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Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention, 1993 (No. 174) - Zimbabwe (RATIFICATION: 2003)

The Committee notes the communication sent by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions received on 21 September 2009. The Committee will examine this communication along with any comments that the Government may deem relevant to make thereon. Noting also that the Government’s report has not been received the Committee must repeat its previous direct request, which reads as follows:

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s first report on the application of this Convention as well as the documents appended thereto. It notes the references made to ongoing legislative reforms in the area of occupational safety and health in general referred to in the context of the Government’s report on the application of the Chemicals Convention, 1990 (No. 170), and the indications in the present report that consultations through the Zimbabwe Occupational Health and Safety Council (ZOHSC) are being carried out involving the relevant ministries administering to rationalize existing legislation in the area covered by the present Convention. The examination of this first report on the application of the Convention indicates that the Committee would need further clarifications on the application in law and in practice on a large number of provisions in this Convention. In the context of the ongoing legislative reform the Committee requests the Government to give detailed consideration to measures required to bring national legislation into conformity with the Convention. The Committee invites the Government to examine the possibility of requesting technical assistance from the Office for this purpose.

Application of the Convention. The Committee notes that further clarification is required on the effect given, in law and in practice, to the following Articles of the Convention:

–      Article 2 – Plans to address special problems of a substantial nature;

–      Articles 4 and 17 – Formulation, implementation and periodical review of a coherent national policy concerning the protection of workers, the public and the environment against the risk of major accidents and establishment of a comprehensive siting policy providing for separation of proposed major hazard installations from working and residential areas and public facilities;

–      Article 5 – Development of a system for the identification of major hazard installations;

–      Article 6 – Provisions to protect confidential business information;

–      Article 8 – Notification requirements concerning exiting and new hazardous installations;

–      Article 9(a)–(c) and (g) – Provisions requiring a documented system of major hazard control including risk assessment, technical and organizational preventive measures;

–      Articles 10–12 – Requirements for employers to prepare, review, update and amend safety reports and to transmit them to the competent authorities;

–      Article 15 – Establishment and regular updating of off-site emergency plans and procedures to protect the public and the environment outside the sites of hazardous installations;

–      Article 16 – Duties of the competent authority prior to and in the context of a major accident;

–      Article 19 – Right for the competent authority to suspend activities posing a risk;

–      Article 20 – Consultation with workers and their representatives through appropriate cooperative mechanisms;

–      Article 22 – Requirement for exporting State to make certain information available to importing State.

The Committee requests the Government to provide it with additional information on the application in law and in practice of the abovementioned Articles and to transmit detailed information on all relevant developments in this regard.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide general information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in the country, including, if this information is available, extracts from inspection reports, information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, the number and nature of infringements reported, etc.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.