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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Egypt (Ratification: 1956)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the attached documents, as well as the replies to its previous comments. Additional information is still desirable on the following points.

1. Prevention of employment accidents and occupational diseases. In its previous comments, the Committee expressed its concern at the high number of employment accidents, work-related deaths and occupational diseases reported by the statistics over recent years and requested the Government to indicate the action which had been taken or was envisaged with a view to ensuring greater safety at the workplace under the supervision of the labour inspection services. The Government was also requested to indicate the manner in which labour inspectors supervise the application of legal provisions respecting occupational safety and health and to describe the procedures applicable, particularly in the cases covered by Article 13 of the Convention. In its report, the Government cites in response a number of legal texts respecting the protection of young workers, as well as other texts on safety and health. The annual report for the period ending June 2000 contains statistics of violations mainly related to legal provisions respecting work permits and other fields of social legislation. The Committee does not therefore have at its disposal information enabling it to assess the action of the labour inspectorate intended specifically to reduce the number of accidents and cases of occupational diseases. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide detailed information on the means of action of labour inspectors in practice to supervise compliance at the workplace with the relevant legal provisions and the elimination by the employer or his or her representative of situations which they deem to constitute a potential threat or an imminent danger to the health or safety of the workers. The Committee hopes that the Government will also be in a position to provide copies or extracts from documents relating to cases in which the relevant procedures have been followed.

2. Functioning of the Tripartite Commission on Safety and Health in Enterprises. Noting the establishment, under the terms of section 128 of the Labour Code of 1981, of the Tripartite Commission responsible for issues relating to occupational safety and health, the Committee requests the Government to provide copies of any texts issued concerning its establishment, functions and operation, as well as any extracts of reports of its activities related to the matters covered by the Convention.

3. Specific role of women in the labour inspectorate (Article 8 of the Convention). Noting that, in response to the Committee’s previous comment on this point, the Government cites a paper published in 1999 by the General Administration and Regulation Authority in which it indicates that the proportion of women in the staff of the labour inspectorate is 9.17 per cent, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide a copy of this work and supply information in its next report on the special role of women labour inspectors.

4. Supervision of the safety and health conditions of young workers. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide a copy of Ministerial Order No. 229 of 2000 respecting the establishment of the inspection service for child labour, which the Government indicates is attached to the Central Authority for Workers Welfare, as well as any other text respecting its functions and operation and the activities that it may already have commenced.