Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Safety Provisions (Building) Convention, 1937 (No. 62) - Netherlands (Ratification: 1950)

Article 1 of the Convention. Update on new legislation and regulations. With reference to its previous comment, the Committee notes the information in the Government’s report that, since 2007, a large number of occupational health and safety (OSH) catalogues have been developed by the social partners at the level of sectors and branches, and that the Labour Foundation is currently running a project, subsidized by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, which focuses on the implementation of the OSH catalogues. The Committee also notes that, in July 2012, the OSH regulations were amended in relation to self-employed workers (Zelfstandigen zonder personeel (ZZP)), in order to ensure that the same rules apply to those who are self-employed and employees alike, enhancing the enforceability of OSH regulations. The amendments were a result of advice from the Social and Economic Council regarding self-employed workers and their working environment. The Committee also notes that the Enhancement of Regulations on Enforcement and Sanctions Law came into force on 1 January 2013, enabling heavier fines and more opportunities to shut down a business when labour laws, such as the Working Conditions Act, are violated. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the development of the OSH catalogues and their implementation, as well as on new legislation, in relation to the application of the Convention.

Article 4. Maintain an adequate system of inspection to ensure the effective enforcement of laws and regulations relating to safety precautions in the building industry. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes the statistical information in the Government’s report on the number of enterprises, accidents and inspections in the building industry between 2009 and 2014. The Committee notes that in addition to the OSH catalogues, other initiatives have been developed in the building sector to improve the health and safety of the workers, including, practical tools for risk assessment and safety performance to support employers and workers in the sector, as well as agreements between parties concerned, aimed at further improving safety and health performance. The Committee also notes that between 2009 and 2013 an action programme by the Government, in which the construction industry actively participated, aimed at reducing accidents and improving the safety culture and behaviour was implemented, and that the targeted reduction, a decrease of 25 per cent of accidents, was achieved. The Committee further notes the information that the Storybuilder, a project initiated in 2003, to analyse the most serious occupational accidents in the country is in progress. All 20,030 serious occupational accidents investigated by the Dutch labour inspectorate over a period of 12 years, from 1998−2009, have been entered into a database and the data has been analysed in order to gain insight into the causes of the accidents or possible patterns therein. The Government also refers to the safety index tool which is a tool to measure the safety performance on the construction site. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the application of the Convention in practice, including statistics on the number of workplaces in the building sector, the number of these workplaces covered by labour inspection, the number of inspections undertaken, the number, nature and causes of accidents reported, the number and nature of the contraventions reported.