Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Guarding of Machinery Convention, 1963 (No. 119) - Dominican Republic (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes the reports supplied by the Government. In particular, the Committee notes the request by the Government for technical assistance from the International Labour Office with a view to the revision of Occupational Safety and Health Regulation No. 807 to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention. The Committee therefore hopes that the Office will take the necessary measures to provide the Government with the technical assistance requested.

In the meantime, the Committee wishes to recall the various points on which the Government has to take measures with a view to giving effect to the respective provisions of the Convention.

1. Article 1, paragraph 2, of the Convention. The Committee recalls that measures will have to be taken to determine the hazards arising from machinery operated by manual power for the purpose of determining the applicability of the Convention to such machinery. It also recalls that this has to be done in consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers concerned.

2.  Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4. The Committee recalls that in its previous comments it noted that the enumeration of dangerous parts in sections 100 to 103 of Regulation No. 807 does not include all the parts referred to in Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee also noted that the labour authorities were evaluating all measures intended to give effect to the Convention. The Committee referred in this respect to paragraphs 82 et seq. of its 1987 General Survey on safety in the working environment, in which it indicates that "it is essential for the effective application of Part II of the Convention that the national legislation designate those parts of machinery that present danger and require appropriate guarding", and that the initial definition of the dangerous machinery and parts thereof should as a minimum cover all those parts explicitly referred to in Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Convention. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures to give effect to this provision of the Convention.

3. Furthermore, the Committee recalls that, among these measures, consideration should be given to the possibility of determining the cases in which those manufacturing and selling machinery are obliged to provide guards and to determining the dangerous parts of machinery so as to include all the parts explicitly referred to in the Convention under the terms of Article 4.

4. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that appropriate penalties are imposed in the event of failure to comply with current provisions on the guarding of machinery (Article 15, paragraph 1).

The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that, by virtue of Article 16 of the Convention, any national laws or regulations giving effect to the provisions of the Convention shall be made by the competent authority after consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers concerned and, as appropriate, manufacturers’ organizations.