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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Zimbabwe (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee refers the Government to its observation and asks it to provide additional information on the following points.

Article 3, paragraph 1(a), and Article 19 of the Convention. Method of supervision applied during visits to workplaces subject to inspection and reporting to the central authority. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that according to section 7 of Statutary Instrument 154 of 2003 (No. 1 of 2003) to apply section 126 of the Labour Relations Act (“Labour Act” since 2002), labour officers may enter an establishment where workers are employed and inspect the premises for conditions of employment, child labour, occupational health and safety, gender and other matters incidental thereto. The Committee notes that attached to the text is an inspection form setting out the method to be followed including the legislative prescriptions to be checked and the comments and action taken, and it would be grateful if the Government would provide duly completed samples of the form indicating the manner in which, and how often, the central inspection authority is informed of these supervisory activities by the inspectors, and would provide information on the action taken thereon.

Article 3, paragraph 2. Further duties entrusted to labour inspectors. In its previous comments, the Committee observed that labour inspectors appeared to retain too important a role in the overall procedure for dispute settlement, and drew the Government’s attention to Part III of Recommendation No. 81, advising that the functions of labour inspectors should not include that of acting as conciliator of arbitrator in proceedings concerning labour disputes. It notes in this context that, according to the Government, the issue of separating roles between labour inspectors and adjudicators of labour disputes is being looked into. The Committee strongly encourages the Government to ensure that such separation is implemented rapidly in both law and in practice to enable labour inspectors to devote themselves fully to the duties conferred on them in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, and it would be grateful if it would keep the Office informed of all developments in this regard.

Article 13. Powers of injunction of labour inspectors. The Committee notes that according to section 6 of the Factories and Works Act, inspectors are entitled to serve injunctions directly on employers where they find the workers’ health to be at risk, if it is established that the authority to which they are required to notify defects has not taken the necessary steps to eliminate them or to punish the employer in question. The Committee notes, however, that the legislation does not provide that measures with immediate executory force may be ordered either directly by the inspectors or, on their recommendation, by the competent authority in the event of imminent danger to the health or safety of the workers. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would take steps to supplement the legislation to this effect, in accordance with Article 13, paragraph (2)(b), including, if necessary, by means of instructions of a regulatory or administrative nature to labour inspectors, to keep the ILO informed of any progress in this respect and to provide copies of any relevant texts.

Articles 20 and 21. Annual inspection report. Noting that no annual report on the work of the inspectorate, as prescribed by Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention, has been received by the ILO since ratification of the Convention in 1993, the Committee trusts that the Government will ensure that effect is given as rapidly as possible to these provisions, if necessary with technical assistance from the ILO. It draws the Government’s attention to its General Survey of 2006 on labour inspection in which it explains the advisability of publishing and communication to the ILO of an annual report on inspection activities, and to Part IV of Recommendation No. 81 on the manner in which the requisite information might be presented to good effect.