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Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Grenada (RATIFICATION: 1979)

Other comments on C081

Observation

Direct Request

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The Committee notes the Government’s brief report.

Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes that, contrary to the Government’s indications, the section of the Labour Code to which it refers is not attached to the report. It therefore requests the Government to provide a copy of this section with its next report.

Articles 3(1)(b), 5(a) and 14. Cooperation with a view to preventive action by labour officers in the field of occupational safety and health and notification of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease. In the comments that it has been making since 2006 on the basis of a survey showing a high frequency of occupational accidents in certain sectors, the Committee has emphasized the importance of the educational role that labour officers should be encouraged to play to prevent such accidents and it has requested the Government to take the necessary measures to establish a systematic and obligatory mechanism for the notification of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease in the cases and conditions as may be prescribed by the legislation. Noting the Government’s indication that cooperation with the Legal and Health Departments would be strengthened to ensure the enforcement of legal provisions and the supply of technical information concerning occupational accidents and diseases, the Committee has been requesting the Government since 2008 to supply information on the measures taken for that purpose, particularly with regard to the notification of such accidents and cases of disease to the inspection services, and to provide information concerning the incorporation of the Workers’ Health Plan into the National Strategic Plan for Health (2006–10) mentioned in the Committee’s previous comments, and to describe any measures taken in this respect. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the national insurance scheme is responsible for gathering statistics of occupational claims and industrial accidents, in accordance with the legislation respecting employment injury. The Committee draws the Government’s attention, as it emphasized in paragraphs 118–187 of its 2006 General Survey on labour inspection, to the importance of the preventive mandate of the labour inspectorate and the requirement to notify it of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease. The Committee urges the Government to ensure that measures are taken rapidly to ensure the application in law and practice of these provisions of the Convention, particularly by determining the cases and the manner in which the labour inspectorate is to be notified of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would keep the Office informed of any progress achieved in this regard, and if it would provide a copy of any relevant text or document.

Article 7(3). Training of labour inspectors. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s intention to seek ILO technical assistance for the training of labour officers on inspection matters and requested it to provide information on any developments in this respect. The Government confines itself in its report to indicating that on-the-job training is provided and that support has been provided by the ILO Office in Trinidad and Tobago and the United States Department of Labor. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the training to which it refers in the report, with an indication of the number of labour officials engaged in labour inspection functions who have benefited, the manner in which the training is organized and its impact. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on any additional measures implemented during the period covered by the Government’s next report with a view to providing labour officials with suitable training for the discharge of their inspection duties.

Article 19. Periodical reports. The Government indicates that reports of inspections and visits are made on a form designed by the Ministry of Labour. It adds that the form is attached to the report. The Committee notes that the form has not been attached. It once again requests the Government to provide the Office with copies of the periodical reports submitted to the central inspection authority by labour officers in accordance with the provisions of this Article of the Convention.

Articles 20 and 21. Publication of annual inspection reports. The Committee notes that, contrary to the indications of the Government, the annual inspection report has not been attached to the Government’s report. The Committee notes that, despite its reiterated comments on this subject, no annual inspection report has been communicated to the ILO since 1995. The Committee emphasizes, as it did in its general observation in 2010, the fundamental importance that it attaches to the publication and communication to the ILO, of an annual labour inspection report, which offers an indispensable basis for the evaluation of the results in practice of the activities of the labour inspection services and the determination of the budgetary and other needs necessary to improve their effectiveness. It also recalls that, under the terms of Article 20 of the Convention, such reports have to be published within a reasonable time after the end of the year to which they relate, and in any case within 12 months, and that they have to be transmitted to the ILO within a reasonable period after their publication, and in any case within three months. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 21, the annual report has to contain, at the very least, up-to-date information on the following subjects: the scope of the legal and material competence of the labour inspection services (legal provisions defining their organization and powers); the human resources and institutional, logistical and material means; its field of personal competence (enterprises, establishments and other workplaces liable to inspection, as well as the workers occupied therein); its means of operation (inspections, notifications of violations or non-compliance, technical advice and information, observations, warnings, the initiation or recommendation of prosecutions, the imposition of penalties); and, finally, occupational risks (through data on industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease. The Committee recalls in this respect that extremely valuable guidance on the presentation and analysis of this information is provided in the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81). The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted or envisaged to ensure that an annual inspection report is published within the time limits set out in Article 20 of the Convention and that it contains detailed and up-to-date information on the subjects set out in Article 21. Reminding the Government of the possibility of having recourse to ILO technical assistance for this purpose , if need be, the Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures to give effect to these two provisions of the Convention and that it will be in a position to provide information in its next report on the progress achieved in this respect.