Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Belize (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes the Government’s reports. It also notes the information contained in a mission report on occupational safety and health prepared by an ILO expert in 1996 and the information provided previously in an annual inspection report. All of the information available shows that there are inadequacies in the application of the Convention related both to the lack of human and financial resources and the inadequate structures and legislation.

1.  Need to establish a labour inspection system (Articles 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the Convention).  The Committee notes that the functions of labour inspection are discharged by officials who are also responsible for many other duties related to labour administration. The Committee wishes to emphasize that the Convention requires the maintenance of a system of labour inspection in industrial workplaces under the supervision and control of a central authority. This authority is required to make appropriate arrangements for cooperation between the inspection services and other government services and public or private institutions engaged in similar activities, and collaboration between employers and workers or their organizations and the inspection services. The inspection staff should also be composed of public officials who are capable of discharging the functions of labour inspection, and whose status and conditions of service are such that they are assured of stability of employment and are independent of changes of government and of improper external influences. The Committee also recalls the obligations and prohibitions which should guarantee the impartiality of inspectors and their credibility, thereby contributing to the effectiveness of their work (Article 15), and it considers that, in view of the excessive diversity in the duties discharged by labour officials, the conditions for the application of the Convention are not fulfilled. In its 1985 General Survey on labour inspection, it emphasized that, by their very nature, labour inspection services require an institutional framework based on laws or regulations (paragraph 28). It therefore requests the Government to take measures in the near future to bring its law and practice into conformity with the above provisions of the Convention in order to ensure the effective operation of the labour inspection services. It requests the Government to keep the ILO informed of the measures taken for this purpose and the results achieved.

2.  Occupational safety and health (Articles 13 and 14).  The employment accident statistics to which the ILO expert had access during his mission show excessively high figures for cases of death and severe invalidity caused by employment accidents. According to the information contained in the above mission report, the trade union organizations expressed their concern at the overall situation in the field of occupational safety and health. Obsolete and inadequate legislation, a social insurance policy which is not effective in encouraging employers to invest in the prevention of occupational risks and their negligence in informing the labour administration of the occurrence of employment accidents are all obstacles to the achievement of the objectives of the Convention in the field of occupational safety and health. In line with the opinion expressed by the trade union organizations, the ILO consultant recommended an in-depth revision of the relevant legislation and the adoption of an Act comprehensively addressing occupational safety and health issues and which would apply to all workplaces, employers and workers. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would keep the ILO informed of any measures intended to give effect to the wishes of the trade unions and the recommendations of the ILO technical consultant in this respect and to indicate any progress which is achieved.