Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention, 1979 (No. 152) - Denmark (Ratification: 1989)

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. Absence of statistical data. In its previous comments, the Committee urged the Government to take the necessary measures in order to develop statistical systems and methodologies that would ensure that relevant information is available on occupational accidents and diseases of dockworkers. The Committee notes that the Government again reiterates that there are no administrative or register-based databases which can identify dock work, including the loading and unloading of ships, and therefore statistics regarding occupational accidents and diseases in the port sector are not available. The Committee notes the statistical data provided by the Government on the number of inspections of the Danish Working Environment Authority (DWEA) in companies whose main activities are loading and unloading cargo, irrespective of the means of transport, thus not allowing the identification of dock work specifically, as well as the figures of the number of occupational accidents and diseases in cargo handling. While it appreciates the Government’s efforts to communicate the closest available data relevant to the safety and health situation of dockworkers, the Committee wishes to underline once again the need to develop statistical systems and methodologies which permit identification of occupational safety and health issues related to the specific and hazardous working environment that dock work represents. Such a tool should also allow the Government to obtain further information on the sector, including the number of dockworkers covered by the provision of the Convention, the number and nature of contraventions reported and the resulting action taken, and the number of occupational accidents and diseases reported. The Committee urges the Government to indicate all measures taken or envisaged to compile specific information on the number of occupational accidents and diseases among dockworkers, and the number of inspections carried out by the DWEA in the port sector. Moreover, the Committee reiterates its request to the Government to provide any information it considers relevant to enable a general appreciation of the manner in which the Convention is applied, including information on the number of dockworkers protected by the legislation.