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1. The Committee notes the detailed information contained in the Government’s reports, including the attached laws, regulations and codes. With reference to Articles 5 and 7 on nationals laws or regulations; technical standards and codes of practice, the Committee notes that, in its reports, the Government makes extensive reference to documents referred to as “Codes” as evidence of effect given to certain provisions in the Convention where effect is required to be given through laws or regulations. In order to enable the Committee to assess the effect given to the Convention in the country, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the legislative status of the codes at issue and, in particular, whether such codes are legally binding in a similar fashion as laws and regulations or whether such codes are intended as guidance documents containing non-enforceable provisions. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to supply further information on the following points.

2. Article 3. Consultations with the most representative organizations of the employers and workers concerned. Please provide further information on the application in practice of this provision, as well as on the outcome of the negotiations on occupational safety and health issues in construction, which reportedly is under way with the social partners.

3. Article 8, paragraph 1(b) and (c). Cooperation between two or more employers undertaking activities simultaneously at one construction site. Please provide further information on the application in practice of this provision as on the application of section 24 of the Ordinance for the Administration of Safe Operation in Construction Projects by the State Council and section 40 of the Production Safety Law calling for two or more production and business operators who work in the same area, to enter into agreements specifying the respective duties of each, if possible with practical examples.

4. The Government is requested to submit further information and clarifications as to whether and in what way effect has been given, or is envisaged to be given, to the following provisions of the Convention:

–         Article 1, paragraph 3, and Article 7, on self-employed persons and whether relevant legislation applies to self-employed persons;

–         Article 2 on definitions and whether the following terms are defined in national legislation: “construction”, “construction site”, “workplace”, “worker”, “employer”, “competent person”, “scaffold”, “lifting appliance” and “lifting gear”;

–         Article 5, paragraph 2, on standards adopted by recognized international organizations in the field of standardization and whether the standards adopted by recognized international organizations in the field of standardization have been taken into account;

–         Article 13 on safety at the workplace and on the requirement, when there is imminent danger, for the employers to take immediate steps to stop the operation and evacuate the workers;

–         Article 14, paragraph 2, on the provision of suitable and sound ladders;

–         Article 15, paragraph 2, on lifting appliances constructed, installed and used appropriately and the prohibition against the lowering or lifting of persons by lifting appliances not designed therefore;

–         Article 16, paragraph 1(a) to (c), concerning vehicles and earth-moving or materials-handling equipment and their design, construction, maintenance and use;

–         Article 17, paragraph 1(a) and paragraph 2, on plant, machinery equipment and hand tools and their good design, construction and safe use;

–         Article 18, paragraph 1, on working at heights and on the provisions concerning work on sloping surfaces;

–         Articles 19 to 20 on excavation, shafts, earthworks, underground works and tunnels and on cofferdams and caissons;

–         Article 21 on work in compressed air and whether effect is given to the provisions concerning the nature of the medical examinations prescribed and the manner in which supervision is ensured;

–         Articles 22 to 23 on structural frames and formwork and on work over water;

–         Article 25 on lighting at workplaces;

–         Article 26, paragraph 2, on the handling of electrical cables or apparatus under or over the site;

–         Article 27 on explosives;

–         Article 28, paragraph 2(a and b), health hazards and preventive measures;

–         Articles 29 to 31 on fire precautions; personal protective equipment and protective clothing and first aid;

–         Article 32, paragraph 3, on separate sanitary and washing facilities and on the provisions concerning separate sanitary and washing facility for men and women workers; and

–         Articles 33 and 34 on information and training and reporting of accidents and diseases.

5. Part VI of the report form. The Committee notes the report of the inspection services which indicates, inter alia, that 277 project managers and inspection engineers saw their professional qualification certificates withdrawn in 2003 and that appropriate follow-up was given to an accident which occurred on a construction site in a Shanghai subway. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide more ample information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in the country and to attach extracts from the reports of the inspection services, information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, disaggregated by gender, if possible, the number and nature of the contraventions reported and the resulting action taken, and the number of occupational accidents and diseases reported.