Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report. The Committee requests the Government to supply additional information on the following points.

Articles 3 and 6, paragraph 2, of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government's indication to the effect that the annual limit value presently in force for exposed workers should not exceed 50 mSv in any single year. This annual limit value is in line with Article 9 of the European Commission Directive 96/29 EURATOM based on the 1990 ICRP Recommendations. The Government further indicates that the limit of an effective dose of 20 mSv/year, averaged over five years, as also provided for by Article 9 of the European Community Directive 96/29 EURATOM and recommended by the 1990 ICRP Recommendations and the Committee's 1992 general observations under the Convention, has not been converted yet into national legislation. In this regard, the Committee notes with interest the Government's indication according to which a revision of the present legislation is planned in order to bring in line the provisions of national laws and regulations with the requirements of the European Commission Directive 96/29 EURATOM, which are based on the 1990 ICRP Recommendations. The Committee accordingly asks the Government to keep it informed on progress made in this regard and to provide the relevant texts for further examination as soon as they are adopted.

Article 13. Occupational exposure during and after an emergency. (a) The Committee notes with interest the Government's indication that an amendment of section 3(1) of the "Act-Atomic Law" of 2 February 1996 concerning the amendment of the "Act-Labour Code" and concerning the change of certain other Acts (Dziennik Ustaw No. 24-Text 110) provides for the right of male workers to refuse the participation in emergency action where permissible exposure limits will possibly exceed five times the annual limit value. It also notes with interest that section 10 of the "Act-Atomic Law", permitting the unlimited exposure of volunteers to ionizing radiation in emergency actions has been repealed.

(b) As concerns regulations with respect to extreme exposure to ionizing radiation, the Committee notes the Government's indication to the effect that a legal act on this subject has not been issued yet due to a lacking Act of Parliament which only could serve as a legal basis in conformity with the Polish legal system. The Committee notes, however, the Government's indication that the parliamentary commissions currently do preparatory legislative work on the draft Act concerning natural calamities. The Committee further notes that a legal act concerning extraordinary exposure to radiation will be issued in the form of an executory regulation of the Council of Ministers, and that a draft regulation has been prepared in 1997 by the State Agency of Atomic Energy, in consultation with other ministries. In this respect, the Committee notes the Government's indication according to which the draft regulation corresponds to the 1990 ICRP Recommendations as well as to the International Basic Standards on Biological Protection. However, the matters raised in item 35(c)(iii) of the conclusions to the Committee's 1992 general observations under the Convention were not included, but will be incorporated in the final redaction of the draft regulation. The Committee therefore recalls once again item 35(c)(iii) of the conclusions to its 1992 general observation according to which a strict definition of circumstances in which exceptional exposure of workers, exceeding the normally tolerated dose limit, is to be allowed for immediate and urgent remedial work; that work must be strictly limited in scope and duration to what is required to meet an acute danger to life and health; exceptional exposure of workers is neither justified for the purpose of rescuing items of high material value, nor, more generally, because alternative techniques of intervention, which do not involve such exposure of workers, would involve an excessive expense. The Committee hopes that this new Regulation will be adopted in the near future and asks the Gvernment to supply a copy as soon as it is adopted.

Article 14. Alternative employment. The Committee notes the Government's indication that the provisions of the "Act-Atomic Law" and the executory provisions do not contain any provisions on alternative employment in the case of exposure exceeding limit values, but that procedures as well as benefits for workers such as transfers to other jobs, compensatory allowance, etc. are provided for in the labour legislation (Labour Code and the executory provisions) in the event that workers are affected by employment accidents or symptoms of occupational disease due to harmful agents. In this respect, the Committee notes section 237(1) of the Labour Code providing for the entitlement to benefits of workers suffering from an accident at work or of occupational diseases as specified in the list of occupational diseases, which is to be established by the Council of Ministers, as well as stipulated in separate provisions of law. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to indicate whether diseases on the ground of exposure to ionizing radiation appear on the list of occupational diseases. The Committee, however, observes that benefits for workers are linked to employment accidents or emerging symptoms of occupational disease due to harmful agents. The Committee would like to draw the Government's attention to the fact that item 35(d) of its 1992 general observations under the Convention recommend alternative employment or social security measures for all workers having accumulated an effective dose beyond which detriment considered unacceptable is to arise, without making any reference to whether or not the worker shows already symptoms of diseases linked to ionizing radiation. The Committee further notes that the mentioned sections of the Labour Code do not provide for a transfer to another job in the case that the worker could not continue the work involving exposure to ionizing radiations. The Committee would therefore request the Government to specify the provisions providing for possible transfers of workers who cannot continue, because of medical reasons, their employment involving an exposure to ionizing radiations.