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The Committee notes the Government's report as well as the comments made by the Trade Union of Dockers of the ports of the State of Espiritu Santo.

1. In its previous comments, the Committee observed that there were still shortcomings in national legislation in ensuring the application of the Convention. It noted the draft safety and health standards for dock work published in May 1995, and also the establishment of organizations to collect suggestions on it from persons and bodies, after the publication of the draft.

The Government states that a tripartite working group was established by the secretariat for the Occupational Safety and Health of the Ministry of Labour so as to analyse the suggestions of the legal section of the Ministry of Labour and to accomplish the preparatory phase towards the publication of the Dock Work Standards giving effect to the Convention.

The Committee again expresses the hope that this regulatory text will be adopted in the very near future to give effect to the provisions of the Convention, in particular its Article 4, according to which the national legislation should prescribe, as regards dock work, that measures complying with Part II of the Convention be taken.

2. In its previous comments, the Committee drew the Government's attention to the need to adopt specific measures to protect the safety and health of workers in the port sector taking into account that serious and fatal accidents happened in this sector. In this regard, the Committee notes that, according to the Trade Union of Dockers of the port of the State of Espiritu Santo, the general situation has not improved and that there are still serious work accidents (sometimes fatal ones). The tripartite group set up to prepare the final text of occupational safety and health standards in the port sector has accomplished its work in August 1996.

The Committee trusts that the Government will take in due course the necessary measures aimed at ensuring the application of the Convention on the subject and guaranteeing the safety in dock work.

3. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to attach: (i) extracts from inspection reports; (ii) information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, the number and nature of violations reported and the measures taken as a result of them; as well as (iii) the number of work accidents and occupational diseases recorded. The Committee reiterates the request that the Government should communicate such information and documentation (point V of the report form) so as to give a general appreciation of the manner in which the Convention is applied.