A Guide to Selected Labour Inspection Systems (with special reference to OSH)

The Guide would present a useful tool for labour inspectors, workers and employers as well as researchers and academicians with a view to better understanding the implications and complexities of labour inspection from a comparative viewpoint.
Labour inspection has the mission of monitoring compliance with labour legislation and operates as a part of labour administration. Labour inspection systems reflect their own realities, though the implementation of labour legislation remains the key mission whether it is assigned to one single administrative body, or shared across various sections of a labour ministry, or even in some cases, distributed across several specialized ministries and public agencies. The diversity and coverage of labour legislation makes it difficult to comprehend their full scope but, viewed broadly, they cover the employment relationship, pay, working conditions, occupational safety and health, industrial relations, social security, employment. Taking into account that each country organizes its labour administration in its own way, it is sometimes difficult to obtain an exact picture of what labour inspection is, which bodies comprise labour inspection services, what the precise functions of the system are, what the sphere of action is and what its precise powers are.