Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Guarding of Machinery Convention, 1963 (No. 119) - Latvia (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee takes note of the detailed information provided by the Government in its report. The Committee notes the adoption of legal texts including the Labour Law, 2001, the Labour Protection Law, 2001, the State Labour Inspection Law, 2001, the Law on Technical Supervision of Dangerous Equipment, 1998, as well as a series of Cabinet of Ministers’ regulations.

With reference to its previous comments relating, inter alia, to the observation made by the Free Trade Union Federation of Latvia (LBAS), the Committee notes that the Government supplied no response or comments on this observation. The Committee recalls that the observation in question alleged that the Convention has only partly been applied because of the use of obsolete machines, and pointed out the high risk of accident to which employees are exposed using such machines.

The Committee therefore recalls that the Convention applies equally to new and to second-hand machinery (Article 1 of the Convention and paragraph 20 of the General Survey on the guarding of machinery and the working environment (air pollution, noise and vibration, 1987). With respect to such obsolete machines, so as to new ones, the sale, hire, transfer in any other manner, exhibition and use of machinery of which the dangerous parts are without appropriate guards, is prohibited or prevented by other equally effective measures (Articles 2 and 6); the obligation to ensure compliance with the abovementioned provisions rests on the vendor, the exhibitor, the person letting out on hire or transferring the machinery in any other manner, the manufacturer when he sells machinery, lets it out on hire, transfers it in any other manner or exhibits it, on their respective agents, when appropriate under national laws or regulations, and on the employer (Articles 4 and 7).

With respect to the provisions of Article 9 and Article 17 allowing temporary exemption or limited application of the Convention, the Committee notes from the Government’s report that this instrument is applicable in all areas of economic activities and the country does not apply temporary exemptions in the field of machine safety.

The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to apply the abovementioned provisions of the Convention to those machines which are obsolete but still used.

The Committee is addressing a request directly to the Government on some other points.