Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Protection against Accidents (Dockers) Convention (Revised), 1932 (No. 32) - Belgium (Ratification: 1952)

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Part V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes the detailed statistics concerning occupational accidents in all maritime ports and inland ports from 2015 to 2021. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the data of the Federal agency for occupational risks (Fedris) are established on the basis of the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE) code 52241, which includes dock work, but that dockworkers may be registered under other sub-sectors of NACE code 52, when the enterprise in which they were victim to an occupational accident is not classified in the appropriate activity sector, or when their main activity sector is located in another sector. However, most accidents involving dockworkers are registered under NACE sector code 52241. In the light of the statistics, the Committee notes that the total number of accidents per year recorded by Fedris fell slightly from 952 cases in 2015 to 524 cases in 2021 and are located mainly in the provincial ports of Anvers and East Flanders. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide statistical data on the occupational accidents recorded in national ports, as well as all other relevant information so that it can assess the application of the Convention in practice. It requests the Government to provide, for example, if available, extracts of the inspection reports on the number and nature of the violations detected, and to indicate, where relevant, any measures taken to further reduce the number of accidents.

Prospects for the ratification of the most up-to-date Convention. The Committee notes the indication that the ratification of the Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention, 1979 (No. 152) is being examined and requires the collaboration of various federal and regional public services. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on any new development in this regard.