Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Suriname (Ratification: 1976)

Other comments on C081

Observation

Direct Request

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With reference to its observation, the Committee would like to raise the following additional points.

Article 7 of the Convention. Training of labour inspectors. The Committee notes the information on several training sessions provided for labour inspectors by the Training and Resource Centre, a centre for further training of labour inspectors, which has been operational since 2010. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information that is as detailed as possible on the training provided for labour inspectors (subjects covered, number of participants, duration, etc.).

Article 18. Penalties for violations of the legal provisions enforceable by labour inspectors. Referring to its previous comments with regard to the legal limitations of labour inspectors to collect fines, the Committee notes with interest that all labour inspectors have been trained and sworn in as special investigation officers, which will enable them to enforce penalties for violations of the legal provisions, once some remaining administrative arrangements have been taken. The Committee hopes that these administrative arrangements will soon be put in place and asks the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard. It asks the Government to indicate the impact of the increased powers of labour inspectors on the enforcement of penalties for labour law violations and to provide relevant statistics in this regard (number of violations detected, legal provisions to which they relate and number and nature of the penalties imposed).

Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. Publication and communication of annual labour inspection reports. The Committee noted the Government’s reference, in its previous report under the Convention, to a census in 2004 of establishments liable to inspection and the initiation of a second census during the last quarter of 2010, which was, however, interrupted because of a lack of financial resources and on account of electronic data processing problems. The Committee understands, from the information provided in the Government’s current report, that work on the data collection of the workplaces liable to inspection has continued and included the updating of available information as well as the registration of new workplaces on a large scale. Furthermore, information on new workplaces is regularly collected and updated through labour inspections. In this regard, the Committee also welcomes that the Government, with the help of the ILO Decent Work Team and Country Office for the Caribbean, is in the process of implementing a Labour Market Information System (LMIS) to ensure that up-to-date data are available on the workplaces liable to inspection.

However, the Government indicates that even if some data (for example on occupational accidents and diseases) are available, the publication of annual reports containing information on all the subjects listed in Article 21(a)–(g) of the Convention remains difficult, since there are no officials responsible at the labour inspectorate for their establishment. The Committee recalls its general observation of 2010, in which it stressed the importance it attaches to the publication and communication to the ILO of an annual inspection report, as an essential basis for evaluating in practice the activities of the labour inspection services and, subsequently, determining the means necessary to improve their effectiveness. The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort (including continued efforts to update the information on workplaces liable to inspection and the recruitment of sufficient personnel) to ensure that an annual inspection report is published and sent to the ILO, within the time limits set out in Article 20 of the Convention, containing the information required by Article 21(a)–(g). The Committee once again draws the Government’s attention to the possibility of requesting ILO technical assistance in this regard.

The Committee nevertheless asks the Government to provide with its next report statistical information that is as detailed as possible (industrial and commercial places liable to inspection, number of inspections, violations detected and penalties imposed, statistics of industrial accidents and cases of occupational diseases, etc.).