Preamble
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Thirtieth Session on 19 June 1947, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the organisation of labour inspection in industry and commerce, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the Session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Recommendation supplementing the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1923, and the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947,
adopts this eleventh day of July of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven, the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947:
Whereas the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1923, and the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947, provide for organisation of systems of labour inspection and it is desirable to supplement the provisions thereof by further recommendations;
The Conference recommends that each Member should apply the following provisions as rapidly as national conditions allow and report to the International Labour Office as requested by the Governing Body concerning the measures taken to give effect thereto.
I. Preventive Duties of Labour Inspectorates
- 1. Any person who proposes to open an industrial or commercial establishment, or to take over such an establishment, or to commence in such an establishment the carrying on of a class of activity specified by a competent authority as materially affecting the application of legal provisions enforceable by labour inspectors, should be required to give notice in advance to the competent labour inspectorate either directly or through another designated authority.
- 2. Members should make arrangements under which plans for new establishments, plant, or processes of production may be submitted to the appropriate labour inspection service for an opinion as to whether the said plans would render difficult or impossible compliance with the laws and regulations concerning industrial health and safety or would be likely to constitute a threat to the health or safety of the workers.
- 3. Subject to any right of appeal which may be provided by law, the execution of plans for new establishments, plant and processes of production deemed under national laws or regulations to be dangerous or unhealthy should be conditional upon the carrying out of any alterations ordered by the inspectorate for the purpose of securing the health and safety of the workers.
II. Collaboration of Employers and Workers in Regard to Health and Safety
- 4.
- (1) Arrangements for collaboration between employers and workers for the purpose of improving conditions affecting the health and safety of the workers should be encouraged.
- (2) Such arrangements might take the form of safety committees or similar bodies set up within each undertaking or establishment and including representatives of the employers and the workers.
- 5. Representatives of the workers and the management, and more particularly members of works safety committees or similar bodies where such exist, should be authorised to collaborate directly with officials of the labour inspectorate, in a manner and within limits fixed by the competent authority, when investigations and, in particular, enquiries into industrial accidents or occupational diseases are carried out.
- 6. The promotion of collaboration between officials of the labour inspectorate and organisations of employers and workers should be facilitated by the organisation of conferences or joint committees, or similar bodies, in which representatives of the labour inspectorate discuss with representatives of organisations of employers and workers questions concerning the enforcement of labour legislation and the health and safety of the workers.
- 7. Appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that employers and workers are given advice and instruction in labour legislation and questions of industrial hygiene and safety by such measures as:
- (a) lectures, radio talks, posters, pamphlets and films explaining the provisions of labour legislation and suggesting methods for their application and measures for preventing industrial accidents and occupational diseases;
- (b) health and safety exhibitions; and
- (c) instruction in industrial hygiene and safety in technical schools.
III. Labour Disputes
- 8. The functions of labour inspectors should not include that of acting as conciliator or arbitrator in proceedings concerning labour disputes.
IV. Annual Reports on Inspection
- 9. The published annual reports on the work of inspection services should, in so far as possible, supply the following detailed information:
- (a) a list of the laws and regulations bearing on the work of the inspection system not mentioned in previous reports;
- (b) particulars of the staff of the labour inspection system, including:
- (i) the aggregate number of inspectors;
- (ii) the numbers of inspectors of different categories;
- (iii) the number of women inspectors; and
- (iv) particulars of the geographical distribution of inspection services;
- (c) statistics of workplaces liable to inspection and of the number of persons therein employed, including:
- (i) the number of workplaces liable to inspection;
- (ii) the average number of persons employed in such workplaces during the year;
- (iii) particulars of the classification of persons employed under the following headings: men, women, young persons, and children;
- (d) statistics of inspection visits, including:
- (i) the number of workplaces visited;
- (ii) the number of inspection visits made, classified according to whether they were made by day or by night;
- (iii) the number of persons employed in the workplaces visited;
- (iv) the number of workplaces visited more than once during the year;
- (e) statistics of violations and penalties, including:
- (i) the number of infringements reported to the competent authorities;
- (ii) particulars of the classification of such infringements according to the legal provisions to which they relate;
- (iii) the number of convictions;
- (iv) particulars of the nature of the penalties imposed by the competent authorities in the various cases (fines, imprisonment, etc.);
- (f) statistics of industrial accidents, including the number of industrial accidents notified and particulars of the classification of such accidents:
- (i) by industry and occupation;
- (ii) according to cause;
- (iii) according to whether fatal or non-fatal;
- (g) statistics of occupational diseases, including:
- (i) the number of cases of occupational disease notified;
- (ii) particulars of the classification of such cases according to industry and occupation;
- (iii) particulars of the classification of such cases according to their cause or character, such as the nature of the disease, poisonous substance or unhealthy process to which the disease is due.
