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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Belize (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report as well as the table of labour statistics gathered by the Central Bureau of Statistics for 1996, the table of statistics concerning occupational accidents and diseases covering the period of January 2000-June 2001, and the statistics of complaints and visits by the labour inspection from January 1999-June 2001. The Committee notes that the information communicated by the Government in response to its previous comments does not indicate any improvement in the application of the Convention. As a result, it once again draws the attention of the Government to the following points.

Labour inspection staff and inspection visits. (Articles 2, 3, 10 and 16 of the Convention). The number of inspection visits communicated dropped from 169 in 1999 to three for the first semester of 2001. Indeed, the Government notes in its report that, for reasons of insufficient human resources, inspection visits could not be made in conformity with the Convention. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee once again notes that the staff described in the Government’s report is composed of persons designated by the terms "labour commissioner" and "labour officer", and that these terms do not indicate which persons exercise the functions of labour inspection in the sense of the Convention. The Government is requested to provide details in this regard and to clarify how, in conformity with the instrument, legal provisions regarding the conditions of work, as well as provisions regarding hours of work, wages, occupational safety, occupational health and well-being, employment of children and young persons and the protection of workers in commercial and industrial establishments are applied.

Occupational safety and health. As it has in its previous comments, the Committee once again refers to the mission report of an ILO consultant in 1996 which indicated that, from the workers’ point of view, it was urgent that questions of occupational safety and health be considered as priorities and that legal measures be taken to ensure a reduction in the worrisome number of occupational accidents and their consequences. The Committee asks the Government to communicate all useful information on measures taken to fill the gaps in legislation and to establish a labour inspection system which includes visits of establishments.

Noting that workers had indicated that the absence of any representative workers’ organizations in the important economic sectors constituted a principal obstacle in the improvement of the situation, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate how it plans to give effect to Article 5(b) of the Convention, according to which the competent labour inspection authority should take appropriate measures to encourage the collaboration between labour inspection staff and employers and workers or their organizations.

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