Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention, 1979 (No. 152) - Brazil (Ratification: 1990)

Revision of the legislation. Risk management. Certification of lifting appliances and of loose gear, regularity of examination and testing. The Committee notes the revision and updating in 2022 of Regulatory Standard No. 29 – Health and Safety in Dock Work (NR-29), with a view to adopting preventive safety and health measures in dock work and providing guidance for occupational risk management in workplaces covered by the Standard. The new wording of NR-29 provides that the port operator, employer, service provider, port administration and Labour Management Body (OGMO) are required to develop their own Risk Management Programmes (PGR) and to exchange information on labour risks affecting port operations so that they can be taken into account in the development and implementation of their respective Risk Management Programmes (section 29(4)). In this regard, the Committee observes that this new requirement to develop a Risk Management Programme, as introduced by NR-29, explicitly assigns responsibilities for the management of risks in ports to persons and bodies related to dock work and improves the supervision of worker protection measures, in accordance with Article 4(1) of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation in practice of the Risk Management Programmes, including examples of those adopted by the Labour Management Body (OGMO), the port administration, port operators, employers and service providers, and to specify the scope of the Programmes.

Article 23(1) of the Convention. Periods at which all lifting appliances and loose gear shall be tested and examined. The Committee notes that, while the former NR-29 provided that the equipment and loose gear of shore-based appliances used for lifting cargoes should be inspected and tested periodically by a duly registered person or association at least once every twelve months (sections 29(3)(5)(10) and 29(3)(5)(10)(1)), this requirement is not set out in the new NR-29. The Committee recalls that Article 23(1) of the Convention requires every lifting appliance and every item of loose gear to be examined and certified by a competent person at least once in every 12 months. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the provisions (in regulations or other texts) that ensure that lifting appliances and every item of loose gear shall be periodically thoroughly examined and certified at least once in every 12 months, in accordance with the requirements of Article 23(1) of the Convention. If such provisions do not exist, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures for the adoption of regulations which give effect to this Article of the Convention.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide any information that it considers useful on the manner in which the Convention is applied, including statistical data on the inspections carried out, the number of workers covered by the legislation, and the number and nature of the contraventions reported, the resulting action taken and the number and nature of occupational accidents and diseases reported.