Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2009, publiée 99ème session CIT (2010)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matter raised in its previous direct request.

Article 7. Assignment of women to manual transport of loads. With respect to its previous comments, in which the Committee had drawn the Government’s attention to the ILO publication Maximum weights in load lifting and carrying (Occupational Safety and Health Series, No. 59, Geneva, 1988), containing indications on the current limits of admissible loads to be transported manually by a woman, the Committee notes article 9 of the Regulation on heavy and dangerous work, 2004, in conjunction with items 105-109 of the annex to this Regulation, according to which any kind of storage, loading and unloading made in warehouses, shops, docks, etc., are considered as heavy and dangerous work in which, by virtue of article 4 of this Regulation, women cannot be employed. The same provision, however, prohibits the employment of women in “works similar to transport”, which includes the manual carrying, unloading and loading of more than 25 kg. The Committee therefore recalls again the indications contained in the above ILO publication, specifying 15 kg as the limit admissible for occasional lifting and carrying for women between the ages of 19 and 45 years. The Committee hence requests the Government to align the respective national legislation with the indications contained in the aforementioned ILO publication to ensure that the assignment of women to manual transport of loads other than light loads is limited, in conformity with Article 7 of the Convention.