Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

Prevention of Accidents (Seafarers) Convention, 1970 (No. 134) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1979)

1. In the comments it has been making for a number of years, the Committee has pointed out that the national legislation contains no special provisions on accident prevention for seafarers within the meaning of the provisions of the Convention. The Committee has noted several times that section 283 of the Labour Code, as amended by Act 6727 of 9 March 1982, provides that detailed regulations on occupational health must be promulgated within one year at the most, and expressed the hope that such regulations, or any other appropriate instrument on accident prevention for seafarers, would be adopted and would cover the points set out in Article 4, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Convention, and that the text would apply to all seafarers, including those engaged on fishing vessels, in accordance with Article 1, paragraph 1.

In its report received in 1988, the Government stated that the regulations in question were in the process of being drafted and would be sent to the ILO as soon as they had been promulgated. Since then, the Government has merely referred to its previous reports and the information contained in them. The Committee is bound to express the hope once again that the necessary provisions will be adopted and will be sent to the Office in the very near future.

2. In its previous comments the Committee drew the Government's attention to the need for appropriate measures to give effect to the following provisions of the Convention.

Article 2 (Compilation of statistics on occupational accidents among seafarers and investigation into the causes and circumstances of such accidents).

Article 3 (Inquiries and research into occupational accidents among seafarers).

Article 6, paragraph 3 (Training of labour inspectors responsible for inspecting ships with regard to living conditions on board and the hazards involved).

Article 7 (Setting up of the joint health committees provided for by Decree No. 18379-TSS).

Article 8 (Plans and programmes of the National Occupational Health Council in so far as they relate to the questions covered by the Convention).

In its report for 1988, the Government referred to the difficulties created by the total restructuring of the computer system of the National Insurance Institute and the reorganization of the National Occupational Health Council, and asked for time so that the necessary measures to ensure the application of these provisions of the Convention could be adopted. Since then, it has sent no fresh information on the matter; the Committee hopes that the Government has made good use of the intervening years and that in the very near future it will report on the measures that have been taken to give effect to the Convention.