Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Latvia (Ratification: 1994)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains information on the operation of the labour inspection system as a whole, and that it covers all sectors of economic activity.

Articles 6, paragraph 1(a), 14, 20, 26 and 27 of the Convention. For many years, the Committee has been regretting the absence in annual reports on the work of the inspection services of specific data on the activities of the labour inspectorate in agriculture, with the exception of statistics of occupational accidents and diseases, which are presented by sector of economic activity. In its previous comment, the Committee once again emphasized the value of publishing this information separately, either in the form of a separate report or as part of a general report, and it requested the Government, in the meantime, to provide the specific information on the agricultural sector required by each part of the report form.

It emerges from the Government’s reply that such measures have still not been taken. The Committee nevertheless notes that the only information provided on the work of the labour inspectorate in the agricultural sector indicates that such activities are focused on combating illegal employment and not on the conditions of work and the protection of workers while engaged in their work, as required by the Convention.

The Committee recalls that the specific characteristics of work in the agricultural sector involve specific occupational risks to which workers are exposed (for example, risks related to the handling and use of chemicals and agricultural machinery) and therefore requires specific skills from inspectors acquired through adequate training (Article 9, paragraph 3) and facilities (Article 15), such as transport and other facilities that take into account the distant and remote nature of agricultural undertakings, as well as appropriate equipment for measuring and analysis.

The statistics on accidents at work and occupational diseases in agriculture, contained in the annual report for 2006, reveal a not insignificant proportion of accidents resulting in the death of workers in the sector (eight in 2006 out of a total of 53 for all sectors combined) and of cases of registered occupational diseases (54 in 2006 out of a total of 569). The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that agricultural undertakings liable to inspection are inspected as often and as thoroughly as is necessary to ensure the effective application of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of agricultural workers while engaged in their work. It would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether the labour inspection services can base their work on a census of agricultural undertakings liable to inspection and the workers engaged therein so as to be able to plan the activities to be undertaken in the sector and allocate the necessary resources. If this is not the case, the Government is requested to take measures for this purpose and to keep the Office duly informed.