Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Belize (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes with regret 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:

1. Article 3, paragraph 1, and Article 6, paragraph 2, of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s indication regarding the steps taken to ensure effective protection of workers against ionizing radiations. The Committee observes that the measures mentioned by the Government mainly refer to personal protective equipment. With regard to the establishment of permissible maximum dose limits regarding the exposure of workers to ionizing radiations, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the dose limits currently applied in the country are in conformity with the exposure limits adopted by the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) in its 1990 Recommendations. The Committee understands from the information provided by the Government that the dose limits applied in the country are not laid down in any statutory legal text. It accordingly invites the Government to consider the possibility to adopt regulations laying down the dose limits already applied in the country, in order to make them enforceable. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to this end.

2. Article 10. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report that there have been indeed no notifications of work involving exposure of workers to ionizing radiations other than of work involving such exposure for medical or dental purposes. It requests the Government to inform the Office when the use of ionizing radiations in other sectors is notified.

3. Provision of alternative employment. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that pregnant workers are assigned to other jobs without any loss of pay, seniority, or other rights or benefits. The Committee requests the Government to specify the legal basis providing for the transfer of pregnant women from their work involving exposure to ionizing radiations to another job. It further requests the Government to confirm that the latter jobs do not involve any exposure to ionizing radiations. With reference to the indications provided in paragraphs 28 to 34 of the Committee’s 1992 general observation under the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated to provide suitable alternative employment opportunities not involving exposure to ionizing radiations for workers having accumulated an effective dose beyond which detriment to their health considered unacceptable is to arise and who may be faced with the dilemma that protecting their health means losing their employment.

4. Occupational exposure during an emergency. With reference to paragraphs 16 to 27 and 35(c) of its 1992 general observation under the Convention, and paragraphs V.27 and V.30 of the International Basic Safety Standards issued in 1994, the Committee requests the Government to provide in its next report full information on the circumstances in which exceptional exposure is authorized, the measures taken or envisaged to make protection as effective as possible against accidents and during emergency operations, in particular with regard to the design and protective features of the workplace and the equipment, and the development of emergency intervention techniques, the use of which in emergency situations would enable the exposure of individuals to ionizing radiations to be avoided.