Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1990, publiée 77ème session CIT (1990)

The Committee notes that no report has been received from the Government. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matters which were raised in its previous direct request:

1. The Committee took note of the Government's first and second reports and noted with interest its statement to the effect that legislation to complete the Factories Ordinance Cap. 297 of 1950 was then being formulated. The Committee hopes that this legislation will be formulated and adopted in the near future and that the provisions will be designed to give full effect to the Convention, particularly with regard to the following points:

Article 1 of the Convention. The safety measures laid down by the Convention and the national legislation should cover all branches of economic activity; the exclusion of any particular branch is to be decided upon after consultations with the most representative organisations of employers and workers. (The Factories Ordinance does not cover all branches of activity.)

Article 5, paragraph 4. The national legislation should, in accordance with the Convention, provide for the representatives of workers in the enterprise to have the opportunity of accompanying inspectors supervising the application of the prescribed measures. (The 1955 Employment Ordinance only gives this opportunity to employers.)

Article 6, paragraph 2. Provisions should be adopted that lay down, in accordance with the Convention, that employers who undertake activities simultaneously at one workplace have the duty to collaborate in order to comply with the prescribed measures without prejudice to the responsibility of each employer for the health and safety of his employees.

Article 11, paragraphs 1 to 3. National regulations should provide, in the case of workers who are exposed or liable to be exposed to occupational hazards due to air pollution, for a preassignment medical examination and periodical examinations during employment; this medical supervision must be free of cost to the worker concerned. Furthermore, provisions should be adopted in order to protect workers whose continued assignment to work is found to be medically inadvisable, either by providing them with alternative employment, or arranging for them to receive social security benefits, in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article.

Article 12. National regulations should lay down the obligation to notify the competent authority of the use in the workplace concerned of all processes, substances, machinery and equipment which involve exposure to occupational hazards due to air pollution, and empowering the authority to authorise the use referred to above or prohibit it. (The Factories Ordinance only makes notification compulsory for enterprises using steam-driven machinery and boilers.)

2. The Committee also requests the Government to supply additional information on the following points in its next report.

Article 2, paragraph 2. The Government is requested to specify the reasons for which, when ratifying the Convention, it only accepted the obligations in respect of occupational hazards due to air pollution and to supply information on the position of the law and practice in respect of hazards due to noise and vibration and specify, in particular, the extent to which it is proposed to give effect to the Convention regarding the latter hazards.

Article 4, paragraph 2. The Government indicated in its report for the period ending October 1987 that the technical standards for the application of the prescribed measures would be established after occupational health and safety regulations have been adopted. The Committee hopes that these application procedures will be established in the near future and that the next report will indicate the progress achieved in this respect. (For the determination of technical standards the Government could consult the ILO Code of Practice on "Occupational Exposure to Airborne Substances Harmful to Health" (1980), and other ILO publications on this subject.)

Article 5, paragraphs 1 to 3. The Government indicated in its previous reports that the laws and regulations formulated were communicated to the most representative organisations of employers and workers. The Government is requested to indicate whether consultations with the above organisations also took place during the formulation of this legislation and whether provision was made for collaboration between employers and workers at all levels in the application of the safety measures, as laid down in the Convention.

Article 7, paragraph 2, and Article 13. The Committee has noted from the reports that workers may present proposals on safety measures to the Minister of Labour through the inspector of factories. It also noted that they may receive certain information through the general manager of the workplace or through labour inspectors. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report: (a) the extent to which and the manner in which the persons concerned are informed of potential occupational hazards in the working environment due to air pollution; (b) the specific instructions given to them on the measures available for the prevention and control of, and protection against, those hazards and the frequency with which these instructions are given; and (c) the type of vocational training given to these workers.

Article 8. The Government's previous reports did not contain information on the criteria established for determining the hazards of exposure to air pollution, although they indicated that the proposed exposure limits are those recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The Government also indicated that up to the present it had not been possible to revise the exposure limits applicable in the country due to a lack of appropriate instruments and technical knowledge.

The Committee has noted these indications and hopes that the Government will make every effort to establish criteria for determining the above occupational hazards, with the assistance of technically competent persons (some of whom should be designated by the occupational organisations concerned) and that it will also be able to revise and complete these criteria and limits on the basis of new national and international data. In this connection, the Government could also consult the ILO publication entitled "Occupational Exposure Limits for Airborne Toxic Substances" (2nd revised edition - Occupational Safety and Health Series, No. 37, 1980).

Article 9. The Government is requested to indicate whether appropriate technical measures are adopted respecting new plant or processes being designed or installed in order to eliminate, as far as possible, any hazard due to air pollution at the workplace, as provided for in the Convention.