Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

Articles 3(1) and 6 of the Convention. All appropriate steps to ensure the effective protection of workers, in the light of available knowledge and maximum permissible doses of ionizing radiation. 1. Lens of the eye. The Committee notes that table 2 of Decree No. 11802, regarding the organization of prevention, safety and professional hygiene, sets the dose limitation to the lens of the eye as 150 mSv per year. With reference to paragraph 32 of its 2015 general observation on the application of Convention No. 115, the Committee requests the Government to take measures to ensure that the dose limits to the lens of the eye are set as 20 mSv per year, averaged over defined periods of five years, with no single year exceeding 50 mSv per year.

2. Protection for pregnant and breastfeeding workers. With reference to paragraph 33 of its 2015 general observation on the application of Convention No. 115, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on any measures to establish the maximum permissible dose for workers who are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Articles 6(1), 7(1)–(2) and 8. Dose limits for persons between 16 and 18 years. The Committee previously requested the Government to indicate whether Decree No. 700 of 1999 had been revised with a view to setting limits for workers under the age of 18 years involved in ionizing radiation work and prohibiting the engagement of workers under the age of 16 in such work. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in response, that Decree No. 700 has been repealed and replaced by Decree No. 8987 of 2012. Decree No. 8987 provides that engaging workers under the age of 18 in activities where they are exposed to carcinogenic substances, radiations or substances that may cause infertility or birth defects is totally prohibited (section 1 and Annex 1). It also notes that section 21 of Decree No. 11802 sets general dose limits for workers over 18 years of age in the terms of table 2 of the Decree’s Annex. However, the Committee notes that Annex 2 of Decree No. 8987, concerning a list of work activities which are likely to harm the health, safety or morals of workers under the age of 16 years, and are allowed for workers aged 16 and over, includes those exposing workers to atomic or ionizing radiation, provided that these workers are offered full protection of their physical, mental and moral health and that these minors receive special education or appropriate vocational training, with an exception of the works totally banned in the terms of Annex 1. With reference to its 2015 general observation on the application of Convention No. 115, the Committee recalls that for occupational exposure of apprentices aged 16 to 18 years of age who are being trained for employment involving radiation and for exposure of students aged 16 to 18 who use sources in the course of their studies, the dose limits are: (a) an effective dose of 6 mSv in a year; (b) an equivalent dose to the lens of the eye of 20 mSv in a year; and (c) an equivalent dose to the extremities (hands and feet) or to the skin of 150 mSv in a year. The Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures, including in the course of the ongoing labour law reform, to ensure that specific dose levels are fixed for workers between the ages of 16 and 18 engaged in radiation work.

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