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

Maximum Weight Convention, 1967 (No. 127) - New Caledonia

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its last report.

Articles 3 and 7 of the Convention. Further to its previous comments noting the absence of legislation to limit the weight of loads which can be transported manually by adult men, women and young workers, the Committee notes with interest the adoption of Order No. 1211-T of 19 March 1993 under section 5 of Decision No. 34/CP of 23 February 1989 respecting minimum health and safety requirements for the manual handling of loads involving risks to workers, particularly to the back and lumbar regions. Section 3 of the Order states that "where recourse to manual handling is inevitable and the mechanical aids referred to in section 2(1) cannot be used, a worker shall only be allowed to carry regularly loads over 55 kg if he has been found fit by the occupational physician; it is prohibited to cause a single man to carry any load over 105 kg". Section 4 of the above Order provides that young workers under 18 years of age and women employed in the establishments referred to in section 1 of Decision No. 34/CP of 23 February 1989 may not carry, pull or push either inside or outside such establishments loads heavier than the weight limits established for the carrying of loads, of 15 kg for male workers of 14 or 15 years of age, 20 kg for those of 16 or 17 years of age, and 8, 10 and 25 kg respectively for women workers of 14, 16 and 18 years of age.

The Committee notes that this Order establishes limits which did not exist before. However, with regard to the maximum weight established for the carrying of loads by adult males, the Committee notes that the absolute limit is set at 105 kg and that a worker can even be permitted to carry regularly loads heavier than 55 kg if he has been found fit by the occupational physician.

The Committee is concerned by the question of the basis on which the occupational physician could reach the conclusion that a worker would be fit to carry manually on a regular basis loads over 55 kg without endangering his health or safety. In this respect, the Committee draws attention to Recommendation No. 128 concerning the maximum permissible weight to be carried by one worker, which states in Paragraph 14 that, where the maximum permissible weight which may be transported manually by one adult male worker is more than 55 kg, measures should be taken as speedily as possible to reduce it to that level. The Committee also refers to the publication Maximum weight in load lifting and carrying in the Occupational Safety and Health Series of the International Labour Office, in which it is indicated that 55 kg is the limit recommended from the ergonomic point of view for the admissible weight of loads to be transported occasionally by an adult male worker between 19 and 45 years of age. Similarly, it states that 15 kg is the limit recommended from an ergonomic point of view for the load permitted to be lifted and transported occasionally by adult women. The Committee hopes that the Government will keep the question under examination with a view to reducing the permitted weight of loads which may be carried by adult workers of both sexes and that it will indicate any measure taken to this effect.