Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Barbados (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the Government's report as well as the annual report from the Department of Labour for 1994 and 1995 containing information and statistics in respect of Article 21(a) to (f) of the Convention.

The Committee notes the Government's comments on Article 18, under which inspectors may initiate proceedings against employers in cases of contravention; however, to be dissuasive, the penalties imposed should be more severe. In this connection, the Committee refers to paragraph 263 of its 1985 General Survey on labour inspection, and invites the Government to consider the adoption of a method of determining the levels of fines whereby they may be periodically reviewed.

The Committee notes with interest from the statistics of the labour inspection, provided in the annual report mentioned above, that in 1994 inspectors carried out 725 visits in the 873 establishments liable to inspection. Noting that the number of inspections carried out following occupational accidents (94) represents less than a fifth of the total number of accidents occurring during the same period (522), the Committee asks the Government to clarify the criteria for determining occupational accidents which initiate inquiries by the inspection services.

The Committee wishes to draw the Government's attention to the time limits set forth under Article 20 for the publication of the annual inspection reports and their transmission to the ILO. It asks the Government to take the measures necessary to give full effect to this provision and to provide statistics on occupational diseases in the forthcoming annual report in conformity with Article 21(g).