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

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

Articles 3 and 7 of the Convention. The Committee refers to its observation and, while awaiting the revision of the limits established in sections 3 and 4 of Order No. 1211-T of 19 March 1993 concerning the minimum health and safety requirements as regards the manual handling of loads involving risks for workers, particularly in the back and lumbar regions, it requests the Government to continue supplying information on the application in practice of the provisions respecting the maximum weight of loads which can be transported manually (point V of the report form) by indicating the number of cases in which occupational physicians have found workers fit to carry regularly loads above 55 kg, on any limits which may be placed on these loads and on the criteria applied by the occupational physicians. In this respect, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would also supply copies of any regulations, directives or codes of practice providing guidance to occupational physicians for their evaluation of the fitness of workers to carry regularly loads over 55 kg without endangering their health and safety, as well as information on any measures which have been taken or are envisaged to reflect in the texts applicable at the national level the development of knowledge in the field of occupational medicine.

Articles 4 and 6. The Committee notes that by virtue of section 2 of Order No. 1211-T of 19 March 1993, the employer must take appropriate organizational measures or use appropriate means, including mechanical equipment, to avoid recourse to the manual handling of loads by workers. However, when the manual handling of a load cannot be avoided, particularly due to the layout of the workplace where such handling is carried out, the employer has to take appropriate organizational measures or make available to workers the appropriate means, including accessories which give a good grip, and where necessary combine different types of measures, so as to limit the physical effort and reduce the risk involved in the operation. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in future reports on the effect given in practice to these provisions.