Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Safety Provisions (Building) Convention, 1937 (No. 62) - Central African Republic (Ratification: 1964)

1. For a number of years, the Committee has been drawing attention to the need to adopt legislation to give effect to the provisions of the Convention.

In its previous observations, the Committee noted that a draft Decree had been prepared as a result of the direct contacts with the competent government departments which took place in 1978 and 1980, but that the draft had not yet been adopted. In its last report, received in June 1988, the Government indicates that owing to the far-reaching changes in the country's institutions, the announced drafts have been withdrawn and again submitted to the competent authorities, that they are now before the above-mentioned national authorities as part of the legislative process leading to adoption and that the Government will inform the ILO in due course of any new developments in the situation.

In the absence of any further information on measures which may have been taken to give effect to the Convention which was ratified more than 25 years ago, the Committee again draws attention to the need to adopt specific provisions to ensure the safety of workers in the building industry, in accordance with the following provisions of the Convention: Article 7, paragraphs 1, 2, 5 to 8 (construction, use and inspection of scaffolds), Article 8, paragraphs 1(c) and 2(a) and (b) (standards for construction and maintenance of platforms), Article 9, paragraph 2 (suitable precautions when persons are employed on a roof), Article 10, paragraphs 3 to 5 (adequate lighting of all workplaces; precautions to prevent danger from electical equipment; rules regarding stocking of material), Article 12, paragraph 2 (periodical examination of chains and similar devices), Article 13, paragraph 2 (prescription concerning the age of persons in control of hoisting machines or giving signals to operators), Article 14, paragraphs 1 to 3 (safe working load to be ascertained and plainly marked), Article 16 (use of personal safety equipment), Article 17 (prompt rescue of persons working in proximity to any place where there is a risk of drowning), Article 18 (prompt first-aid treatment of all injuries sustained during the course of work).

The Committee trusts that a text giving effect to these provisions will be adopted in the very near future and that the Government will provide a copy.

2. Articles 4 and 6. The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that a group of engineers and technical experts coming under the Ministry of Public Works is responsible, in collaboration with labour inspectors, for monitoring the application of safety provisions in the building industry, as required by Article 4 of the Convention. Furthermore, with regard to Article 6, which provides that statistical information on the number and classification of accidents in the building industry shall be communicated to the ILO, the Government indicates in its report that the Labour Department has no reliable statistics on the subject at present.

In these circumstances, the Committee trusts that the Government will shortly provide more detailed information on the practical activities of the group of engineers and technical experts and of the labour inspectorate with regard to the monitoring of compliance with safety provisions in the building industry, indicating the accidents reported and measures taken. [The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1990.]