Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1991)

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

1. The Committee requests the Government to supply details on the following points.

Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee notes from the Government's report that the assessment of the safety and health risks involved for workers which must serve as the basis for adoption of national legislation ensuring the application of the provisions of the Convention, has not yet been carried out. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated with a view to fulfilling the obligation established in this provision and to specify to what extent the review of provisions of the general regulations on occupational safety and health, which has been undertaken, will serve for such risk assessment.

Article 5. The Committee notes that no technical standards or codes of practice on occupational safety and health have been adopted. It also notes that, according to section 11(b) of the general regulations on occupational safety and health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the Guatemalan Social Security Institute must lay down technical recommendations for the purpose of eliminating risks of accident and disease and promote the adoption of measures to protect the life, health and physical integrity of wage-earners. The Committee requests the Government to indicate by what means the national legislation designed to give effect to the Convention is applied in practice and how due regard is given to the relevant standards on occupational safety and health adopted by recognized international organizations in the field of standardization.

Article 7. The Committee notes that section 198 of the Labour Code lays down the obligation for the employer to apply the measures indicated by the Guatemalan Social Security Institute with a view to preventing occupational accidents and diseases. It requests the Government to indicate the provision which places an obligation on self-employed persons to comply with the prescribed safety and health measures at the workplace.

Article 24. The Committee notes that demolition work is carried out under the supervision of inspectors of the Guatemalan Social Security Institute. It requests the Government to indicate what means are provided to make supervision by these inspectors compulsory during such work and what are the provisions prescribing the appropriate precautions, methods and procedures, including those for the disposal of waste or residues, where the demolition might present danger to workers or to the public.

Article 26, paragraph 3. The Committee notes that section 53 of the General Regulations provides for the adoption of regulations concerning electrical installations and periodic checking in certain categories of enterprise. The Committee requests the Government to describe the standards applied at national level in regard to the laying and maintenance of electrical cables on construction sites.

Article 28, paragraph 3. The Committee notes that sections 55 and 56 of the General Regulations on Occupational Safety and Health lay down the conditions which must be present in the workplace where there may be risks to health, due to dust, gas, or flammable or harmful vapour. Please describe the measures provided for areas in which there may be an oxygen deficiency.

2. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply further information on the application of the following points.

Article 3. Consultation of the most representative organizations of employers and workers concerned on the measures to be taken to give effect to the provisions of the Convention.

Article 8. Sharing of responsibility between two or more employers undertaking activities simultaneously at one construction site in regard to the application of prescribed safety and health measures.

Article 9. The need to take into account the safety and health of the construction workers in accordance with national laws, regulations and practice, during the design and planning of a construction project.

Article 10. The rights and duties of workers to participate in ensuring safe working conditions and to express views on the working procedures adopted.

Article 12, paragraph 2. The obligation on the employer to stop the operation and evacuate workers as appropriate where there is an imminent danger to their safety.

Article 13, paragraph 2. The provision and maintenance of safe means of access to and egress from all workplaces.

Article 14, paragraphs 1, 2 and 4. The obligation to provide and maintain a safe and suitable scaffold where work cannot safely be done on or from the ground or from part of a building; the provision of suitable and sound ladders in the absence of alternative safe means of access to elevated working places; the inspection of scaffolds by a competent person.

Article 15, paragraphs 1(b), (d), (e) and 2. The obligation to install and use correctly lifting appliances and items of lifting gear, to have them examined and tested by a competent person at such times and in such cases as shall be prescribed, to have them operated by workers who have received appropriate training, and not to use them to raise, lower or carry a person unless they are constructed, installed and used for that purpose.

Article 16, paragraphs 1(c) and (d), and 2. Proper use of transport, earth-moving and materials-handling equipment; appropriate training of workers operating such machines; provision of safe and suitable access ways for such machines; traffic control measures.

Article 17. Good design, construction and appropriate use of plant, machinery and equipment, including hand tools, both manual and power-driven; appropriate training for workers operating them; obligation on the manufacturer or the employer to provide adequate instructions for safe use; obligation to submit pressure plant and equipment for examination and testing by a competent person.

Article 18. Obligation to take the necessary measures to avoid (i) the fall of workers and tools or other objects or materials where the height of a structure or its slope exceeds that prescribed; (ii) the fall of workers through roofs or fragile material.

Article 19(b), (c), (d) and (e). Adequate precautions taken in any excavation, shaft, earthworks, underground works or tunnel to guard against dangers arising from the fall of persons, materials or objets; to maintain any fumes, gases, vapours, dust or other impurities at levels which are not dangerous or injurious to health; to enable workers to reach safety in the event of fire, or an inrush of water or materials; to avoid risk to workers arising from possible underground dangers.

Article 20. Quality of the construction, suitability and soundness of cofferdams and caissons; provision of adequate means for workers to reach safety in the event of an inrush of water or material; provisions regulating the supervision by a competent person during the construction, positioning, modification or dismantling of a cofferdam or caisson and the inspection of all cofferdams and caissons.

Article 21. Provisions regulating work in compressed air, the nature of prescribed medical examinations and supervision of the conduct of operations by a competent person.

Article 22. Provisions prescribing supervision by a competent person during the erection of structural frames and components and stipulating the formwork, false work and shoring shall be so designed, constructed and maintained that it will safely support all loads that may be imposed on it.

Article 27. The storage, transport, handling and use of explosives under conditions prescribed and by a competent person to ensure that workers and other persons are not exposed to risk of injury.

Article 29. Provision of sufficient and suitable storage for flammable liquids, solids and gases on the construction site.

Article 30, paragraphs 2 and 3. Obligation on the employer to provide the workers with the appropriate means to enable them to use the individual protective equipment and to ensure its correct use.

Article 32, paragraphs 1 and 2(b). Obligation to provide an adequate supply of drinking-water at or near every construction site; obligation to provide facilities for the storage and drying of workers' clothing.

Article 34. Reporting to the competent authority of occupational accidents and diseases.