Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167) - Dominican Republic (Ratification: 1998)

1. The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s reports. It also notes that the Government is currently working on a draft legislation on risk prevention and on an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health in Industry Regulation No. 807 of 30 December 1966 and hopes that this legislation, once adopted, will give due effect to the relevant provisions of the Convention, including Article 5. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this regard.

2. Article 10. Workers’ right and duty to participate in ensuring safe working conditions. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that workers’ rights to participate in ensuring safe working conditions is regulated in section 68 of the Occupational Safety and Health in Industry Regulation No. 807 of 1966, providing cooperation between employers and workers through the establishment of safety and health committees. However, the Committee notes that there appears to be no provision in national legislation ensuring workers right and duty to participate in ensuring safe working conditions to the extent of their control over the equipment and methods of work and to express views on the working procedures adopted as they may affect safety and health. Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures envisaged or adopted to ensure the full application of this Article of the Convention.

3. Article 12, paragraph 1. Right to removal. The Committee notes that section 139 of the Occupational Safety and Health in Industry Regulation No. 807 of 1966 provides for the duty of workers to inform their supervisor immediately when they have good reason to believe that there is an imminent and serious danger to their safety or health and for the duty of  employers to take immediate steps to stop the operation and forbid entrance to the industrial site. However, the Committee notes that the Occupational Safety and Health in Industry Regulation does not provide that a worker shall have the right to remove themselves from danger when they have good reason to believe that there is an imminent and serious danger to their safety or health. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure workers’ right to remove themselves when they believe there is an imminent and serious danger to safety and health.

4. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of the following points:

–           Articles 1 and 7. Application of the Convention to self-employed workers;

–         Article 8. Coordination of safety and health measures when two or more employers undertake activities simultaneously at one construction site;

–         Article 13. Appropriate precautions to protect persons at or in the vicinity of a construction site from all risks that may arise from such site;

–         Articles 14 and 15. Inspection of scaffolds, lifting appliances and gear in accordance with the Convention;

–         Articles 16. Transport, earth-moving and materials-handling equipment;

–         Articles 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. Cofferdams and caissons; work in compressed air; structural frames and formwork; work over water and demolition work;

–         Article 27. Protection of workers and other persons against risk of injury;

–         Article 29. Fire precautions; and

–         Article 31. Removal for medical attention of workers who have suffered an accident or sudden illness.

5. Part VI of the report form. The Committee notes that the Directorate General for Industrial Occupational Safety and Health of the State Secretariat of Labour is the competent authority in charge of inspections. The Committee notes that, in its latest report of 2005, the Government indicates that 71 infringements to occupational safety and health measures were verified representing 6 per cent of the total infringements. The Committee notes with satisfaction a decreasing trend in the number of infringements to occupational safety and health measures verified since 1999. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the number of accidents and diseases reported in the construction sector. It also requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to prevent accidents in the construction sector, especially those caused by falls from heights. The Government is also asked to continue to provide detailed information on labour inspection and a general appreciation of the application of the Convention.