Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs No. 20 / 1989 Coll.
Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the Convention on the Safety and Health of Workers and on the Working Environment (No 155)
Valid
Effective from 02.12.1989
20
DECLARATION
Minister for Foreign Affairs
of 16 February 1989
concerning the Convention on the Safety and Health of Workers and the Working Environment (No 155)
The Convention on the Safety and Health of Workers and the Working Environment (No 155) was adopted at the 67th session of the International Labour Organisation General Conference on 23 June 1981. The ratification of the Convention by the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was registered on 2 December 1988 by the Director-General of the International Labour Office. Pursuant to Article 24 (3) of the Convention, the Convention will enter into force for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic on 2 December 1989.
The Czech translation of the Convention is being announced simultaneously.
Minister:
JUDr. Johanes v. r.
CONVENTION
on workers' safety and health and the working environment
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, convened by the Board of Directors of the International Labour Office in Geneva and met there on 3 June 1981 at its 67th session,
Decide to adopt certain guarantees on the safety and health of workers and the working environment, which are the sixth item of the agenda of the sitting; and
state that these proposals will take the form of an international convention,
adopt on 23 June 1981 this Convention, which will be referred to as the Convention on the Safety and Health of Workers, 1981.
Scope and definitions
1. This Convention shall apply to all sectors of economic activity.
2. A Member State which ratifies this Convention may, after consultation with representative employers' and workers' organisations as soon as possible, exempt, in part or in full, the various sectors of economic activity, such as sea navigation or fishing, where specific problems arise in their implementation.
3. Each Member State which ratifies this Convention shall indicate in the first report on its implementation, submitted pursuant to Article 22 of the International Labour Organisation Constitution, all sectors it has exempted pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, stating the reasons for such exemption, and shall describe the measures taken to protect workers adequately in the excluded sectors and shall set out in subsequent reports the progress made with a view to broader implementation.
1. This Convention shall apply to all workers in the sectors of economic activity which it covers.
2. The Member State which ratifies this Convention may, after consulting the participating representative employers' and workers' organisations, partially or completely exempt from its implementation a defined group of workers with particular implementation problems.
3. Each Member State which ratifies this Convention shall indicate in the first report on its implementation, submitted pursuant to Article 22 of the ILO Constitution, all the defined groups of workers which have been exempted pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, stating the reasons for such exemption and, in subsequent reports, shall interpret the progress made with a view to broader implementation.
For the purposes of this Convention:
(a) the term "economic activity sector" covers all sectors where workers are employed, including the public service;
(b) the term "workers" shall include all persons employed, including public servants;
(c) the term "workplace" covers all places where workers are located or where they are going because of their work and which are subject to direct or indirect supervision by the employer;
(d) the term "regulations" includes all provisions to which the competent authority or authorities have given force to the law;
(e) the term "health" in relation to work does not mean only a condition without illness or disability; it also includes physical and mental elements affecting health directly related to safety and health at work.
Principles of national policy
1. Each Member State, taking into account national conditions and practices and after consulting the most representative employers' and workers' organisations, is to establish, implement and regularly review an overall national policy on the safety and health of workers and the working environment.
2. The aim of this policy is to prevent accidents and injuries that arise as a result of, or in connection with, work or during work, by reducing it to virtually the lowest possible degree of cause of the risk associated with the working environment.
The policy referred to in Article 4 shall take account of the following main areas of activity in so far as they affect the safety and health of workers and the working environment:
(a) design, testing, selection, substitution, location, organisation, use and maintenance of the material components of work (workplace, working environment, tools, machines and tools, chemical, physical and biological substances and agents, working procedures);
(b) the relationship between the material components of the work and the persons performing or supervising the work, as well as the adaptation of machines, tools, working hours, organisation of work and working practices to the physical and mental capacity of workers;
(c) vocational training and other necessary vocational education, qualifications and motivation of persons involved in any way to achieve an adequate level of safety and health protection;
(d) contacts and cooperation at the level of the working group and of the undertaking and at all other appropriate levels, including the national level;
(e) the protection of workers and their representatives against disciplinary measures for their activities carried out in good faith in accordance with the policy referred to in Article 4 of this Convention.
In determining the policy referred to in Article 4, the relevant tasks and responsibilities of public authorities, employers, workers and other stakeholders on the field of workers' safety and health and the working environment should be defined, taking into account the additional nature of these obligations and the national conditions and practices.
The health and safety of workers and the working environment should be examined at appropriate intervals, either in the whole range or in a specific area, in order to identify the most serious problems, establish effective ways to manage them and the order of action to be taken and evaluate the results.
Measures at national level
Each Member State shall, by means of legislation or in any other way appropriate to national conditions and practices and after consulting the representative organisations of employers and workers concerned, take the necessary measures to implement Article 4.
1. Supervision of the implementation of legislation on the safety and health of workers and the working environment is to be ensured by an appropriate and adequate system of inspection.
2. The supervisory system is intended to provide for appropriate penalties in the event of infringements.
Measures should be taken to provide advice to employers and workers to help them comply with legal obligations.
In order to implement the policy referred to in Article 4 of this Convention, the competent authority or authorities shall progressively ensure the following tasks:
(a) determine - where the nature and degree of threat so requires - the conditions for the design, construction and installation of undertakings, their putting into service, their adaptation and changes in their designation, the safety of the technical equipment used at work and the conduct of the procedures laid down by the competent authorities;
(b) establish working procedures, substances and factors for which exposure is to be prohibited, restricted or subject to authorisation or control by the competent authority or competent authorities; Account must be taken of the risks caused by the simultaneous exposure to several substances or agents;
(c) establish and implement procedures for the notification of accidents at work and occupational diseases by employers and, where appropriate, insurance and other directly involved institutes or persons and to produce annual statistics on accidents at work and occupational diseases;
(d) to carry out investigations in cases where an accident at work, occupational disease or other disability occurred at work or in connection with it shows the seriousness of the situation;
(e) to publish annually information on the measures taken in relation to the policy referred to in Article 4, as well as on accidents at work, occupational diseases and other health-related diseases;
(f) establish or develop, taking into account the national conditions and possibilities of the system of testing chemical, physical and biological agents in terms of the health of workers.
In accordance with national law and practice, provision should be made for persons proposing, producing, importing, putting into circulation or transferring for any reason machinery, equipment or substances for working purposes,
(a) satisfy themselves, where it is practically possible that the machinery, equipment or substances in question do not constitute a danger to the safety and health of those who use them correctly;
(b) provide information on the proper location and use of machinery and equipment, as well as the proper use of substances, the risks associated with machinery and equipment, and the dangerous properties of chemicals, physical and biological agents or products and on how to protect against known risks;
(c) carry out research and investigations or otherwise inform themselves of developments in scientific and technical knowledge in order to fulfil their obligations under points (a) and (b) of this Article.
A worker who has not performed a job which he reasonably considered to be a direct and serious threat to his life or health is to be protected from unjustified consequences in accordance with national conditions and practices.
Measures should be taken to promote the concept of safety and health at work and the working environment in all levels of education and training programmes, including higher technical, medical and vocational education, so as to meet the needs of all workers.
1. In order to ensure consistency between the policy referred to in Article 4 of this Convention and the measures taken to implement that policy, each Member State shall, after the earliest possible consultation with the most representative employers' and workers' organisations and, where appropriate, with other appropriate authorities, adopt provisions corresponding to national conditions and practices to ensure the necessary coordination between the various authorities and authorities to implement Parts II and III of this Convention.
2. Whenever circumstances and national conditions and practices so require, such measures shall include the establishment of a central authority.
Measures at farm level
1. Employers should be required to ensure that, to the extent practicable, the workplace, machinery, equipment and working procedures under their control do not jeopardise the safety and health of workers.
2. Employers should be required, to the extent practicable, to the extent practicable, chemical, physical and biological factors and substances under their control do not endanger health if appropriate protection is ensured.
3. Employers should be required, where necessary, to provide appropriate protective clothing and protective means of work in order to prevent, to the extent practicable, risks from accidents or effects harmful to health.
Whenever several undertakings operate simultaneously at the same workplace, they shall cooperate in implementing the provisions of this Convention.
Employers should be required to take, where necessary, measures to deal with sudden cases and accidents, including sufficient means to manage first aid.
Measures must be taken at the level of the undertaking which:
(a) workers shall cooperate in their work to fulfil the obligations of the employer;
(b) workers' representatives in the undertaking cooperate with the employer in the field of occupational safety and health;
(c) workers' representatives in the undertaking shall obtain sufficient information on the measures taken by the employer to ensure safety and health and may discuss them with their representative organisations on the condition that they do not disclose commercial secrets;
(d) workers and their representatives in the undertaking shall be appropriately trained in the field of occupational safety and health;
(e) workers or their representatives and, where appropriate, their representative organisations in the undertaking shall be entitled, under national law and practice, to examine all aspects of health and safety related to their work and to discuss these matters with the employer; professional advisers who are unemployed on the holding may be recruited by mutual agreement;
(f) the worker shall immediately notify his immediate superior of any situation which he may rightly consider to constitute an imminent and serious threat to his or her life or health, and the employer may not require workers, if necessary, to continue to work in circumstances where there is an imminent and serious danger to life or health, until he or she has remedied it.
The cooperation of employers and workers and, where appropriate, their representatives in the undertaking shall be an essential element of organisational and other measures taken in the implementation of Articles 16 to 19 of this Convention.
Measures relating to safety and health at work shall not be linked to any expenditure on workers.
Final provisions
This Convention does not revise any existing international convention or recommendation on work.
The formal ratification of this Convention shall be notified to and registered by the Director-General of the International Labour Office.
1. This Convention only obliges the Member States of the International Labour Organisation whose ratification has been registered by the Director-General.
2. It shall take effect 12 months after the Director-General has registered the ratification of two Member States.
3. For each other Member State, this Convention shall enter into force 12 months after its ratification has been registered.
1. Any Member State which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after a period of 10 years from the date on which the Convention first came into force, by written communication to the Director-General of the International Labour Office, who shall record it. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which it was registered.
2. Any Member State which has ratified this Convention and which does not exercise the right to denounce it under this Article during the year following the expiry of a period of 10 years, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall be bound by the Convention for a further 10-year period and shall then be able to terminate it at the end of each 10-year period under the conditions laid down in this Article.
1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Member States of the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications and statements communicated to it by the members of the Organisation.
2. When the Member States of the Organisation communicate the minutes of the last ratification necessary for the Convention to take effect, the Director-General shall notify the Member States of the Organisation of the date on which the Convention enters into force.
The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations of the full details of all the ratifications and statements he has entered in accordance with the provisions of the previous Articles.
Whenever deemed necessary, the Administrative Board of the International Labour Office shall present a report to the General Conference on the implementation of this Convention and shall examine whether it is appropriate to put on the agenda of the General Conference a question of its full or partial revision.
1. Where the General Conference adopts a new Convention which fully or partially revises this Convention and does not provide otherwise for the new Convention:
(a) ratification by a Member State of a new revising convention shall cause ipso jure to be terminated immediately, irrespective of the provisions of Article 25, subject to the fact that the new revising convention becomes effective;
(b) since the new revised Convention enters into force, this Convention shall cease to be open to the Member States for ratification.
2. However, this Convention shall remain in force in its form and content for those Member States which have ratified it and which have not ratified the revised Convention.
The English and French versions of this Convention shall be equally authentic.
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Regulation Information
| Citation | Decree of the Minister for Foreign Affairs No 20 / 1989 Coll., on the Convention on the Safety and Health of Workers and on the Working Environment (No 155) |
|---|---|
| Regulation Type | - |
| Author | - |
| Collection | Code of Laws |
| Date of Promulgation | 17.02.1989 |
|---|---|
| Effective from | 02.12.1989 |
| Effective until | - |
| Status | Valid |
The regulation text is for informational purposes only.
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