only covers occupational safety and health conditions, for which the number of inspections fell from 2,507 in 1999 to 1,865 in 2000 but, according to the information provided in the preface to the annual report, the number of special investigations increased by 15 per cent over the same period. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide additional information on:

(1)  the fields of competence of the labour inspectorate in addition to occupational safety and health and, where appropriate, information on the inspection activities in the above fields (working hours, wages, child labour and labour by young persons);

(2)  the content of the special investigations referred to above, the performance of which appears to explain the reduction in the total number of inspections by 25 per cent between 1999 and 2000;

(3)  the reasons for the substantial increase in the number of employment accidents between 1999 and 2000 and the measures taken or envisaged to reduce the most common risk factors; and

(4)  the content and frequency of training courses for labour inspectors abroad and the numbers of inspectors concerned.

Labour inspection and child labour. With reference to its general observation of 1999 on this subject and noting the organization of a subregional workshop from 7 to 11 October 2002 to train labour inspectors in the Caribbean with a view to strengthening labour inspection systems in relation to international labour standards in strategies to combat child labour, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the measures taken or envisaged as a result of this workshop with a view to resolving a problem of which the scale remains a matter of concern.