Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre seguridad e higiene (trabajos portuarios), 1979 (núm. 152) - España (Ratificación : 1982)

The Committee notes the observations made by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations (CEOE), and by the Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CEPYME), which refer to matters examined by the Committee below.

New legislation to apply the Convention. The Committee recalls that it requested information from the Government on legislative and regulatory developments in the area of safety and health that would give effect to the provisions of the Convention. The Committee welcomes the detailed information provided by the Government on the adoption of a series of legislative and regulatory texts of a general nature that are also applicable to the port sector, and which contribute to the application of the Convention. These include: (i) Royal Decree 542/2020 amending and repealing various provisions on industrial quality and safety, introducing major amendments to the complementary technical instructions for the Regulation on lifting and handling devices, dealing specifically with tower cranes and self-propelled mobile cranes. The aim of the amendments is to strengthen the regulation and oversight of operators’ training and certification, and to improve safety in using cranes; (ii) Royal Decree 1076/2021, which amends Royal Decree 773/1997 on minimum safety and health requirements for workers’ personal protective equipment, transposing European Commission Directive 2019/1832; and (iii) The decision of 20 April 2023 of the Secretary of State for Employment and the Social Economy, approving the Spanish Strategy for Occupational Safety and Health 2023-2027, the aim of which is to achieve safe and healthy working environments which contribute positively to the health of workers and to progress in enterprises and society.

The Committee also notes that the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (INSST) has updated various technical guides of a general nature, which are applicable to the port sector. Those include the Technical Guide to evaluating and preventing hazards arising from the use of chemical agents at the workplace (2022). Moreover, the Government mentions the INSST Technical Guide to evaluating and preventing hazards arising from the use of work equipment, which includes provisions on the lifting of loads and has two specific appendices on the testing and selection of lifting equipment and accessories. Furthermore, in response to the Committee’s previous request, the Government provides a copy of the General Directorate of Labour Decision of 13 June 2019, registering and publishing the III Collective Agreement on State Ports and Port Authorities, in force from 2019 to 2026, which includes provisions giving effect to the Convention (Chapter VII).

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes that the CCOO, in its observations, stresses the need to collect specific information on the number of occupational accidents and diseases affecting dockworkers. The Government replies that due to the absence of a specific category for dockworkers, available data are estimations. The Government indicates that to provide information on the accident rate in the sector, it used data under occupational classification CON 981 (transport labourers and unloaders) affiliated with an enterprise in CNAE group 502 (maritime cargo transport), which registered seven minor accidents in 2022, mainly overexertion and falls. The Government also provides data on the activities of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS) for the period 2019–23, on occupational safety and health in the sector of “Activities related to maritime transport and navigable inland waterways” (CNAE 5222). The CEOE and the CEPYME, for their part, suggest that the ITSS should strengthen its assistance and information function before initiating enforcement action, promoting better collaboration with the social partners in the design of inspection plans and campaigns. They also give priority to the diffusion of ITSS instructions and criteria, to ensure that standards are applied correctly, and in order to provide a more accurate picture of the results of the inspections, recommend that the number of violations detected that are definitively confirmed should be made clear. The Government replies that the social partners participate actively in the planning of ITSS activities, that ITSS technical criteria are adequately published, and that responsibility for data on confirmed violations lies with the autonomous labour authorities.

The Committee takes due note of the information provided by the Government on the relatively low number of occupational accidents and on the activities of the ITSS. However, given the concerns expressed by the social partners, the specific nature of dock work and the importance of placing regular statistical data on the occurrence of accidents at the disposal of all interested parties to enable them to take corrective measures where needed, the Committee encourages the Government to envisage consultations with all interested parties of the sector, with a view to examining the most appropriate measures to: (i) collect specific information on occupational accidents and diseases exclusively affecting dockworkers; (ii) promote better collaboration with the social partners in the design of the inspection plans and campaigns; and (iii) evaluate the effectiveness of inspections, in particular the results thereof, to ensure that standards are correctly applied. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the application of the Convention in practice.