Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Egypt (Ratification: 1964)

Optimization of protection during accidents and emergency work. With reference to its previous comments the Committee notes that the most recent information provided by the Government relates to requirements in section 215 of the Labour Code to prepare emergency plans and in section 10(6) of Ministerial Order No. 211 of 2003 to prepare emergency plans for work involving ionizing radiation. As far as the Committee can determine, the information provided does not address the issue raised in its previous comments, namely, which measures have been taken concerning the optimization of protection during accidents and emergency work. As detailed in paragraph 35(c)(i) and (ii) of its 1992 general observation on the application of this Convention, the Committee recommends that governments take certain measures which on the one hand would include, inter alia, a review of existing authorizations for the use of specific practices or equipment of a kind which has been found unsafe in any one workplace, and on the other, relate to measures that can be taken in the planning and design stage of installations and enterprises. As regards the latter, the Committee recommends that the objective to minimize the risks of accidents and consequential exposure to ionising radiations should be taken into account in the planning and design stage of workplaces and equipment and that the emergency planning for intervention in any accidents or other emergencies should rely, as far as technically feasible, on advance development and/or acquisition of effective robotized equipment or other techniques avoiding human exposure to ionising radiations, and training in the use of such techniques. The Committee requests the Government to provide additional information on measures taken to optimize protection during accidents and emergency work referred to in paragraph 35(c)(i) and (ii) of its 1992 General Observation on the application of this Convention.

Article 14 of the Convention. Alternative employment or other measures offered for maintaining income where continued assignment to work involving exposure is medically inadvisable. The Committee notes the communication received by the Federation of Egyptian Industries on 30 August 2010 and the Government’s reply on 14 October 2010, with regard to section 108 of the Social Insurance Act No. 79 of 1975, whereby the Social Insurance Act is and will remain in force until the new Act enters into force on 1 January 2012. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information that, according to the Social Insurance Act No. 79 of 1975, workers are entitled to alternative employment or maintenance of income in the event they have been diagnosed with an occupational disease. The Committee would like to draw the Government’s attention to paragraph 32 of the 1992 general observation under the Convention, which relates to situations before any occupational disease has been declared but after a determination that continued assignment to work involving exposure to ionizing radiations has been found to be medically inadvisable. In these cases, paragraph 32 provides that every effort must be made to provide the workers concerned with suitable alternative employment, or to maintain their income through social security measures or otherwise. The Committee requests the Government to provide copies of the new legislation and further information on measures taken to ensure that workers are offered alternative employment or to maintain their income when it has been determined that it is medically inadvisable for them to continue their work.