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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Guyana (Ratification: 1966)

Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. Communication and content of the annual inspection report. The Committee notes with regret that the last annual report of the Industrial Relations Department of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security was received in 2006 and concerned the year 2004. It notes moreover with regret that the Government has still not provided a reply to the Committee’s comments on this report made in 2007, and repeated in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The Committee is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments, which read as follows:

Repetition

The Committee notes the communication, within the time limits prescribed by Article 20, of the annual report for 2004 of the Industrial Relations Department of the Ministry of Labour. However, it notes once again that information such as the number of industrial and commercial workplaces liable to inspection and the number of workers employed therein (Article 21(c)), which is essential for evaluating the extent to which the Convention is applied, is not always available. In addition, statistics of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease (Article 21(f) and (g)) have never been provided, which makes it impossible to assess the work of the labour inspectorate in the area of occupational safety and health. The Committee strongly hopes that the Government will not fail to take the necessary measures quickly, in particular by calling for the cooperation of other competent public and private institutions, in particular the tax services, to establish a register of workplaces liable to inspection to enable each inspection service to plan its interventions with a view to prevention, while continuing to respond to specific requests.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would also take measures to ensure that, in accordance with Article 14 of the Convention, labour inspectors are notified of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease so that, on the one hand, they are in a position to identify the occupational risks inherent in the various activities carried out in the workplaces liable to inspection and to take appropriate preventive action and, on the other, that they are able in turn to provide relevant information to the central inspection authority for the purposes set out in the Convention.

Finally, the Committee invites the Government to draw the attention of the central labour inspection authority to the valuable guidance provided in Part IV of Recommendation No. 81 on the manner in which the information required by Article 21 could be presented in order to reflect usefully the labour inspectorate’s work in practice.

The Committee recalls moreover that the obligation to provide an annual report on the work of the inspection services under Article 20 of the Convention is an ongoing one and requests the Government to publish such a report and communicate it to the ILO within the time limits set in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future and reminds the Government that it may avail itself of the technical assistance of the Office if it so wishes.

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