Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Medical Examination of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations) Convention, 1946 (No. 78) - Honduras (Ratification: 1960)

Article 4 of the Convention. Medical examination until the age of 21 years. In its previous comments, the Committee observed that there was no provision in the national legislation requiring young persons between the ages of 18 and 21 years who are authorized to carry out unhealthy or hazardous work to undergo medical examination and re-examinations for fitness for employment. It noted that a draft of a revised Labour Code was in the process of adoption and requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the revised Code takes into account the Committee’s comments.

The Committee notes that according to the information in the Government’s report these issues were not considered in the initial draft of the revised Labour Code. The Government nonetheless indicates that the relevant provisions of the Labour Code and other laws and regulations are being revised to accommodate the Committee’s observations. The Government further indicates that section 46(2)(a) of the General Regulations on measures to prevent occupational accidents and diseases, 19 October 2004, requires every employer to determine, on the basis of the risks inherent in the tasks the worker has to perform, the circumstances in which a medical examination is necessary. While noting this information, the Committee points out that Article 4 of the Convention sets the requirement that national laws or regulations shall either specify or empower an appropriate authority, not the employer, to specify the occupations or categories of occupations in which medical examination and re-examinations for fitness for employment shall be required until the age of 21 years. Recalling once again that Honduras ratified the Convention more than 50 years ago, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the national legislation lays down an obligation for young persons between the ages of 18 and 21 years who are authorized to carry out unhealthy or hazardous work to undergo medical examination and re-examinations for fitness for employment.

Article 7(2). Ensuring the application of the system of medical examination for fitness for employment to children employed either on their own account or on account of their parents, and application of the Convention in practice. The Committee noted previously that section 126 of the Code of Childhood and Adolescence requires employers to keep a register of all minors who work. It observed, however, that neither the abovementioned Code nor the Labour Code make any provision for measures for identification to ensure the application of the system of medical examination for fitness for employment to children and young persons engaged either on their own account or on account of their parents in itinerant trading or in any other occupation carried on in the streets or in places to which the public have access. The Government stated that child labour had been incorporated in the duties of the General Labour Inspectorate for the purpose of applying this provision of the Convention and that it had examined the possibility of extending application of the national legislation to the informal sector.

The Committee notes that, according to the Government, there is at present no mechanism for ensuring that the medical system for fitness for employment is applied to children and young persons employed on their own account or on account of their parents. The Government indicates that, with the cooperation of the employers’ and workers’ organizations and with support from the ILO, it organized a work session to discuss the problems affecting workers and employers in the informal sector, including the issue of hazardous working conditions. The Committee welcomes that the Government has prepared a Bill on the social and occupational inclusion of self-employed and own-account workers. Section 1 of the Bill establishes that self-employed and own-account workers are “workers” within the meaning of the Labour Code, which means that they are guaranteed the same protection as workers in the formal sector. However, the Bill says nothing regarding issues of medical examination for children in the informal sector and the Government indicates that it will address the matter with a view to enforcing this provision of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results of the tripartite dialogue held with the support of the ILO to establish a system of medical examination for fitness for employment that is applied to children and young persons employed on their own account or on account of their parents. Please also provide information on the adoption of the Bill on the social and occupational inclusion of self-employed and own-account workers.