Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2007, Publicación: 97ª reunión CIT (2008)

1. The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government in reply to its previous comment with respect to Articles 31 and 36, paragraph 1(c). It also notes with interest the detailed information on numerous legislative amendments adopted to transpose into national legislation European Union directives on occupational safety and health covering specific risks and which further improve the legislative framework implementing Convention No. 152.

2. Article 2 of the Convention. Exemptions and tripartite consultations. The Committee notes the information provided with the Government’s report that Regulation 3(2)(d) of the Minimum Requirements for Safety and Health at the Workplace Regulations of 2002 (P.I. 174/2002) excludes from its scope work on fishing vessels. The Committee requests the Government to indicate: (i) the measures taken to ensure that safe working conditions are maintained on shipping vessels; (ii) the manner in which the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned were consulted regarding this exemption; and (iii) the reasons for this exemption.

3. Article 36, paragraph 1(b). Periodical medical examinations. The Government notes the information contained in the Government’s report that the Regulations providing for monitoring of workers’ health do not specify a maximum interval at which periodic medical examinations and special investigations must be carried out and that the physicians decide on such matters on a case by case basis. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the periodicity applied in practice for the required medical examinations.

4. Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee takes this occasion to bring to the Government’s attention a newly adopted ILO code of practice in this area, Safety and health in ports, Geneva, 2005. This code of practice is available, inter alia, through the ILO’s web site by following the link, http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/cops/ english/index.htm. The Committee also notes that in its response on the practical application of the Convention, the Government refers to the annual report of the Department of Labour Inspection for 2006, which was not, however, supplied with the Government’s report. Against this background, the Committee requests the Government to provide a general appreciation of the manner in which the Convention is applied in the country and attaches extracts from the reports of the inspection services, information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, the number and nature of contraventions reported and the resulting action taken, and the number of occupational accidents and diseases reported.