Introduction

Background to the survey

1. In accordance with article 19 of the Constitution of the international Labour Organisation, the Governing Body of the ILO decided at its 218th Session (November 1981) to request reports on the following instruments from States which have not ratified them: the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129); it also decided to ask all member States to supply reports on the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), the Labour Inspection (Mining and Transport) Recommendation, 1947 (No. 82), and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1969 (No. 133).

2. These reports, together with those submitted in accordance with articles 22 and 35 of the Constitution by States which have ratified one or both of the two Conventions, have provided an opportunity for the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations to make a general survey of the situation, in accordance with its usual practice.

3. This is the fifth time that labour inspection has been chosen as the subject of the reports to be submitted in accordance with article 19 of the Constitution, which is an indication of the importance that the Governing Body attaches to the ILO's standards on the subject. (Endnote 1) The five instruments covered by this survey were in fact classified by the Governing Body among the instruments to be promoted on a priority basis in its in-depth review of international labour standards in 1979. (Endnote 2) However advanced it may be, a country's labour legislation is liable to remain a dead letter if there is no system of labour inspection to enforce it. This is particularly important in times of economic recession when the improvement of working conditions tends to be pushed into the background.

4. Since its creation in 1919, the International Labour Organisation has devoted a great deal of attention to the question of labour inspection, and it may be useful here to recall briefly the main principles involved.

Standard-setting activities

5. As long ago as 1919, Part XIII of the Versailles Peace Treaty which set up the ILO included labour inspection among the general principles cited in Article 427, point 9, which states: "Each State should make provision for a system of inspection in which women should take part, in order to ensure the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the protection of the employed". At its First Session in 1919, the Conference accordingly adopted the Labour Inspection (Health Services) Recommendation (No. 5) advocating a system of inspection to supervise the health of workers. Four years later, the sole item on the Conference agenda was the establishment of general principles for labour inspection; the discussions led to the adoption of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1923 (No. 20), which in many ways paved the way for the future Convention No. 81.

6. Other Recommendations concerning labour inspection were adopted subsequently, including the Labour Inspection (Seamen) Recommendation, 1926 (No. 28), and the Inspection (Building) Recommendation, 1937 (No. 54). The need for a Convention on labour inspection, however, was increasingly felt, as only a text with mandatory effect could make the ILO's standard-setting activities in this field properly effective.

7. The question of labour inspection was placed on the agenda of the 26th Session of the Conference (1940) but, because of the war, it could not be taken up again until 1947, when the Conference adopted the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), and the Labour Inspection (Mining and Transport) Recommendation, 1947 (No. 82). At the same session it adopted the Labour Inspectorates (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 85). (Endnote 3)

8. Convention No. 81 relates only to industry and commerce, but not agriculture. In its 1966 general survey, the Committee expressed the view that "it would be highly desirable for the ILO to examine the possibility of adopting an instrument on labour inspection in agriculture which would supplement Convention No. 81". (Endnote 4) At the 50th Session (1966) of the Conference, the Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations regretted the limited scope of Convention No. 81, particularly in view of the fact that a large part of the world's population is engaged in agriculture, and because of the increasing mechanisation of the sector. It therefore strongly emphasised the importance of including the question of labour inspection in agriculture in the agenda of a forthcoming session of the Conference. The decision was taken a few months later by the Governing Body at its 167th Session (November 1966), as a result of which the Conference adopted the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention (No. 129) and Recommendation (No. 133) in 1969.

9. In addition to the texts dealing specifically with labour inspection, many Conventions contain standard provisions providing for the establishment of an appropriate system of inspection to ensure their implementation. Lastly, ILO Conferences and committees have adopted a wide variety of resolutions and conclusions on labour inspection. At its 70th Session (1984), for example, the Conference adopted conclusions concerning future action in the field of working conditions and environment, which stressed that "The improvement of working conditions and environment requires efficient labour administration and, in particular, effective labour inspection. Systems of labour inspection should be strengthened in order to improve their capacity to secure the enforcement of legal provisions, supply technical information and advice and identify new needs for action".

Subject-matter of the instruments covered by the general survey

10. Convention No. 81 provides for a system of labour inspection in industrial workplaces and, optionally, in mining, transport and commercial undertakings. Its provisions cover the organisation and operation of inspection services, staffing, training and working conditions, equipment, inspection visits and reports on inspection activities. Other provisions deal with the role of labour inspectors and their powers and obligations.

11. Convention No. 81 is supplemented by Recommendation No. 81, which contains further provisions concerning the preventive duties of labour inspectorates and their permanent educational role vis-à-vis employers and workers. Recommendation No. 82 provides that appropriate systems of labour inspection should be applied to mining and transport undertakings as rapidly as possible.

12. Convention No. 129 and Recommendation No. 133 are based largely on the standards established for industry and commerce in 1947, together with a certain number of innovations in the light of later experience. One of these innovations is that the Convention provides for the optional extension of the system of inspection to several new categories of workers or non-salaried persons. (Endnote 5) The Convention also authorises the inclusion of officials or representatives of occupational organisations in the system of labour inspection, under certain conditions. Other innovations include the strengthening of collaboration with employers and workers during inspection visits, the association of the labour inspection services with any inquiry on the spot into the causes of the most serious occupational accidents or occupational diseases, and the preventive control of new plant, new materials or substances or new processing methods liable to constitute a threat to health or safety. Recommendation No. 133, in turn, adds certain details as to the operation of the inspectorate, particularly as regards the training of inspectors, preventive control and annual inspection reports.

Other activities

13. The ILO has evolved a programme to help governments to strengthen their inspection services and train the necessary personnel. This has taken various forms, such as sending experts to countries that wish to reorganise or improve their inspection services, the preparation of draft legislation or regulations on the subject, the publication of monographs and manuals on inspection procedures, and the training of inspectors by means of national and regional courses, seminars and workshops. Reference should also be made to the activities of the regional labour administration centres (Endnote 6) set up with the assistance of the ILO in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, which serve as the main link for the implementation of the Organisation's inspection programme in the regions.

14. The importance of labour inspection in technical co-operation activities was reaffirmed in the International Programme for the Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment (PIACT) which adopts a global and multidisciplinary approach to the problems posed by the improvement of working conditions and the working environment. In this context, a new method of examining and improving labour inspection systems has been introduced. A tripartite team composed of three specialists visits countries at the invitation of the government to evaluate the effectiveness of their labour inspection systems and, specifically, "to evaluate objectively the organisation and functioning of labour inspection, the obstacles which inspection faces in performing its mission, practices concerning co-operation with employers' and workers' organisations, the procedures for starting legal action, the level of penal sanctions, the status of inspectors, their training, etc.". Missions of this type have been sent to Belgium (1977), Denmark (1979), France (1981), Federal Republic of Germany (1983), Italy (1982), Norway (1979) and the United Kingdom (1980-81). In view of the interest shown by the parties concerned, the ILO programme has decided to send similar missions to developing countries, and one has already visited Peru (1984).

15. Finally, the ILO has for some time been organising tripartite regional workshops on the effectiveness of labour inspection in order to assess the present state of inspection services, and especially the main problems and possible shortcomings that may be preventing them from functioning properly. Workshops along these lines have been held in the French- and English-speaking countries of Africa.

Ratification of Conventions Nos. 81 and 129

16. At the time of preparing this survey, Convention No. 81, which came into force on 7 April 1950, has been ratified by 105 States, (Endnote 7) 42 of them since the 1966 survey. Eighteen States have excluded Part II concerning labour inspection in commerce from their acceptance of the Convention.

17. Convention No. 129 came into force on 19 January 1972 and, by March 1985, had been ratified by 23 States.

18. Detailed information on the States bound by these instruments appear in Appendix I of this survey.

Available information

19. One hundred and forty countries, 132 States and 8 non-metropolitan territories have submitted reports on Conventions Nos. 81 and 129 and on Recommendations Nos. 81, 82 and 133, in accordance with article 19 of the Constitution, and on the two Conventions, where ratified, in accordance with article 22. Appendix II to this survey contains details of the countries that have sent reports. The Committee has also taken into account the comments of employers' and workers' organisations to which the government reports were communicated, in accordance with article 23, paragraph 2, of the Constitution. (Endnote 8) The comments addressed directly to the Office by these organisations were transmitted to the governments concerned for their observations. In some cases the comments were received by the Office and transmitted to governments at a date too close to the Committee's session for it to take account of any observations the governments may have made.

20. The nature and scope of the information supplied varies considerably from country to country. Some reports are very extensive while others offer a somewhat incomplete picture of how the instruments are implemented, and particularly of what the situation really is in practice. This may well be because statistics and other reliable data are not always available, particularly in countries where the system of inspection is proving difficult to operate. Moreover, the government reports do not always deal with all the instruments covered by the survey and, as far as Recommendations Nos. 81 and 133 are concerned, some governments merely referred to their reports submitted on Conventions Nos. 81 and 129 in accordance with article 22 of the Constitution. Consequently, in order to provide as accurate a picture as possible of how the principles set out in these instruments are being implemented, the Committee has as usual endeavoured to supplement the information sent by the governments by consulting other official sources, such as the annual reports on the activities of the inspection services, the ILO's technical assistance reports and the reports of the various tripartite missions set up to evaluate the effectiveness of labour inspection.

Arrangement of the survey

21. Following the introduction, Chapter I of the survey deals with the objectives, methods of application and scope of the instruments. Chapter II covers the role of the labour inspectorate and describes its various functions. Chapter III examines the organisation of the inspection services and the requirements that the inspectorate staff must meet, while Chapter IV deals with the powers and obligations of labour inspectors. Chapter V, which considers the means of action of inspection services, is particularly important, dealing as it does with how the inspectorate functions in practice; the Committee devotes particular attention to the inspectorates' staff, their material resources and the inspection visits in undertakings. Chapter VI discusses the imposition of penalties on persons infringing labour legislation and examines the inspection services' relations with the judicial authorities. Labour inspectorate reports are dealt with in Chapter VII and the role of employers' and workers' organisations in labour inspection in Chapter VIII. Chapter IX covers the difficulties and problems identified regarding ratification. A final chapter contains the conclusions that the Committee has drawn from its survey.

22. As in the past, the Committee refers to the situation in individual countries by means of footnotes. In view of the large number of countries surveyed, these notes, which are intended to throw light on the scope and implementation of the various instruments, contain only the most representative examples and do not claim to be comprehensive.

Endnotes

Endnote 2

Endnote 3

Endnote 4

Endnote 5

Endnote 6

Endnote 7

Endnote 8

Cross references
Constitution: Article 19
Constitution: Article 22
Constitution: Article 35
Conventions: C085 Labour Inspectorates (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947
Recommendations:R005 Labour Inspection (Health Services) Recommendation, 1919
Recommendations:R020 Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1923
Recommendations:R028 Labour Inspection (Seamen) Recommendation, 1926
Recommendations:R054 Inspection (Building) Recommendation, 1937