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

Occupational Cancer Convention, 1974 (No. 139) - Ireland (Ratification: 1995)

Article 5 of the Convention. Medical examinations during the period of employment and thereafter. The Committee notes that schedule 4 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Carcinogens) Regulations 2001 sets out the practical recommendations for the health surveillance of employees, including keeping records of an employee’s medical and occupational history, and where appropriate, biological monitoring, as well as detection of early and reversible effects. Further tests may be decided upon for each employee who is the subject of health surveillance, in the light of the most recent knowledge available to occupational medicine. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken, in law and in practice, to ensure that workers are provided with such medical examinations or biological or other tests or investigations, as are necessary to evaluate their state of health in relation to occupational hazards not only during the period of employment but also thereafter.

Article 6(a). National legislation. The Committee notes the adoption of the Chemicals Act 2008, amended in 2010; the Safety, Health and Welfare (Exposure to Asbestos) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 386 of 2006), amended in 2010 (S.I. No. 589 of 2010); and the Chemicals (Asbestos Articles) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 248 of 2011). In addition, the Government states that a classified list of biological agents relating to the Safety, Health and Welfare (Biological Agents) Regulations 1994 (S.I. No. 386 of 1994) (amended in 1998) is being updated and will be published in 2012, along with an associated guidance document and a code of practice. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the legislative measures adopted in application of the Convention.

Part IV of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes that carcinogens were relevant in 24 percent of inspections by the Health and Safety Authority in 2010, but adequately addressed in only half of these. The Government has indicated that written advice was issued in all cases where risk assessments were deemed inadequate and remedial measures were reviewed prior to closing out inspections. The Committee welcomes the review of the Occupational Diseases Reporting System, commissioned by the Health and Safety Authority in 2007. The Government indicates that the review identified a weakness in the data regarding occupational cancers in that unless the cancer is unlikely to have a non-occupational cause, such as in the case of mesothelioma which is due to asbestos exposure, attribution of cancer to an occupational cause is difficult. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the practical application of the Convention.