Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985 (No. 161) - Brazil (Ratification: 1990)

The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government in its first and second reports. It requests the Government to provide further clarification, in its next report, on the following points:

Article 3, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, of the Convention. The Committee notes that Regulation No. 4 (NR4) provides for the setting up of specialized services in safety engineering and occupational medicine for the promotion of workers' health in both public and private enterprises. The Government has indicated in its report, however, in reply to points IV and V of the report form that it is not able to specify the number of workers covered by the legislation applying the Convention. The Government is requested to provide information on the plans drawn up for the establishment of occupational health services for the workers not covered by the existing schemes and to report on any progress made in the implementation of these plans.

Article 15. The Committee notes that Regulation No. 4 provides for the specialized services in safety engineering and occupational medicine to analyse and register data concerning occupational accidents and diseases. The Government is requested to indicate the manner in which these services are informed of occurrences of ill health amongst workers and absences from work for health reasons, whether or not an occupational disease is registered, in order that they might better analyse the factors in the working environment which might affect workers' health. The Government is also requested to indicate the measures taken to ensure that the personnel in these services are not required by the employer to verify the reasons for absence from work.

Point VI of the report form. The Government is requested to provide information on the practical application of the Convention, including extracts from inspection reports, statistics on the number of specialized services created by virtue of NR4, the number of workers covered by the services created within the framework of the comprehensive health scheme established under Act No. 8080, and to indicate any difficulties which might have arisen in the implementation of the relevant legislation.