Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Workmen's Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Convention (Revised), 1934 (No. 42) - Honduras (Ratification: 1964)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the observations received in August 2011 from the Single Confederation of Workers of Honduras (CUTH). The CUTH refers to the conditions faced by Miskito workers who engage in fishing activities in the form of diving for crayfish and prawn. These observations, together with the Government’s reply received on 9 October 2012, are examined in relation to the application of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169).

The Committee has been referring for many years to problems in the operation of the system for the notification of industrial accidents and, in particular, occupational diseases. The Committee notes the very low number (66) of occupational diseases which were the subject of compensation between 2007 and 2012. It also notes that the Government, in its last report, does not provide any information on the reasons for the lack of applications for compensation for temporary or permanent incapacity with respect to the hundreds of cases of acute poisoning from organophosophorus pesticides recognized as being of occupational origin to which the Government referred in its previous report.

In the light of the above, the Committee notes with concern that the Government makes no further mention in its last report of its intention to reform the legislation by introducing the obligation to notify occupational diseases. The Committee therefore strongly encourages the Government to adopt legislative measures and practices in order to improve the operation of the system for the prevention, registration and compensation of occupational diseases.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2014.]