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

Maximum Weight Convention, 1967 (No. 127) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

Further to its observation, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the following points.

1. Articles 3, 4 and 7, paragraph 2, of the Convention. Maximum weight of loads which maybe transported manually by workers of both gender and workers under 18 years of age. The Committee notes that Decree No. 11802 of 30 January 2004, and Schedule 3, do not specify the maximum limits of loads which may be transported manually by adult male workers and that, accordingly, the limits determined in Schedule 3 in respect of women and young workers under 18 years of age cannot be fully evaluated. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to Paragraph 8 of the Maximum Weight Recommendation, 1967 (No. 128), and to the ILO publication entitled Maximum weights in load lifting and carrying (Occupational Safety and Health Series, No. 59, Geneva, 1988), in which it is indicated that 55 kg is the limit recommended from an ergonomic point of view for the admissible load for the occasional transport of loads by an adult male worker between 19 and 45 years of age. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the measures adopted or envisaged to set limits on the loads that are admissible for manual transport by adult male workers.

2. Article 5. Training of workers before their assignment with a view to preventing accidents. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that, by virtue of section 2 of Decree No. 11802, the enterprise shall take appropriate measures to ensure that any worker assigned to the manual transport of loads other than light loads receives, prior to such assignment, adequate training in working techniques, with a view to safeguarding their health and preventing accidents. It further notes the indications provided by Government in its report that the labour inspection service (doctors and engineers) provides advice and instruction to employers and workers on the manual transport of loads. It notes that although the Permanent Committee on Trade Union Training and Workers’ Education has not yet been established, workers’ organizations regularly organize seminars on protection and safety at the workplace, in cooperation with the ILO and the Arab Labour Organization. The Committee further notes the interest expressed by the Ministry of Labour in examining the issue of the application of this Convention with a view to training labour inspectors in this field, providing the necessary tools for this purpose and offering appropriate training to employers and workers in the context of ILO technical cooperation programmes. The Committee hopes that the Permanent Committee on Trade Union Training and Workers’ Education will be established in the near future, that the Government will continue to provide information on any training activity undertaken in this field and that the application of the Convention will be improved through training targeting labour inspectors, employers and workers, where possible, in the context of a technical cooperation programme undertaken by Lebanon and the ILO.