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

Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration) Convention, 1977 (No. 148) - Slovenia (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s latest report. In particular it notes the enactment of the Labour Inspection Act of 20 June 1994, as amended on 21 May 1997 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 56/99), and the Health and Safety at Work Act of 30 June 1999 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 38/94 and 32/97), as well as the steps undertaken to specify the requirements on the safety statement prescribed in section 14 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The Government is requested to keep the Office informed on any further specific regulations adopted or envisaged regarding air pollution, noise and vibration at the workplace which might ensure the practical implementation of the measures prescribed in the legal frame of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Labour Inspection Act, including those adopted or envisaged to replace the regulations which, according to section 65 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, shall be applied until new regulations will have been adopted. The Committee hopes the Government will supply copies of such texts adopted as well as of any relevant collective agreements, in order to enable it to assess the extent to which the Convention is applied. The Government is requested to supply further information in its next report on the following points.

Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether there are provisions of national laws or regulations that define the terms "air pollution", "noise" and "vibration". With respect to the term "noise", the Committee notes the information provided by the Government that regulations on safety and health in the event of dangerous noise are in preparation. The Committee hopes that the Government will take this opportunity to define the term "noise" in accordance with the definition provided in the Convention. Please provide a copy of the regulations when they are adopted.

Article 4. The Committee notes the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work Act concerning the employer’s responsibility for compliance with prevention, control and protection measures in order to ensure health and safety at work (sections 5, 6, 14 of the Act). The Government is requested to indicate any laws or regulations which prescribe such measures against occupational hazards in the working environment due to air pollution and vibration.

Article 7, paragraph 1. The Committee notes that section 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act provides for the general obligation of employees to observe prescribed safety measures. Please indicate the provisions requiring workers to comply with safety procedures against occupational hazards due to air pollution, noise and vibration in the working environment.

Article 8, paragraph 1. Exposure to noise. The Committee notes that according to section 65 of the Health and Safety at Work Act the regulations on General Measures and Standards concerning Noise at Work Premises of 8 July 1971 (Official Gazette of the SFR of Yugoslavia, No. 29) will remain in force until the new Rules on Safety and Health at Work in relation to Dangerous Noise will be adopted. The Government is requested to keep the Office informed on any developments in this respect and to provide a copy of any new text adopted.

Exposure to air pollution and vibration. The Government is requested to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to elaborate criteria for determining the hazards of exposure to air pollution and vibration.

Article 8, paragraph 2. Please indicate whether the opinion of technically competent persons designated by the most representative organizations of employers and workers concerned is taken into account in the elaboration of the criteria and the determination of the exposure limits to air pollution, noise and vibration at work.

Article 8, paragraph 3. Please indicate whether the criteria and exposure limits are established, supplemented and revised in light of current national and international knowledge and data, and whether account is taken of any increase of occupational hazards resulting from simultaneous exposure to several harmful factors.

Article 9. The Committee understands that, with respect to noise, the rules which at the date of the latest report, were still in preparation, shall provide technical and supplementary organizational measures which are applicable to new and existing plants as well as to processes in design or installation and to existing processes. Please keep the Office informed in this regard and please provide a copy of the adopted text. The Committee notes that the Government’s report gives no further particulars in reply to its previous comments concerning the Act respecting Fundamental Rights arising out of the Employment Relationship of 8 September 1989 (Official Gazette of the SFR of Yugoslavia, No. 921). The Committee therefore hopes that the next report will indicate whether the Act is still in force. If this is the case, the Government is requested to indicate which administrative agency is competent for work operations and prescribes the measures and standards for protection at work in technological work processes, according to section 38 of the Act. The Government is also requested to provide copies of any texts which set forth supplementary organizational measures to keep the working environment free from hazards due to air pollution, noise and vibration, as far as possible, either as prescribed by the abovementioned agency under section 38 of the Act or as provided for in public instruments or collective agreements, to be applied by the organization or the employer, according to section 36 of the Act.

Article 11, paragraph 3. The Committee notes that an employee may work at a workplace or in conditions in which he is exposed to increased danger of injury or health impairment under conditions specified in special regulations and on [the] basis of professional assessment (section 35 of the Health and Safety at Work Act). The Government’s report, however, contains no information on the questions already raised in the Committee’s previous comments concerning section 48 of the Act respecting Fundamental Rights arising out of the Employment Relationship of 8 September 1989 (Official Gazette of SFR of Yugoslavia, No. 921). Section 48 of this Act provides that a worker with reduced working capacity and a worker employed on tasks where there is a risk of the onset of disability shall have the right to be assigned to a suitable post. The duty of the organization or the employer to guarantee the worker a post for which he or she is capable is subject to the conditions and the manner prescribed by a public instrument or by collective agreement, in accordance with the law. The Government is requested to indicate any conditions prescribed concerning the provision of suitable alternative employment for a worker whose continued assignment to work involving exposure to air pollution, noise or vibration is found to be medically inadvisable.

Article 12. The Government is requested to indicate the types of hazards and harmful operations involving exposure of workers to air pollution, noise or vibration for which advance notification must be given and to give particulars of any conditions prescribed by the competent authority for the use of certain processes, substances, machinery or equipment.

Article 15. Please indicate whether there are legislative or other provisions similar to sections 5, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 20 of the Health and Safety at Work Act of 30 June 1999 requiring the employer to appoint a competent person, or use a competent outside service or service common to several undertakings, to deal with matters pertaining to the prevention and control specifically of air pollution, noise and vibration in the working environment.