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

Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985 (No. 161) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1989)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. 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 matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

I. 1. Articles 2, 4 and 6 of the Convention. The Committee notes that Governmental Agreement No. 359-91, in force since 16 October 1991, sets forth Regulations for the Application of this Convention, including the requirement in all enterprises with over 25 workers to establish a health service within six months of the Agreement's entry into force. It further notes that Governmental Agreement No. 894-91 of 22 November 1991 suspended the above-mentioned Agreement for 90 days in order to permit consultations with employers and workers. The Government is requested to indicate whether Agreement No. 359-91 has re-entered into force and, if so, to indicate its effective date.

2. The Committee notes from the Government's report for the period ending 30 June 1991 that consideration was being given to establishing a tripartite Commission on International Affairs which would be responsible for adopting measures for the implementation of a national policy on occupational health services. The Government is requested to indicate whether this Commission has been created and to provide further information on any measures it might have taken, or envisages, to ensure the implementation of the national policy on occupational health services.

II. Article 3 and point VI of the report form. The Government is requested to indicate the number of enterprises in which occupational health services have already been established under Governmental Agreement No. 359-91 and the number of workers covered, as well as to indicate any other measures taken or envisaged to make occupational health services available to all workers who do not yet have access to such services, including those in undertakings of less than 25 workers.

III. Articles 1 and 5. The Committee notes that, according to the Government's report, the function of the health services established by the Governmental Agreement No. 359-91 are, inter alia, the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases and that section 2 of the Agreement enumerates as one of the functions of such services those which are listed in Article 5 of the Convention. It notes that the health services called for by the Agreement consist of the establishment of health clinics with nurses or doctors, but does not really indicate the manner in which such clinics fulfil the preventive functions set forth in Articles 1 and 5 of the Convention. The Committee would emphasize that the essential nature of the occupational health services envisaged by the Convention is a preventive one, responsible not only for examining workers, but also for advising on the requirements for establishing and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment to facilitate optimal physical and mental health in relation to work and on the adaptation of work to the capabilities of workers in the light of their state of physical and mental health. The Government is, therefore, requested to provide further information on the manner in which the health services to be established by virtue of the Governmental Agreement carry out the functions enumerated in Article 5 of the Convention.

IV. Article 8. The Committee notes that section 10 of the General Occupational Hygiene and Safety Regulations of 1957 provides for the creation in every workplace of safety organizations. The Government is requested to provide further information on the functioning of these safety organizations and the manner in which such organizations cooperate and participate in the implemention of the organizational and other measures relating to occupational health services in practice.

V. 1. Article 9, paragraph 1. The Committee would recall that this provision of the Convention calls for the establishment of occupational health services of a multidisciplinary nature so that such services might better carry out the advisory services necessary to maintaining a safe and healthy working environment. The Government is requested to indicate the measures envisaged to ensure that occupational health services are of a multidisciplinary nature.

2. Paragraph 2. The Government is requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that occupational health services carry out their functions in cooperation with the other services in the undertaking.

VI. 1. Article 10. The Government is requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the personnel of occupational health services enjoy professional independence from employers, workers, and their representatives, in relation to their functions.

2. Article 12. The Committee notes that section 5(d) of the General Occupational Hygiene and Safety Regulations of 1957 provides that the employer shall arrange for medical examinations of the workers. The Government is requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the surveillance of workers' health in relation to work involves no loss of earnings for them, is free of charge and takes place as far as possible during working hours.

3. Article 13. The Committee notes that section 7 of the General Occupational Hygiene and Safety Regulations provides that the employer shall warn workers of the danger to which they are exposed when they work with asphyxiating, poisonous or infectious materials, or materials that are particularly injurious to health. The Government is requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that workers are informed of all health hazards involved in their work.

4. Article 14. The Government is requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that occupational health services are informed of any known or suspected hazards in the working environment which may affect the workers' health.

5. Article 15. The Committee would recall that the purpose of this Article is to provide occupational health services with information which would enable them to identify whether there is any relation between the reasons for ill health or absence and any health hazards which may be present at the workplace and, thus, better fulfil their preventive function. The Government is requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that occupational health services are informed of occurrences of ill health amongst workers and absence from work for health reasons and to ensure that occupational health services cannot be required by the employer to verify the reasons for absence from work.