Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Guarding of Machinery Convention, 1963 (No. 119) - Dominican Republic (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes the Government's report.

Article 1, paragraph 2. The Committee refers to sections 95 and 96 of Occupational Safety and Health Regulation No. 807, which use the term "machinery" without specifying whether it includes machinery operated by manual power.

The Committee notes that, according to the Government's report, the labour authorities are preparing to take decisions in order to determine the risk that such machinery represents for the physical safety of the worker and whether it should be considered to be machinery for the purposes of the application of the Convention.

The Committee wishes to refer to paragraph 27 of its General Survey on Safety in the Working Environment in which it emphasises the importance of such decisions, in view of the risks of injury involved in the use of such machinery.

The Committee requests the Government to report on the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to determine the risk of injury resulting from machinery operated by manual power and to decide on the application of the Convention to this machinery, and on the consultations that have been held in this respect with the organisations of employers and workers.

With regard to Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4, the Committee notes that section 141 of Occupational Safety and Health Regulation No. 807 obliges those manufacturing and selling machinery to provide guards whenever necessary.

In this connection, the Committee wishes to refer to paragraphs 82 et seq. of its 1987 General Survey on Safety in the Working Environment in which it indicates that "it is essential for the effective application of Part II of the Convention that the national legislation designate those parts of machinery that present danger and require appropriate guarding", and that the initial definition of the dangerous machinery and parts thereof should as a minimum cover all those parts enumerated in Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Convention.

The Committee notes that the enumeration of dangerous parts in sections 100 to 103 of Regulation No. 807 does not include all the parts explicitly enumerated in Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee also notes that, according to the Government's report, the labour authorities are evaluating all measures intended to give effect to the Convention.

The Committee hopes that among these measures, consideration will be given to the possibility of determining the cases in which those manufacturing and selling machinery are obliged to provide guards, and to determining the dangerous parts of machinery so as to include all the parts enumerated in the Convention.

The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect.

Article 15. In its report, the Government states that the labour authorities are examining the penalties to be applied in the event of the current provisions respecting the guarding of machinery not being observed.

The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the measures that have been taken to ensure that appropriate penalties are prescribed in the event of these provisions not being observed.

Article 16. The Committee notes that, according to the information supplied by the Government in its report, Regulation No. 807 is being revised in order to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the consultations that have been held with organisations of employers and workers in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the Convention.