Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Maximum Weight Convention, 1967 (No. 127) - Nicaragua (Ratification: 1976)

Article 7 of the Convention. Young persons and women. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indications that Ministerial Decision No. JCHG-08-06-10 of 2010 superseded Ministerial Decision No. VGC-AM-0020-10-06 of 2010 to which it referred in its last report. It notes that, according to the Government, paragraph (e) of the 2010 Decision, prohibiting hazardous work for all persons under the age of 18, prohibits those under the age of 18 from performing work involving physical loads. While the wording of paragraph (e) is different from that of the Convention, the Committee considers that it appears to be in conformity with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide an evaluation of the application of paragraph (e) of the Ministerial Decision in practice.

Application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that, in accordance with the first transitory provision of the Ministerial Decision on health and safety relating to the maximum weight of a load which may be transported manually by a worker, enterprises and work centres have a period of not more than one year to modify operations and processes and adopt measures for the manual transport of loads, and it asked the Government to provide information on the effect given in practice to this Decision and hence to the provisions of the Convention. It reminded the Government that this information should include summaries of the reports of the General Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health, which is responsible, pursuant to section 17 of the Decision, for supervising and verifying compliance with the provisions of the Decision, and statistics on the number and nature of contraventions reported and the action taken on them. The Committee once again notes that the Government has not provided this information. It once again requests it to do so, particularly on the manner in which the implementation of the first transitory provision is being ensured, and also to provide detailed statistics from the work carried out by the labour inspectorate to ensure the application of this Convention.