Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1995, publiée 83ème session CIT (1996)

For many years, the Committee has been drawing the Government's attention to the application of Article 3, paragraph 2, of the Convention, under which an X-ray film of the lungs is required at the medical examination on recruitment of persons under 21 years of age for underground work in mines and quarries, and of Article 4, paragraphs 4 and 5, under which the employer should keep, and make available to inspectors and workers' representatives, records containing, in respect of persons under 21 years of age, a certificate which attests fitness for employment. The Committee has suggested that the provisions of Order No. 902 of 20 May 1960, setting out special preventive measures for establishments in which staff are exposed to silicosis, should be made applicable to all work comprising employment underground of persons under 21 years of age in order to give effect to the Convention on the two points mentioned above.

The Committee notes the Government's statement to the effect that Order No. 902 must not be separated from the general context of health and safety measures relating to underground work and must be supplemented by other regulations on the same matter, in particular Order No. 895 of 20 May 1960 setting out the special health and safety measures applicable in mines and Deliberation No. 53-60/AR of 8 May 1958 setting safety rules in mines and quarries. It notes that these various texts refer to radioscopic examinations and not, as required by the Convention, to an X-ray examination which has the double advantage of being a means of proof and of being less harmful to the worker than the radioscopic examination.

The Committee also notes that the Code on Health, Safety and the Environment at Work has been adopted by the National Assembly and that the texts issued under this code will take into account the provisions of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the implementing texts will make it compulsory to carry out an X-ray examination on the occasion of the medical examination on recruitment and to keep records relating to persons under 21 years of age. It requests the Government to send it a copy of the texts when adopted.