Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Italy (Ratification: 1952)

With reference also to its observation, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide additional information on the following matters.

Article 3(2) and Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention.  The Committee notes that the labour inspection services, in addition to the duties envisaged in Article 3(1), are entrusted with various other functions under the new legislative texts: coordination and supervision in the field of work performed underwater (Act of 23 December 1998); liaison between employers and jobseekers at the provincial level (Legislative Decree of 23 December 1997); supervision of the transfers of workers between enterprises for temporary employment contracts (Act No. 96-97); conducting the preliminary compulsory conciliation procedure for labour disputes (Legislative Decree No. 80 of 31 March 1998), which involves thousands of cases a year; verification of "provincial realignment agreements" (Act No. 448-98); approval of programmes for the improvement of occupational safety (Legislative Decrees Nos. 626/94 and 242/96 adopted under European directives). Furthermore, the inspection services are henceforth responsible, instead of the judicial authorities, for carrying out at very short notice inquiries into the causes of industrial accidents resulting in the death of the worker or incapacity for work of over 30 days, at the request of the authority responsible for public security (Legislative Decree No. 51 of 19 February 1998). In the view of the Government, this latter function alone, in view of the complexity of the applicable texts and standards, involves an additional workload which would justify an increase not only in the quantity, but also in the quality of the technical and administrative staff of the labour inspection services. The Committee considers that the function of supervising occupational safety and health in sectors which are particularly at risk, such as construction, compressed air, civil engineering and underground work, entrusted to labour inspectors by the Decree of 14 October 1997, requires an in-depth knowledge of technical and scientific fields which is not necessarily included in the general training programmes of labour inspectors. The Committee therefore reminds the Government that, in accordance with Article 9, measures should be taken to ensure that duly qualified technical experts and specialists, including specialists in medicine, engineering, electricity and chemistry, are associated in the work of inspection, in such manner as may be deemed most appropriate for the purpose of securing the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to the protection of the health and safety of workers while engaged in their work and of investigating the effects of processes, materials and methods of work on the health and safety of workers. The Committee notes that the Government envisages, in order to cope with the diversity and complexity of the tasks with which labour inspectors are entrusted, a strengthening of the inspection services, particularly through the recruitment of new staff and the transfer of officials working in other labour administration services; the Committee requests the Government to keep the ILO informed of the progress achieved in this respect, with an indication of the new distribution of the staff of the labour inspectorate by category and by qualification throughout the national territory.

Cooperation between the inspection services and other government services and public or private institutions engaged in similar activities (Article 5(1)).  The Government emphasizes that the high level of computerization of the labour inspection system is an important factor in its effectiveness, and that coordination in the central administration and between the administration and the various supervisory authorities is a fundamental prerequisite for the effective application of the legislative provisions which have been adopted recently respecting labour inspection. It indicates that coordination at the regional level is carried out in the coordination committees established by Legislative Decree No. 126 of 1994, the structure and functions of which are determined by the Decree of 5 December 1997, and that the labour inspectorate and local health councils collaborate in developing work programmes. The Government adds that periodic exchanges of information between the various actors take place in the areas determined by the Convention as being the principal functions of inspection. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate precisely which body or bodies are henceforth entrusted at the local, regional and central levels with transmitting to the central labour inspection authority the statistical data which is to be included in the annual inspection report on the subjects set out in Article 21(b), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) for all the workplaces covered by the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide details on the manner and frequency with which this information is provided.