Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Israel (Ratification: 1955)

Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. Publication of an annual labour inspection report. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that according to the Government, the Labour Inspection Division communicates to the ILO every two years a report on its activities, and publishes this information at a later date in the form of a “summary report” in Hebrew, in the framework of the general publications of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour as required by the Freedom of Information Act. The Committee takes note of the latest summary report published in 2009 with regard to the activities of the Labour Inspection Division in the year 2006 as well as the information provided by the Government on the activities of the Labour Inspection Division in 2009. The Committee notes that these reports consist of a list of the basic laws and regulations which apply in this area, as well as seven statistical tables on the total number of labour inspection staff, employed persons by sector of activity, inspection visits, tests made by the National Laboratory, fines imposed, injuries registered, and fatal accidents notified, broken down by sector of activity.

The Committee notes with interest the communication of an exhaustive and in-depth analysis of the evolution and causes of deadly accidents at work in the most hazardous sectors over a period of ten years. It also notes that despite the reduction in the number of labour inspectors and inspection visits, most of the 37 newly created posts have been earmarked for intensification of controls in the area of occupational safety and health.

The Committee emphasizes, as it did in its general observation of 2010, the essential importance it attaches to the publication and communication to the ILO within the prescribed time limits, of an annual labour inspection report as this tool offers an indispensable basis for the evaluation of the results of the activities of the labour inspection services and, subsequently, the determination of the budgetary and other means necessary to improve their effectiveness. It emphasizes that according to Article 20 of the Convention, the report has to be published within a reasonable time after the end of the year to which it relates and in any case within 12 months and has to be communicated to the ILO within a reasonable period after their publication and in any case within three months. Moreover, according to Article 21, the annual report should contain, at the very least, up-to-date information on the following subjects: the field of the legal and material competence of the labour inspection services (legal provisions defining their organization and powers); the human resources and institutional logistical and material means available to the institution; its field of personal competence (enterprises, establishments and other workplaces liable to inspection, as well as the workers occupied therein); its means of operation (inspections, notifications of violations or non-compliance, technical advice and information, observations, warnings, the initiation or recommendation of prosecutions, the imposition of penalties); finally, occupational risks (through data on industrial accidents and cases of occupational diseases). The Committee recalls that extremely valuable guidance on the presentation and analysis of this information is provided in the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81). The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the labour inspection authority publishes an annual report within the time limits prescribed by Article 20 of the Convention and containing detailed and up-to-date information on the subjects reflected in Article 21. The Committee would also be grateful if the Government would communicate the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act which relate to the publication of an annual labour inspection report.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.