Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Maximum Weight Convention, 1967 (No. 127) - Poland (Ratification: 1973)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the legal texts adopted which continue to give effect to the Convention, including, in particular, the Ordinance of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 18 March 2009 in order to give further compliance to the provisions of the European Directive 90/269/EEC.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government concerning measures undertaken to strengthen the application of the Convention in practice, in particular the coordination of the “Lighten the load” campaign in response to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work’s campaign to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. The Committee welcomes the results of the National Labour Inspectorate’s inspections, after an intensive promotion and inspection campaign in the trade sector, indicating that in recent years there has been an improvement in the observance of provisions on work health and safety related to the manual handling of loads by women, and an improvement in compliance of on-the-job training in legal standards, particularly in large space retail establishments. The Committee notes that a significant problem of handling excessive loads still remains in health care institutions when taking care of patients, due to a lack of appropriate knowledge and awareness by workers performing these tasks as well as supervisors and work health and safety services. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on measures taken to strengthen the application of the Convention in practice, in particular with regard to the risk of musculoskeletal disorders from handling excessive loads in health care institutions.