Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Guarding of Machinery Convention, 1963 (No. 119) - Malta (Ratification: 1988)

The Committee notes the information provided concerning effect given to Article 10 of the Convention.

The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not replied to its comments concerning Articles 6 and 7 that it has been repeating since 1992. The Committee must therefore reiterate its previous requests which were drafted as the following:

Article 6 of the Convention. Prohibition by national laws and regulations of the use of machinery without appropriate guards. Noting that the Government’s report contains no reply to its previous comments, the Committee requests the Government, once again, to indicate the measures that have been taken or are envisaged in order to prohibit, in accordance with the Convention, the use of machinery any dangerous part of which, including the point of operation, is without appropriate guards.

Article 7. Employer’s duty to ensure compliance. The Committee notes the information concerning the effect given in practice to the Occupational Health and Safety Authority and Act 2000 (Act No. XXVII of 2000), and in particular the statement that there are few offences reported and sanctions imposed for contraventions of the employers’ obligations relating to the use of dangerous machinery. It notes the Government’s statement that one of the problems is that machinery is often second-hand. The Committee requests the Government to indicate measures taken or envisaged to ensure employers’ obligations under Article 7 for second-hand machinery.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.