Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

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

1. Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Convention. In its previous direct request the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to determine the risk that machinery operated by manual power represents for the physical safety of the worker and whether the Convention should apply to such machinery. It also asked for information on the consultations held on this subject with the organizations of employers and workers.

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

In this connection, the Committee referred to paragraphs 82 et seq. of its 1987 General Survey "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 a 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(3) and (4) of the Convention.

The Committee noted 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. It also noted that the labour authorities are evaluating all measures intended to give proper effect to the Convention.

The Committee expressed the hope that among these measures, consideration would 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 expressly enumerated in the Convention.

3. The Committee also asked the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that appropriate penalties were imposed in the event of failure to comply with current provisions on the guarding of machinery. The Committee notes with interest that, according to the information in the Government's report, the National Health and Safety Directorate of the Ministry of Labour has requested technical assistance from the ILO in revising Regulation No. 807 on Occupational Safety and Health in order to update it and harmonize it with the provisions of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the revised Regulation on Occupational Safety and Health will enable effect to be given to the provisions of the Convention. In this connection the Committee points out to the Government that under Article 16 of the Convention, any national laws or regulations giving effect to the provisions of the Convention must be framed by the competent authority after consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers concerned and, as appropriate, manufacturers' organizations.