Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Djibouti (Ratification: 1978)

1. The Committee notes with regret that, since 2000, the Government has submitted the same report which does not provide any new information in reply to its previous comments. The Committee understands, however, that a new Labour Code has recently been adopted (Act No. 133/AN/05 of 28 January 2006) and notes with interest that it contains provisions concerning occupational safety and health that constitute a general framework for the protection of workers against risks related to work. According to previously submitted information, the relevant legislation would also include Order No. 1010/SG/CG of 3 July 1968 concerning the protection of workers against ionizing radiation in hospitals and health-care institutions, or in Order No. 72/60/SG/CG of 12 January 1972 on occupational medicine. With reference to article 125(a) of the newly adopted law providing for the adoption of implementing legislation to regulate measures for the protection of safety and health in all establishments and companies covered by the Labour Code, on a series of different issues including radiation protection, the Committee requests the Government to clarify whether the abovementioned Orders remain in force, and, as appropriate, to transmit to it copies of any revised or complementing legislation once it has been adopted.

2. The Committee also notes the observations submitted by the General Union of Djibouti Workers (UGTD) on 23 August 2007 raising concerns regarding insufficient protection against ionizing radiation for employees at health-care centres. These observations were transmitted to the Government for comment on 21 September 2007, but no comments have been received to date.

3. Article 3, paragraph 1 of the Convention. Effective protection of workers against ionizing radiations; Article 6, paragraph 2.  Maximum permissible doses; Article 9, paragraph 2. Instruction of the workers assigned to work under radiations. With reference to the foregoing and its previous comments, the Committee recalls that all appropriate steps shall be taken to ensure effective protection of workers against ionizing radiations and to review maximum permissible doses of ionizing radiations in the light of current knowledge. In this context, the Committee notes that the UGTD indicates that, in practice, industrial undertakings using procedures involving ionizing radiation do not seem to apply uniform rules for the protection of workers against exposure thereto and that the workers engaged in, for example, health-care centres, are not sufficiently informed of the dangers related to their activity and are not protected in an adequate way. The Committee again draws the Government’s attention to the revised dose limits for exposure to ionizing radiation established on the basis of new physiological findings by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in its 1990 recommendations. The Committee requests the Government to respond to the observations made by the UGTD and urges the Government to take all appropriate measures, in the very near future, and with due account taken of the 1990 recommendations of the ICRP, to give full effect, in law and in practice, to these provisions of the Convention.

4. Article 7, paragraphs 1(b) and 2. Exposure limits for young persons between 16 and 18 years of age. Prohibition against employing young persons under 16 in work involving exposure to radiation. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that there were no provisions in relevant legislation prohibiting the employment of children under 16 years of age in radiation work and fixing maximum permissible doses for persons between 16 and 18 who are directly engaged in radiation work, as called for by these provisions of the Convention. The Committee urges the Government to take all appropriate measures to ensure the application of these provisions of the Convention in the near future.

5. Exceptional exposure of workers in situations of emergency. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee again draws the Government’s attention to paragraphs 16 and 17 of its 1992 general observation under this Convention which concern occupational exposure during and after an emergency. The Government is requested to indicate whether, in emergency situations, exceptions are permitted to the normally tolerated dose limits for exposure to ionizing radiation and, if so, to indicate the exceptional levels of exposure allowed in these circumstances and to specify the manner in which these circumstances are defined.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2008.]