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Labour inspection

A WORKERS' EDUCATION MANUAL

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE GENEVA

Copyright © International Labour Organisation 1986

Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorisation, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to the Publications Branch (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications.

ISBN 92-2-105359-8

First published 1986

Originally published in French under the title L'inspection du travail (ISBN 92-2-205359-1).

The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval.

ILO publications can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or direct from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. A catalogue or list of new publications will be sent free of charge from the above address.

Photocomposed in India; printed in Switzerland POP

PREFACE

This manual has been prepared jointly by the Labour Administration Branch and the Workers' Education Branch of the International Labour Office. It is not, strictly speaking, a study of the aims and methods of labour inspection. Those intending to pursue the career of labour inspector or simply wishing to acquire a good under-standing of this public service may profit from consulting several books on the matter that the ILO has already published. The ILO has also published a series of workers' education manuals, intended largely for trade union officials, dealing with such important fields of labour inspection as wages, the prevention of occupational accidents, and working conditions and the working environment.

The main purpose of this manual is to offer trade union officials and others as clear and concise an idea as possible of the essentials of labour inspection, and the way in which it performs its role of protecting workers. The manual should also, at this time of profound technological change, help readers, especially those holding responsible positions within the labour movement and concerned with the monitoring of working conditions, to consider the basic functions of the inspection services and the perspectives for these services. Like the other manuals in this series, it is designed both for use by individual readers and to serve as a basis for workers' education courses.

After outlining the parallel development of the statutory protection of workers and of labour inspection, Chapter 2 explains the role and principal functions of inspection, on the basis of an international instrument adopted by the International Labour Organisation, the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81).

The scope and tasks of inspection services may differ considerably from country to country. They can, nevertheless, be classified into a few major types, and these are briefly described in Chapter 3 to assist readers in finding their bearings.

Chapter 4 defines the powers and obligations that determine the framework within which the tasks of labour inspection are performed and

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Chapter 5 outlines the conditions that must prevail if these tasks are to be performed effectively: resources, organisation, technical co-operation, relations with the authorities and relations with the employers' and workers' organisations.

Chapter 6 gives a practical description of inspection tasks, and attempts to assess their relative importance.

Finally, Chapter 7 demonstrates the channels of collaboration and participation between labour inspection and workers, and shows what the latter, or their organisations, can do to improve working conditions.

Each chapter concludes with some points for consideration. These should help users of the manual to make the connection between their reading and the reality of their own problems, problems that might form a starting point for courses or discussions. A list of ILO studies and manuals directly relating to inspection is included at the end of the book.

This manual is the outcome of activities of research, analysis and co-ordination carried out by Mr. Michel Lafougère, a specialist in labour inspection, and Mr. Charles Lefèvre, a consultant.

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CONTENTS

Preface v

1. Historical background 1

From the origins to the First World War 1 After the First World War: The International Labour Organisation . . . 4

Tripartism 5 The functioning of the ILO 5 International labour standards 6 ILO standard setting in the field of labour inspection 6 Points for consideration 8

2. The role of labour inspection 11

The purposes of inspection 12 The functions of inspection 13

Inspection 13 Information and advice for employers and workers 15

Information and advice during visits to workplaces 16 Information and advice at labour inspection offices 16 Educational activities 17 Dissemination of information 17 The effectiveness of inspection and advice 17

Informing the competent authority 18 Other functions 19

The economic field 19 Labour relations: conciliation and arbitration 19 Protection of workers'representatives 21 Supervision in the field of employment 22 Miscellaneous functions 23

Points for consideration 23

3. The different systems of inspection 25

Structure of the systems 25 Competence as regards the sector of activity 25 Competence as regards the purpose of inspection 27

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Inspection systems in the socialist countries of Europe 28 Functions of local communities 30 Labour inspection in mines 32


4. Powers and duties of labour inspectors 35

Powers 35 Right of free entry and investigation 35 Powers of injunction 36

Orders with a specified time limit 37 Measures with immediate executory force 38 Right of appeal 38 Action taken on infringements 39

Obligations 40 Impartiality 40 Professional secrecy 40 Discretion regarding the source of complaints 41

Independence of inspectors 41 Points for consideration 43

5. The means of action and organisation of labour inspection services, collabor-ation and relations with other agencies 45

The means of action of labour inspection 45 Staff 46

Numerical strength 46 Training 46 Pay 47

Material means, documentation 48 The organisation of inspection 50

Local branches 50 The central service 50

Technical collaboration 51 Collaboration with other labour administration services 52 Collaboration with the social security administration 52 Collaboration with research bodies, technical bodies and experts . . 53

Administrative relations 54 Regional or departmental authorities 54 Judicial authorities 55 Other authorities 56

Relations with employers' and workers' organisations 56 Points for consideration 56

6. Labour inspection in action 59

Inspection visits 59 The different types of visit 61

The routine visit 61 The visit by request 61 The emergency visit 62

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Contents

Priority action programmes 62 The field covered 63 Procedure during visits 63

Inspectors in their offices 64 Providing information and advice 65 Inspection 65 Administrative tasks 66

Participation in meetings 67 Some problems arising in inspection work 67

Advice or coercion 68 Order of priority 68 Ethical problems 68 Points for consideration 69

7. Labour inspection and the workers 71

Collaboration 72 Direct relations 72 Relations between labour inspection and representative or participative

bodies within the enterprise 72 Participation in inspection duties 74

Compulsory consultation of trade unions 74 Participation and direct intervention of workers' r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . . . 74 Miners' delegates 75 Recognition of the workers' right of inspection 76 Inspection functions by trade unions in the socialist countries of Europe 77

Workers' roles in the inspection of working conditions and the working environment: International trends 78


Appendix 1. Conventions and Recommendations 83

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) 83 Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81) 88 Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) 90 Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1969 (No. 133) . . . 95

Appendix 2. Selected ILO publications 99

IX

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Labour legislation is a consequence of the industrial revolution that began in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century and continued throughout the nineteenth. Labour inspection services were set up and developed to supervise the application of the first protective laws.

It all started in Great Britain, no doubt because that is where the first problems arose and appropriate practical solutions had to be found for them, Great Britain being the cradle of industrialisation.

An extraordinary development took place there in a few decades starting at about the end of the eighteenth century. Factories sprang up all over the country, and a new industrial economy arose in parallel with the traditional economy, which was largely agricultural and in other respects depended on the workshops of a multitude of craftsmen organised in guilds. The growth in national product was spectacular. Social change occurred simultaneously; in 1801, the population was still largely rural, but 50 years later more than half lived in towns.

With some variations, the same process took place in continental Europe. The rapid growth of national production and profound changes in social structure took place in a similar way in Germany, France and the Netherlands. The liberal doctrine preached by the economists of the period led to fierce competition, which resulted in wretchedly low wages for the factory workers, increasingly arduous working conditions and, in the event of recession, the prospect of unemployment without any assistance.

National wealth increased beyond measure, but there was no balance in its distribution. While the entrepreneurs, the factory owners (who were frequently also landowners) prospered and enjoyed a com-fortable or even a luxurious way of life, the number of very poor workers increased without interruption. Disraeli, the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, wrote in 1845: "There is no community in England; there is aggregation . . . our Queen reigns over . . . two . . . nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as

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ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were . . . inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, , . . are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws. . . . The rich and the poor."1 Although the liberal economists of the period claimed that after some time tensions should lessen and the distribution of income become more equitable, nothing of the sort occurred. The governments of the time were unable, and probably unwilling, to control the economic conditions that they observed, which were unlike anything known before.

Work in the new factories called for very few skills, and the employment of women and children enabled wages to be kept low. Days of 13 or 14 hours were considered normal, and workers sometimes put in 15 or 16 hours. The working week was six or sometimes seven days long, the Sunday rest following religious tradition not always being respected. The work itself was arduous because of the primitive nature of the early machines and a design that took little account of the workers. There were no safety devices and accidents were frequent. It was left to the worker to make the effort to learn how to avoid accidents and how to keep in step with the rhythm of the machine. The industrialist, Robert Owen, who made his fortune while he maintained in his factories working conditions that were exceptionally good for the period, and was one of the precursors of socialism, criticised the great attention paid to the unfeeling machine and the neglect and contempt for the human machine.2 Disease and accident, for which there was no compensation even when they were of occupational origin, plunged the worker and his family into penury.

It was in the United Kingdom that the first measures were taken under the Act of 22 June 1802 for the preservation of the health and morals of apprentices and others employed in cotton and other mills. The application of the Act was supervised by voluntary committees made up of local notables, including clergymen, magistrates and former industrial-ists. For various reasons, the application of the Act was ineffective and, in 1833, the Government entrusted its supervision to persons of high standing (four for the whole country, one for each region), who were responsible for carrying out real functions of inspection. In 1844, the number of regions was increased and the inspectors became civil servants. This system was subsequently copied throughout Europe, with variations imposed by national administrative custom.

In France, at the prompting of such persons as Dr. Villermé or the industrialist Daniel Le Grand, the first protective law was adopted on 22 March 1841, dealing with child labour in mills, works and factories employing more than 20 workers in the workshop. The enforcement of the law - to which there were many exceptions -was entrusted to local committees. It was not until 1874 that an inspectorate was set up with a relatively adequate staff: fifteen regional inspectors who could be assisted by inspectors nominated by the departments.

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Historical background

In Germany, in 1837, an enlightened industrialist, Schuchardt, proposed the establishment of a systematic factory inspectorate. The committees set up to oversee the application of the Regulations of 9 March 1839 on child labour in factories, also made up of notables work-ing voluntarily with the local police administration, met with strong re-sistance and here too the attempt was a failure. It was not until 1853, following numerous administrative reports, that a system analogous to that of the British factory inspectors was established.

The time from the start of the Industrial Revolution, through the adoption of the first protective laws, to the establishment of labour inspection services passed slowly for the workers as they waited for the State to intervene in the regulation and supervision of working con-ditions. It is not surprising that the whole of the nineteenth century was marked by innumerable strikes and riots, provoked by poverty and often degenerating into violent revolt. In periods of crisis, the workers acted in small groups generally coming from the same trade and united only by the circumstances. It was not until the first trade union organisations came into existence that coherent proposals for the drawing up of true labour legislation and for the supervision of working conditions took form and appeared officially among the workers' claims. Things started to move, if not more easily, at least more quickly during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, though there were still many social movements and they were put down less because of the claims they advanced than in the name of law and order. By then, there were large trade union organis-ations in all the industrialised countries. Governments, even those that were not wedded to a policy of reform realised that the State must intervene in the organisation of labour relations and the determination of working conditions. Some countries already possessed departments or offices that were later to become ministries of labour -Germany in 1882, Spain in 1883, the United States in 1884, the United Kingdom in 1887, France in 1891 and Belgium in 1894. Most of the industrialised countries had a more or less complete system for supervising the application of the labour legislation, which was no longer restricted to the protection of certain groups of workers but was starting to regulate questions such as safety and health, hours of work and the payment of wages.

A study carried out in 1909 and 1910 in some 20 countries with systems of inspection provides a review of the situation on the eve of the First World War.3

First, labour inspection services of the time were responsible only for industrial establishments, to which alone the protective legislation applied. In most countries, establishments employing fewer than a certain number of workers, five for example, were exempted from supervision. This was also true as a rule of those where only members of the same family were employed and occasionally of those where power was not used in the workshops.

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Labour inspection

In general, inspectors had to supervise the safety and health conditions of the workplace. Sometimes, health was not covered by inspection; in the United Kingdom, for example, it remained within the competence of local committees and had only a subsidiary place among the inspectors' duties.

Systems of inspection were far from conforming to a standard pattern. In Norway, for example, the tasks of inspection were entrusted to municipal committees, which continued to exist, with modifications, until recent times. The very idea of an official service of inspection was not yet clearly established, even in the United Kingdom, the country where inspection had started. In France, for example, labour inspectors were not grouped in real administrative services with offices, records, docu-mentation and systematic instructions. They had their office at home and were responsible to a divisional inspector at the regional level.4

To summarise, what existed was a proliferation of different practices and a wide diversity in the powers and duties of the inspection services. It was obvious that the time had come for an attempt to harmonise law and practice on an international basis, but the outbreak of war in 1914 made this impossible for some time.

During the First World War, trade union organisations gave much thought to the supervision of working conditions and defined their principal aims. Labour inspection as an integral part of the public administration was not the only system considered. During the important international trade union meetings held at Leeds in 1916, and at Berne in 1917, a new idea was expressed, that of "workers inspection". This idea, which would have been almost revolutionary a few years earlier, gave workers an active role in supervising their working conditions. It was asserted that as the workers knew both their trade and their enterprise, they were better placed than civil servants from outside to detect infringements and to evaluate hazards. The workers' inspectors would be able to follow courses of further technical training. According to some organisations, their work should not be restricted to their own enterprise but cover other enterprises in the region, and they should even be integrated with the national inspectorate. Governments, however, es-pecially those of countries with a long administrative tradition, were naturally inclined to see inspection as an institutionalised state activity, entrusted to a body of officials acting on behalf of the public authorities to enforce the labour legislation, rather as the police enforce law and order.

AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR: THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION

The negotiators of the peace treaty that put an end to the First World War, when they founded the League of Nations with the aim of

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preventing the risk of further conflict, also decided to establish a permanent organisation to protect workers and improve their lot. It was thus that in 1919 the International Labour Organisation came into existence. Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles, which was to become the Constitution of the ILO, declared that an improvement of conditions of labour was urgently required and stressed that the failure of any nation to adopt humane conditions of labour was an obstacle in the way of other nations which desired to improve the conditions in their own countries. The Treaty stated that it was particularly important that "each State should make provision for a system of inspection . . . , in order to ensure the enforcement of the laws and regulations for the protection of the employed".

Tripartism

The fundamental innovation was that the ILO was tripartite. It was the first international agency in which workers, employers and govern-ments from all over the world met on an equal footing to consider labour questions. Today, the ILO brings together the governments, employers and workers of 150 countries.

The functioning of the ILO

The International Labour Conference meets every year. It is a world assembly in which social questions and labour problems are discussed; it sets international labour standards and gives the general aims of the ILO. Every two years, the Conference adopts the programme and the budget, which is financed by member States. Each member State has the right to be represented at the Conference by four delegates: two Government delegates, one Workers' delegate and one Employers' delegate, each of whom is free to speak and vote with complete independence.

Between sessions of the Conference, ILO work is directed by the Governing Body. This is composed of 28 Government members, 14 Worker members and 14 Employer members.

The International Labour Office, with headquarters in Geneva, is the secretariat of the Organisation. It co-ordinates technical co-operation activities, and is also a research centre and publishing house. Nearly 3,000 ILO officials, of about 100 nationalities, work in Geneva and in the various regions of the world. A network of external offices situated in some 40 countries ensures the decentralisation of ILO activities on the regional, subregional or national scale.

The Governing Body and the International Labour Office are helped in their tasks by tripartite committees representing the main economic sectors and by meetings of experts set up to deal with specific problems.

Regional conferences, assembling member States of the International Labour Organisation in different parts of the world, and

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regional advisory committees meet periodically to examine questions of regional interest.

International labour standards

International labour standards - Conventions and Recom-mendations - are the principal means by which the ILO contributes to social progress.

The Conventions are international agreements that set forth aims for national policy or establish labour standards. Member States have to submit them to the competent national authority (generally, the legisla-tive body) for possible ratification. Member States are bound by the Conventions that they have ratified.

The Recommendations generally specify the methods by which the aims or standards set by the Conventions may be achieved. They are not submitted for ratification.

The ILO supervises the way in which member States conform to international labour standards through a system of periodic reports on Conventions (whether ratified or not) and Recommendations. There are two supervisory bodies: a committee of independent experts and a tripartite committee of representatives of governments, employers and workers, which is set up each year by the International Labour Conference. In addition to this standing machinery for supervision, the Constitution provides for special procedures of representation and complaint concerning the application of Conventions.

In general, international labour standards have contributed to the world-wide recognition of the importance of economic and social rights as human rights. In their own field, they have contributed much to the improvement of working conditions and to progress in social legislation.

By the end of 1985, the International Labour Organisation had adopted 161 Conventions and 171 Recommendations.

ILO standard setting in the field of labour inspection

At its First Session held at Washington in 1919, the International Labour Conference adopted several Conventions and Recommendations intended to eliminate the most flagrant abuses in working conditions and to prevent certain notorious occupational hazards. These Conventions and Recommendations concern, in particular, the limitation of hours of work, the minimum age for admission to employment, the night work of women and young persons in industry, maternity protection and the protection of workers against anthrax (an infection transmitted by various products of animal origin), against lead poisoning (among women and children) and against the risks entailed in the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches. In the Labour Inspection

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(Health Services) Recommendation, 1919 (No. 5), the Conference ex-pressed the wish that Members should establish, as soon as possible, not only a system of efficient factory inspection, but also a government service specially charged with the duty of safeguarding the health of the workers. At its First Session, then, the Conference was already showing the importance it attached to labour inspection.

Four years later, the Conference adopted the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1923 (No. 20), which laid down the general principles for the organisation and functioning of national systems of inspection. The instrument defined the sphere of inspection, described the functions and powers of inspectors and the rules for the organisation of inspection (organisation of the staff, qualifications of inspectors, methods of inspection, and co-operation with employers and workers) and indicated the nature of the reports that it should draw up.

The question arises why so important a problem, to which most modern countries had at least begun to find a solution by setting up more or less adequately manned inspection services, was not at once made the subject of a Convention and why the ILO was satisfied to adopt a Recommendation. The first answer that comes to mind is perhaps that by joining the ILO a State committed itself to applying the Constitution of the Organisation and thus to establishing an inspection service.5 A Recommendation to specify the principles for its organisation and operation would then suffice. Next, it must be recognised that the very nature of the subject was delicate. In a Convention, it was possible to state general principles, such as the limitation of hours of work or maternity protection, leaving the States to translate them into laws and regulations. On the other hand, to call for the creation of a labour inspection system was to go beyond the affirmation of a general principle and to deal with the internal organisation of States, a matter of national sovereignty. Accordingly, Recommendation No. 20 starts by reaffirming the sov-ereignty of States and then takes the form of a set of practical rules drawn from the experience of a number of countries. Many countries, moreover, that wished to establish an inspection service must at that time have lacked guide-lines such as those contained in the Recommendation.

The provisions of this Recommendation were later taken over in a draft Convention that was submitted for study when ideas had evolved and States were ready to accept the existence of an international Convention that could affect their internal organisation. In spite of some reservations, this draft - that of a true international agreement entailing obligations for the States ratifying it -was drawn up for submission to the session of the International Labour Conference scheduled for 1940. Its discussion naturally had to be put off until after the Second World War.

It was some years later, then, that the Conference adopted the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), applicable to industry and

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commerce, and the accompanying Recommendation (also No. 81). The Convention set forth the principles that member States must, in the view of the Conference, give effect to as a matter of priority. Adopted in the favourable circumstances of the period immediately after the war, the Convention went much further in the institution of labour inspection than Recommendation No. 20 of 1923. The Recommendation that supplemented it provided guide-lines and went into detail on points of administration for which only advice could be given.

At the same session, the International Labour Conference also adopted the Labour Inspectorates (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 85), which, given the state of the world at that period, had a great influence through the remaining trust territories. The inspection services of many English-speaking and French-speaking countries that achieved independence in the following decade were established on the basis of these provisions.

It was not until 22 years later that a Convention with provisions similar to those of Convention No. 81 was adopted in the sphere of agriculture. The Conference then adopted the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention and Recommendation, 1969 (Nos. 129 and 133). In the long period between the adoption of Convention No. 81 and that of Convention No. 129 many things had changed, as can be seen in the revealing differences between the texts of the two instruments, but not the basic principles.

Points for consideration

1. How do you see the role of labour inspection in the history of labour?

2. Was it an essential role with regard to the situation of workers in the early days of industrialisation?

3. Is this role different today? In principle? In practice? Should a distinction be made between sectors and situations?

4. When and how was labour inspection first established in your country? Try to trace its history for new members of your union. Show them the progress made.

Notes 1 Disraeli, B.: Sybil or the two nations (1845), Book II, Chapter V, quoted in J. Droz (ed.):

Histoire generóle du socialisme (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1972), Volume I, p. 259. 2 Droz, op. cit., p. 278.

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3 International Labour Office: L'inspection du travail en Europe, premier rapport comparatif sur l'application des lois ouvrières [Labour inspection in Europe, first comparative report on the application of labour laws] (Paris and Nancy, Berger-Levrault, 1910). The International Labour Office, established in Basle, was the secretariat of the International Association for the Legal Protection of Workers, a body founded in 1900 which was the forerunner of the International Labour Organisation.

* In fact, it was only after the widespread strike movement of 1936, when employers and workers called on labour inspectors to help them in their negotiations, that governments really became aware of the importance of the role of a centralised inspectorate with a clearly defined hierarchical structure.

5 This obligation is no longer included in the text of the Constitution, which was revised after the Second World War. It is inscribed in the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), which was drafted in 1939.

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THE ROLE OF LABOUR INSPECTION

As has already been seen, the international instruments concerning labour inspection comprise essentially two Conventions, the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), applying to industry and com-merce, and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129), and two Recommendations, Recommendations Nos. 81 and 133, which supplement these Conventions. (The texts of Conventions Nos. 81 and 129 will be found in Appendix 1.)

Convention No. 81 is rightly considered to be the basic labour inspection Convention. It has served as a model for most national laws and regulations creating modern inspection services and, in countries that have ratified it, existing services have had to be made to conform to its provisions, where they did not already do so.

Convention No. 81 and Recommendation No. 81 taken together constitute clearly for the ILO the rules that must be applied by governments in the field of labour inspection in industry and commerce. Convention No. 129 and Recommendation No. 133 supplement these instruments for agriculture, with improvements made possible by the evolution in thought that had taken place by the time they were adopted.

Convention No. 81 has two parts. The first deals with industry, naturally considered to be the priority sector because of the greater risks involved; the second deals with commerce, for which it lays down the provisions prescribed by the first part for industry.

All the provisions of the Convention are important, both for the workers, the principal persons concerned, and for the governments, which have to apply them, the administrations set up for the purpose and, of course, the labour inspectors because the instrument defines their role, their powers and their duties. This manual, however, will concentrate on the provisions that appear to be most important for trade union officials whose duties, especially within the enterprise, bring them into contact with labour inspection, in particular the provisions defining the purposes of inspection, those fixing the powers, duties and means of action of inspectors, and those dealing with the evaluation of their work.

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Labour inspection

THE PURPOSES OF INSPECTION

Many different forms and systems of labour inspection exist throughout the world. Beyond their differences, however, they all have common basic purposes that determine the broad functions of inspection. What are these purposes? Convention No. 81 defines them as follows:

The functions of the system of labour inspection shall be: (a) to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and

the protection of workers while engaged in their work, such as provisions relating to hours, wages, safety, health and welfare, the employment of children and young persons, and other connected matters, in so far as such provisions are enforceable by labour inspectors;

(b) to supply technical information and advice to employers and workers concerning the most effective means of complying with the legal provisions;

(c) to bring to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legal provisions.

The wording is both strong and flexible, and marks out a vast field for the activities of labour inspection.

The obligation is placed on labour inspection "to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions". These terms were chosen carefully by the authors of the Convention -who did not wish to speak simply of "supervising" or "promoting" the application of the legal provisions -and they clearly state it is the duty of labour inspection services to obtain effective application.

What are these provisions? According to the Convention, in addition to laws and regulations, they include arbitration awards and collective agreements upon which the force of law is conferred and which are enforceable by labour inspectors. These provisions form the common basis for the work of all the inspectors in a country and the guarantee for enterprises and workers against what is arbitrary, unfair and unjust. The role of labour inspectors is not to promote their own ideas, however noble these may be, but to make sure that the legislation in force is carried out, that is, to be the faithful and active instrument of the competent authorities of their country - the law-makers - in the field of labour protection.

Reference to the legal provisions might appear to restrict the scope of the inspectors in so far as they are not empowered to enforce every improvement in working conditions that seems desirable to them. In fact, as has been seen, one of the functions of labour inspection is "to bring to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legal provisions". This function is given the same priority as the function of enforcing the legislation and it makes labour inspection an instrument of social development by according it a right of initiative in labour protection. This provision is logical, for the inspectors, as the only officials in contact with the world of labour are the best placed to see the gaps in social legislation.

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The role of labour inspection

The purposes of labour inspection, it has already been observed, are defined in terms that are both strong and flexible. The scope of labour inspection varies from country to country, with the extent and nature of the legislation in force, which is obvious, with the powers conferred on the inspectors by the State, and with the field covered by the system. The powers of the inspectors may be general and relate to all legislation dealing with working conditions and the working environment; they may on the other hand be restricted to certain matters, for example, safety and health or wages. The system can cover all sectors of the economy or only some of them; it can cover the whole of the national territory or only part of it. Convention No. 81 covers all these situations, so that the tasks of the national inspection services can be narrowly restricted or extremely wide, depending on the country, and still meet the international definition of the purposes of inspection.

The authors of the text deliberately made it flexible so that the first Convention on labour inspection should be an instrument acceptable to the majority of States. The essential purpose was to ensure that national inspection services were established, even if their competence was limited, for experience showed that the functions of these services and the extent of the laws and regulations that they would have to enforce would certainly increase over the years. So far (December 1985), 106 countries have ratified the Convention.

Among international standards, those concerning labour inspection thus appear to be indispensable to the formulation, application and improvement of labour legislation. Labour inspection is one of the driving forces behind social progress, since it ensures the implementation of established social measures (provided of course that it has the means to do so) and brings to light the improvements that may be made to them.

THE FUNCTIONS OF INSPECTION

It has been seen that the purposes of labour inspection, as defined above, are made up of three main tasks: the enforcement of legislation mainly through supervision, the supply of information and advice to employers and workers, and the supply of information to the competent authority.

Inspection

This term and the function it covers may occasionally seem ambiguous. Some see it as embracing virtually all the functions of inspectors and as constituting their essential role; others consider it to resemble repression and police activities and to designate only the most limited, and always inadequate, aspect of their functions.

What is its real nature? It has been seen that the labour inspection services are responsible for the enforcement of the legislation. Enterprises

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are expected to observe certain laws and regulations; the first step is to see how far they actually do so. This is inspection.

Inspection is not an end in itself; it is a means by which the inspectorate can fulfil its first main task: to see that the legal provisions are applied. Inspection is based essentially on visits to workplaces liable to inspection, and it aims, by observation and discussion, first at establishing the situation and then at promoting (by methods to be discussed below), and actually ensuring, the application of the legislation.

Inspection must not be directed towards the systematic repression of lapses: its aim is to have legislation applied, not to catch offenders. It is, however, essential for inspectors to be able, if need be, to resort to coercive measures by drawing up a report with a view to the infliction of penalties severe enough to be deterrent. If there are no penalties or if penalties do not produce the desired result within a reasonable period, labour inspectors lose all their credibility and their work loses all its effectiveness.

It is obvious that the aim of inspection is the future protection of workers through the ending of dangerous or irregular situations. In the field of safety and health, inspection operates at three stages. Before the construction of a factory, the fitting out of a plant or the manufacture of a machine, for example, it ensures, from the planning stage, conformity with the relevant legislation. Convention No. 129 expressly provides that "The labour inspection services in agriculture shall be associated . . . in the preventive control of new plant, new materials or substances and new methods . . . which appear likely to constitute a threat to health or safety". According to Recommendation No. 81, arrangements should be made under which "plans for new establishments, plant, or processes of production may be submitted to the appropriate labour inspection service for an opinion". Few countries as yet apply this provision although it is of fundamental importance, given the difficulty of altering existing instal-lations; prevention, in view of the technical evolution of today, must increasingly be dealt with at the planning stage. This preliminary check will be followed by the normal inspection carried out during visits to workplaces. Lastly, in the event of accident, supervision will take the form of an inquiry intended mainly to prevent repetition of the accident.

Visits to workplaces are an essential part of inspection and the principal places where inspectors perform their activities are the places where the work is being carried out: enterprises, worksites and offices. For this reason, officials in charge of inspection services must give close attention to organising the work associated with their visits: the number of visits, the part of an official's time spent on visits, the distribution of visits by class of enterprise (according to activity, size, location, hazards, etc.), the programme of visits, and subsequent action.

Inspection can take various forms depending on the inspection system adopted by the country and its precise purpose. In the field of

14


occupational safety and health, inspection is based mainly on visits to workshops and other places of work. In that of hours of work, wages and child labour, inspectors must demand the records that the enterprise is obliged to keep and check their accuracy. In the field of freedom of association, inspectors must verify, in accordance with the legal provi-sions, that the elections laid down are held correctly, that the trade union can carry out its legal activities, and that there is no discrimination against its members.

In their work of inspection, inspectors can call on certain sources of assistance, either to get a better understanding of the situation (super-visory bodies, appointed experts, the accident prevention departments of social security funds, bodies within the enterprise such as the safety and health committee), or to extend their own work (staff representatives, the above-mentioned prevention departments, employers' and workers' organisations). The action of inspectors is discontinuous and something permanent must be found in the enterprise to carry it on.

Inspection, information and advice are closely connected and are often found together. Questions and answers and information are constantly exchanged during the inspection visit. The dialogue between inspectors, heads of enterprises and, if necessary, workers' representa-tives is essential to both aspects of inspection: it allows inspectors both to learn and to persuade, to point out the ways of achieving the desired result and to show the dangers of doing nothing (for example, in occupational safety), in short, to make the connection between the absolute necessity of applying the law and the practical problems to be solved.

Information and advice for employers and workers

The function of supplying information and advice to employers and workers has a clear aim: to indicate "the most effective means of complying with the legal provisions", in the words of Convention No. 81. Like the function of inspection, it contributes to ensuring the application of the legislation. Information and advice complement inspection, since, as noted above, the labour inspector's task is not solely coercive.

Accordingly, the effects of the necessarily brief acts of inspectors may last at the workplace. If the authority and ability of the inspectors were to be evident only during their visits to workplaces or talks in their office, how could inspection services ensure the observance of labour law? The advice and information provided by inspectors are thus directed towards the future. Inspectors cannot restrict themselves to carrying out a sort of retrospective supervision to ensure that everything is in order -that the machinery is safe, that the wages have been paid regularly, that the medical examinations have taken place, and that the hours of work of young workers are not excessive -when they visit the workplace. They have to give advice about the measures to be taken to ensure safety, to

15

Labour inspection

explain the legal requirements concerning the payment of wages, to indicate where and how medical examinations can be carried out, to demonstrate the importance of limiting work hours, and to discuss existing or potential problems with the employer. Authoritative opinion holds that the inspectors who get the best results are those who devote most of their efforts to educational work at the workplace among management or its agent and the workers' representatives. This is current practice in countries such as the Federal Republic of Germany, the USSR, the United Kingdom, the United States (in particular in mining enterprises) and the Scandinavian countries.

Because of its educational nature, the function of supplying informa-tion and advice can exert an influence beyond the case in question and play a part in prevention: its effects can be felt on other, similar, or even different, cases and can entail improvements going further than the legal requirements.

Information and advice during visits to workplaces

It is almost inevitable, as has been noted more than once above, that the function of inspection, which is performed mainly during visits to workplaces, should involve the provision of information and advice. Labour inspectors have to answer any questions that employers, their assistants or the workers' representatives may ask. It is just as natural for them to give opinions and explanations. In fact, the provision of information and advice is so much bound up with the function of inspection that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. It could almost be said that this depends on a certain attitude of inspectors, an attitude that influences their visit and can be seen in a careful and logical analysis of the situation (this topic will be taken up again in Chapter 6, "Labour inspection in action").

Information and advice at labour inspection offices

Labour inspectors should be easily accessible and the doors to their offices should be wide open to anyone wishing to consult them, lay a problem before them or address complaints to them about given situations. Their attitude should always be guided by the same concern: to promote an intelligent and fuller observance of the legal provisions. The practical organisation of this activity will be discussed below. In some countries, there are public information services to answer the simpler questions (this will be referred to again in Chapter 6).

A connection must be made between these activities and the handling of individual disputes. These concern as a rule the application of the laws or regulations and, in some countries, take up much of the time of the inspection staff, including that of the inspectors. The problem raised by activities of this type has been settled by Conventions Nos. 81 and 129

16


which tolerate them only if they do not interfere with the effective discharge of the primary duties of inspectors or prejudice their authority or impartiality. A number of countries consider that this is a question of adequate staffing and that the organisation should be large enough to allow inspectors to carry out their other duties properly as well.

Educational activities

To inform and advise are tasks of an educational nature so far as the information and advice given are intended not only to be acted on to the letter in a given situation but also to be understood and absorbed, to be convincing and, in short, to have a wide and lasting effect. The provision of information and advice can also take the form of courses, lectures or talks, as suggested, moreover, in Recommendation No. 81. These activities clearly make it possible to reach a wide audience, to explain both the letter and the spirit of labour legislation, and to ensure that it is better understood, better accepted and, so, better applied. For example, in Norway there is a national training committee made up of representatives of the labour inspection service and of the employers and workers; by 1979, 100,000 people had already taken a health and safety training course, a remarkable figure for an active population of about 1.5 million.

Dissemination of information

Ignorance of the social legislation and failure to recognise its underlying purpose and its usefulness are among the greatest obstacles faced by labour inspection, particularly in developing countries. It can be difficult for workers to accept the need to observe the legislation, during certain visits to workplaces, at the very time when individual complaints revealing failure to observe provisions in laws or regulations are pouring into the headquarters of the inspection service. There is no need to stress the great utility of every measure that helps to promote the dissemination of information on labour legislation. Nothing should be neglected in this field, in which employers' and workers' organisations can also play an important role. Mention may be made here of the work of the information services of the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive which collect and disseminate a great deal of information (a library and a translation service are available; radio and television programmes are prepared, and exhibitions are arranged).

The effectiveness of inspection and advice

At the close of this section, it is worth while to repeat how futile and harmful it would be to contrast the function of inspection with that of supplying information and advice, for these two functions are com-plementary and mutually reinforcing. Inspection without advice might

17

Labour inspection

well become legalistic and formal, effective, no doubt, on the spot but limited in its consequences; it would probably meet with resistance or even opposition and the general application of the legislation would suffer. Without supervision and without the constant threat of legal action, advice would be stripped of the constraining force of the law; it would be without foundation and would lose its power of persuasion. As past experience has shown, if labour inspection were reduced to a purely advisory function, it would not fulfil its role and would rapidly lose its authority. Inspection and advice together can favour the intelligent application of the legislation - lead employers to adopt a more positive attitude and prompt enterprises to improve working conditions volun-tarily; call forth a flow of information and an exchange of experience between enterprises; stimulate a dialogue between employers and work-ers, or even encourage participation, and give workers a better under-standing of their rights.

The qualities and aptitudes required of labour inspection officials by this dual task will be discussed below. It can be stated right away that the basics are a thorough knowledge of both the letter and the spirit of labour legislation; an open mind and a desire to learn about the problems of enterprises, occupational practices and technical conditions; and lastly, a belief in the importance of the tasks of labour inspection, based on a clear awareness of the aims of the public inspection service. These requirements demonstrate the importance of the training that must be given to inspection officials (see Chapter 5).

Informing the competent authority

This function is often underestimated or neglected. It is nevertheless explicitly mentioned by Conventions Nos. 81 and 129: labour inspection has an obligation "to bring to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legal provisions". This obligation imposed on labour inspection as a whole, from the most junior inspectors to their highest superiors, completes the terms of reference that make labour inspection an active agent for social progress. The inspectors' knowledge of labour problems and of the workers' situation, especially concerning the protection guaranteed to the workers by the social laws and regulations, puts them in a position to keep the authorities informed.

It should be noted that the international standards when they refer to defects or abuses not covered by the legal provisions are directed at fairly serious problems, their aim being to ensure the protection of all workers. The defects noted can result from the unsuitability of the existing provisions or from omissions whose consequence is that the legislation does not provide proper protection either for certain classes of workers (for example, migrant, seasonal or temporary workers, or those in

18


particular jobs) or against certain hazards or practices (exceeding legal hours of work in cafés and restaurants or dangers due to new techniques or the use of toxic substances, for example). In cases of this type, Convention No. 129 provides that inspectors shall submit to the competent authority "proposals on the improvement of laws and regulations".

Other functions

In many countries, the labour inspection services are entrusted with other tasks. Conventions Nos. 81 and 129 admit this situation but specify that "any further duties which may be entrusted to labour inspectors shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties or to prejudice . . . the authority and impartiality which are necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers".

The economic field

Economic and social questions are often closely linked. Owing to the contacts it maintains with the world of labour and the information it collects in the normal course of its work, the labour inspection service possesses a large amount of information of a social nature (occupational safety and health, the position of women workers and young workers, the state of labour relations, the conclusion and signature of collective agreements) or economic nature (number of enterprises, numerical strength of staff, hours of work carried out, average wages paid in different sectors of activity, requirements in skilled labour in the various economic sectors or geographic regions, etc.).

It is not surprising that the authorities in many countries have considered making use of so valuable a source of information, in particular in drawing up development plans. The labour inspectorate, by its nature objective and serious, can certainly supply such information and thus contribute to the administration and development of the country. What is only a secondary function, a derivative of the fundamental activities of inspection, however, should not become so important and take up so much time as to interfere with essential functions. This is a genuine risk and, if the essential functions were heavily outweighed, there could be an actual deviation of the purposes of inspection. And the danger point is reached all the more quickly as the numerical strength of the inspectorate is small.

Labour relations: conciliation and arbitration

The international Conventions make no provision either for concili-ation and arbitration to be entrusted to the labour inspection services.

19

Labour inspection

Recommendation No. 81 explicitly excludes them, for, by carrying them out, labour inspectors would risk their independence and impartiality. Conciliation and arbitration are thus not dealt with here. In many countries, however, these functions, particularly conciliation, are in fact entrusted to the labour inspection services. Since the adoption of Recommendation No. 81 in 1947, this question has always given rise to discussion. The Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1969 (No. 133), moreover, is less definite than Recommendation No. 81, for it accepts the participation of labour inspectors in the settlement of labour disputes, as a temporary measure, where no special bodies exist for the purpose of conciliation. A few words of explanation and warning on this subject are thus called for.

The assignment of functions of conciliation and arbitration to the inspection service has been opposed on the grounds that the resulting increase in work would be prejudicial to the primary tasks of inspection. It has been stressed in particular that these functions could adversely affect the authority or impartiality of the service. The opposite position has also been taken, that labour inspectors, through their knowledge of practical problems arising in the workplace, appear especially qualified to help in the settlement of disputes. The point has been made that it is often the employers and workers who designate inspectors in the first place as the natural conciliators because of the confidence they have in them.

Although some labour inspection activities, including the settlement of individual disputes mentioned above, may appear to be tasks of conciliation» they are in fact most often the traditional functions of providing information and advice, since they are generally observed when failures to observe the legal provisions are brought to the attention of the inspectorate. Furthermore, the inspectorate, by virtue of its functions of providing information, advice and motivation, can and must work for the development of labour relations. It is thus normal for inspectors to act to facilitate or impose the establishment of safety and health committees or other representative bodies within the enterprise, and to assist these bodies in carrying out their tasks, for example, by working out programmes fitting the actual conditions of the workplace.

Nevertheless, two dangers arise when labour inspection, in accord-ance with law or custom and because of the confidence it has acquired among wage earners and employers, plays the role of conciliator in an open dispute.

The first relates to the time, which may be considerable, called for by the function, to the detriment of the time that should be devoted to inspection or the provision of information and advice. This is all the more serious since it is the workers in small and medium-sized enterprises, which are in any case visited less frequently, who suffer the most, major collective disputes generally occurring in the large enterprises.

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The second danger is more insidious and relates to the risk of confusion in the inspector's mind between the role of a conciliator, seeking above all agreement and compromise, and that of a person responsible for enforcing the legislation, a role in which there is no room for compromise, the law being absolute.

Many countries - i n particular those in the British administrative tradition -have thus established specially trained bodies of conciliators to help in the settlement of collective disputes, which generally stem from a conflict of interest and are then economic in nature.

Protection of workers' representatives

The Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135), which is supplemented by Recommendation No. 143 of the same year, provides that "Workers' representatives in the undertaking shall enjoy effective protection against any act prejudicial to them, including dismissal, based on their status or activities as a workers' representative or on union membership or participation in union activities, in so far as they act in conformity with existing laws or collective agreements or other jointly agreed arrangements". Effect may be given to the provisions of the Convention "through national laws or regulations or collective agree-ments, or in any other manner consistent with national practice".

Some countries require employers to obtain union agreement or a court authorisation before they can dismiss a workers' representative. In other countries, including France and the countries in the French administrative tradition, the dismissal of shop stewards or elected staff representatives is subject to authorisation by the labour inspection service (unless the works council is in agreement, needless to say an extremely rare occurrence). This protection also applies to candidates for represen-tative functions and to former representatives for a certain period. In taking their decisions labour inspectors must try to establish whether faults imputed by employers to the workers' representatives are or are not linked to their union activities, as defined by law and precedent. If so, they will reject the dismissal; if not, they will allow it (provided, of course, that the charges against the persons concerned are sufficiently serious). This decision is sometimes extremely difficult to take because the dividing line between union and occupational activities is not always clear and it is hard to draw the line between "normal" union activities and those that go beyond this limit (for example, a strike that ends up in violence).

In countries where it exists, unions appear to value this protection provided by labour inspection. It obviously calls for a particularly high level of independence and objectivity among the inspection staff. The decision of an inspector is open to appeal: an application can be made to the Ministry of Labour to have it reversed or an application can be made to the courts for a legal decision.

21

Labour inspection

Supervision in the field of employment

In many countries, especially those following the French ad-ministrative system, labour inspection services play an important role in the field of employment, particularly in checking terminations of employment. Under the Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158), which deals in a general way with the termination of the employment relation at the initiative of the employer, "when the employer contemplates terminations for reasons of an economic, tech-nological, structural or similar nature, he shall notify . . . the competent authority thereof as early as possible, giving relevant information, including a written statement of the reasons for the terminations, the number and categories of workers likely to be affected and the period over which the terminations are intended to be carried out". As a rule, the competent authority should ensure that the procedure is observed and that the criteria for the selection of workers for termination are met and "assist the parties in seeking solutions to the problems raised by the terminations contemplated", in the words of Recommendation No. 166 of 1982, which accompanies Convention No. 158. Occasionally, the competent authority has the right to authorise or refuse the terminations.

The competent services are usually the employment services, but it can happen-more rarely, it is true-that they are those of labour inspection. In France, in the event of a request for mass terminations, the labour inspection officials have the task of checking the way in which the consultation procedure has been followed, the validity of the reasons given to justify the terminations and the extent of the measures to be taken for resettlement and compensation. After examining the financial position of the enterprise or the employment market, the labour inspector can in theory refuse the terminations (in fact, this appears to happen in only about 5 per cent of cases).

Without denying the utility of this verification which ensures a stricter respect for procedure and sometimes does prevent terminations, it should be noted that the time taken up keeps the inspectors from devoting themselves fully to their primary task and in fact often leads them to confirm decisions to terminate taken by the head of the enterprise which is embarrassing for the inspectors and may ultimately affect the confidence that the inspection services enjoy among workers. This is true, but, as a tripartite mission on the effectiveness of labour inspection that went to France in 1981 wrote in its report, "apart from the inspector it is not easy to see who could take on this function".

Still in the field of employment, the labour inspectors ensure that the principle of non-discrimination is observed during recruitment or termination (prohibition of any discrimination based on such factors as race, sex, religion, political opinion, nationality and family situation). They supervise the activities of temporary employment agencies to

22


prevent the negative effects that the development of precarious forms of employment, in particular temporary work, may have on wage earners. The economic problems and unemployment prevailing in many countries lead to increased supervision relating to the struggle against clandestine employment, and the regulation of foreign labour or overtime, for example.

Miscellaneous functions

Labour inspection can be entrusted with tasks other than those mentioned above, such as keeping a watch on the protection of the environment against pollution from enterprises or fire prevention in premises open to the public. These functions, which sometimes only the labour inspection service is in a position to fulfil, do not come directly within its province, and they must not interfere with its main functions of protecting workers in the enterprise.

Points for consideration

1. Does the labour inspection service in your country fulfil its purpose, as set out in Conventions Nos. 81 and 129?

2. Are the laws and regulations relative to working conditions and workers' protection that the labour inspection service is responsible for enforcing comprehensive and up to date? Are these laws and regulations applicable to all sectors of activity?

3. Is the labour inspection service responsible for ensuring that collective agreements are observed? What is the importance of collective agreements?

4. How is the role of labour inspectors regarded in your country? Is it regarded as an essentially coercive role? Do inspectors supply advice and information? Do they carry out preventive work?

5. Do labour inspectors have an educational function? Are they active in the field of public information?

6. Do labour inspectors carry out functions of such importance, for example, in the economic field, in settling individual or collective disputes, or in the field of employment, that they migh impede the fulfilment of their principal tasks?

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THE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF INSPECTION

Labour inspection services differ from country to country, but it is possible to distinguish two main systems: those that cover all sectors of activity and those that have specialised departments for each sector (mining, agriculture, industry, transport, etc.). The purpose of inspection may also vary with the inspection service: safety and health, working conditions, wages and labour relations. A distinction may similarly be made between systems whose officials enforce the statutory provisions in all the fields covered, and those that have sections specialised in accordance with the purpose of inspection.

In the socialist countries of Europe, labour inspection systems accord an important role to the trade unions in respect of occupational safety and health. In some countries, certain tasks of inspection are entrusted to local communities, and countries with a mining industry generally have a special system for this sector.

The matter will now be discussed in greater detail.

STRUCTURE OF THE SYSTEMS

Competence as regards the sector of activity

In some countries, there is a single labour inspection system competent for all sectors of economic activity. If mining, which in almost all countries comes under the corresponding ministry (there are excep-tions: Mexico, for example), is disregarded, this system is found in European countries such as Luxembourg, Spain or Switzerland. It is also found in African and Asian countries that have achieved independence since the end of the Second World War. The French-speaking countries of Africa, for example, have inspection systems that come under the ministry of labour and cover all branches of activity.

The advantage of this system is that it gives the inspectorate and, above it, the ministry of labour a general view of the different sectors, the problems of protecting wage earners often being similar. Moreover, in

25

3

Labour inspection

countries with limited resources, this system makes it possible to reduce the number of visits needed to supervise different activities.

In other countries, a specialised inspection service exists for each sector of activity, coming under the ministry concerned.

At the end of the nineteenth century, most European countries had a body to deal with questions of labour legislation, generally attached to a ministry, such as the ministry of the interior or the ministry of industry and commerce. In the years preceding the First World War, autonomous ministries of labour were established with the task of enforcing the labour legislation through a specialised public administration. This explains why, in certain branches of activity, supervising the observance of the laws protecting workers has remained among the functions of the ministerial department previously competent. Labour inspection in France was until recently divided among five or six ministries, depending on the composition of the government (labour, agriculture, industry, transport, etc.).

Between these two extremes - a single inspection system under one ministry competent to deal with all sectors of activity, and many specialised sectoral services coming under several ministries - there are intermediate systems in which one inspection service deals with a few sectors only.

For several years a trend has been developing towards grouping the inspection services under the control of a single authority, generally the ministry of labour, both because the problems that arise in most of the sectors are very similar if not identical and because this makes for more efficient and more economical administration. A unified and integrated system increases the opportunities open to the government in the prevention of occupational hazards and the legal protection of the workers.

In 1975, France unified the main inspection services, the whole of the inter-ministerial body thus established being governed by identical conditions of service, coming under the Ministry of Labour. In 1975, the United Kingdom also decided to group its health and safety inspection services (there had been seven separate services under five different ministries) under the Health and Safety Executive. With the creation of this Executive, the Factory Inspectorate, the other inspection services (except those in two sectors: railways, and the exploitation of offshore oil and gas), the Employment Medical Advisory Service and the other official bodies carrying out work in prevention were all parts of a single institution responsible to a single ministry, the Ministry of Employment. The concern to co-ordinate efforts in prevention and in the improvement of working conditions in the face of increasingly complicated legislation has also led other countries to entrust the supervision of the effect given to the laws on labour protection to a single inspection body, generally coming under the ministry of labour.

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The different systems of inspection

Competence as regards the purpose of inspection

The labour inspection services are responsible for ensuring that the legal provisions are observed in many fields: health and safety, working conditions, wages and labour relations.

In certain countries—for example, Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom—the inspection system includes services specialised in accord-ance with the purpose of inspection. In Belgium, there are the following services: a technical inspectorate for prevention and safety in the enterprise; a medical inspectorate dealing with health and hygiene; an inspectorate concerned with social legislation dealing with conditions of employment (wages, hours of work, etc.); an inspectorate to supervise the payment of social contributions; and officials dealing with questions of labour relations. In systems of this type, although the different services are specialised in particular fields, they are generally competent for all economic sectors.

The specialisation of labour inspectors is an attempt to respond to the increasing complexity of the tasks of inspection. Advocates of specialisation hold that an inspector cannot possess enough knowledge to deal with all the problems of workers' protection. Specialisation is such in certain countries that working conditions, in the broad sense of the term, can come under four or five types of inspection in the same enterprise.

Other countries, however, have a single system under which officials are competent for all questions relating to labour inspection. This is the situation in the French-speaking countries of Africa. It is also the situation in Luxembourg, which, for obvious reasons, did not embark on the costly organisation of several specialised bodies and thus has a single inspectorate under the Ministry of Labour. In such cases, the inspectorate is responsible for all the tasks that have to be carried out in the enterprise, the inspector or supervisor being the only representative of the Ministry to deal with it.

This system has the advantage of giving inspectors a comprehensive view of labour problems, which are often interdependent, and avoids a proliferation of inspections and a lack of co-ordination, but it may be wondered how far inspectors can carry out so extensive a programme in view of the increasing complexity of the legal and technical problems.

There is an intermediate solution consisting in a system under which labour inspectors are competent in many fields but have sufficient technical knowledge to recognise danger situations and call in specialists in medicine, engineering and chemistry, as provided by Convention No. 81. This is the situation in France. Another example is provided by the United Kingdom where the general inspectors in the field of safety and health call upon inspectors who are specialists in the very technical branches (electricity, chemistry, atomic energy) when particular prob-lems arise. Labour inspection then has a tendency to become multidisci-

27

Labour inspection

plinary; in Denmark, it has actually become multidisciplinary, with district inspection teams made up of inspectors (who have received technical training), engineers, physicians, psychologists, lawyers and ergonomists. The introduction of multidisciplinary teams allows the co-ordinators to have a general view of the various aspects of working conditions and to base their decisions on a synthesis of the opinions expressed. The cost of such an organisation is high, but it is very effective provided that the work of the various specialists is satisfactorily co-ordinated.

The bringing together of established inspection services in a number of countries, or at least the closer co-ordination of their activities, may be explained by the close relations between the different aspects of working conditions. Such measures meet the wishes both of the officials re-sponsible for supervision and of the workers and unions. Workers grappling with difficulties do not see why they should have to get in touch with several officials, each competent to deal with a different aspect of the problem, and to explain their situation repeatedly, perhaps with a great waste of their working time. The concern of the unions is to improve the effectiveness of labour inspection and to facilitate contacts between it and their members.

INSPECTION SYSTEMS IN THE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES OF EUROPE

The inspection systems in most of the socialist countries of Europe are similar in broad outline, although each country has its own organisational characteristics. They are in general distinguished by the place accorded to the action of the trade unions.

In the inspection system of the USSR, for example, responsibility for the supervision of occupational safety is in great part entrusted to the unions, the State retaining its prerogatives in respect of planning, general supervision of the functioning of the system and, sometimes, direct supervision.

The texts governing labour are drawn up for submission to the Council of Ministers of the USSR by the State Committee on Labour and Social Affairs, which is competent to deal with all conditions of employment other than occupational safety and health (wages, con-ditions of recruitment and termination, hours of work, leave, and social questions concerning the life of the workers). These texts are drawn up in close collaboration with the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

Once the texts are adopted by the Council of Ministers, they are communicated to the technical ministries, each of which is responsible for their enforcement in the enterprises of its branch. Each technical ministry has a labour department, which has to distribute the texts and the instructions issued under them among the enterprises and supervise their observance through its own body of inspectors. It also has an occupa-tional safety department, which is responsible for the enforcement of the

28


texts concerning prevention, issued, as will be seen, by the State Committee for Safety Control in Industry and Mines and the Central Council of Trade Unions. The director of each enterprise, who is appointed by the technical minister of the corresponding branch, is ultimately responsible for the application of these legal texts.

The State Committee for Labour and Social Affairs has a body of inspectors who verify the manner in which the labour laws and regulations are applied in the enterprises and ensure their uniformity over all branches of activity. They rectify any errors on the spot and report to the State Committee, which, if need be, sends its comments to the technical ministry concerned and, of course, informs the Ail-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (or the council of trade unions of the republic concerned).

Laws and regulations on occupational health and medicine are drawn up by the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (or the council of trade unions of the republic concerned). This Ministry has a general health inspectorate, which carries out the supervision of enterprises.

The work of the state bodies is paralleled, throughout the Union, by that of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and in each republic by the council of trade unions of the republic. These union organisations bear the main responsibility for occupational safety and health. Not only do unions carry out studies and research through their numerous institutes, but they also enact regulations, which are enforced by their own technical inspectors.

Trade union inspectors must have undergone higher or secondary technical training and have served a period of practical training of at least three years in a branch of production. They are nominated by an order of the praesidium of the central trade union committee of the branch concerned, the decision having to. be approved by the central committee itself. They constitute the real technical labour inspectorate, both for the Union and for the republics.

Within the enterprise the trade union committee establishes a labour protection committee, and similar committees are established in the workshops. These committees are made up of union members, who are elected. They enjoy wide powers regarding safety and health. The staff also elect voluntary inspectors; these are chosen from among the workers on the condition that they are union members and do not hold a managerial or supervisory position. These inspectors have comparatively wide powers in the field of safety and health. The chairman of the labour protection committee of the enterprise also carries out the functions of chief inspector. The labour protection committees and the voluntary inspectors constitute what is called "social inspection" to distinguish it from the technical inspection, which comes under the Central Council of Trade Unions.

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Labour inspection

This relatively simple scheme becomes slightly more complex in certain high+risk industries. For heavy industry and mines, there is a state committee covering the whole Union, the State Committee for Safety Control in Industry and Mines, with an administrative organisation in each republic for liaison and supervision, which reports back to it direct. This Committee plays the same role regarding safety conditions in the enterprises in its sector and in relations with the ministries concerned as the State Committee for Labour and Social Affairs does for general conditions of employment. Its instructions are communicated to the technical ministries concerned, which are responsible for putting them into effect. The State Committee for Safety Control in Industry and Mines has its own body of inspectors who verify on the spot the application of its instructions in the enterprises. This inspection is independent of that of the technical inspection of the unions and that carried out by the officials of the technical ministries that the enterprises depend on.

Other technical, specialised structures (state committees or minis-tries) are found in branches such as civil aviation or the atomic industry. Their working methods are similar to those described above for the State Committee for Safety Control in Industry and Mines.

The All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and the trade union councils of the republics can punish infringements up to a certain degree of seriousness (the penalties that they can impose go as far as the dismissal of the head of the enterprise or the manager responsible, for example, for not respecting the clauses of a collective agreement). Administrative measures may also be taken direct by the technical ministries that the enterprises depend on. The most serious infringements, those likely to lead to legal penalties, come within the competence of the Procurator-General of the USSR or the procurators of the republics.

Immediately after the Second World War, most of the socialist countries of Europe established labour inspection systems based on that of the USSR, also giving the trade unions an important part in supervision. In Romania, however, where the trade union structure in the enterprises is similar to that of Soviet enterprises (with a safety committee coming under the works council and safety delegates), the inspection system is different. It remains a state service with a structure like that of the traditional inspection services of non-socialist countries. Hungary and Poland have recently adopted the same system.

FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Certain States call upon local communities either to help the labour inspection services to carry out their tasks or even to perform inspection functions in the place of the state services.

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Until 1972, Norway entrusted certain tasks of labour inspection to municipalities, for reasons essentially bound up with the geographic isolation of certain regions. This inspection service was made up of elected, generally voluntary, officials and was an extension of the state service, which it called on when faced with a question of some technicality or when a penalty had to be considered. Today, except in agriculture, labour inspection has become entirely a state service. The municipal labour protection committees have not been dissolved but, in the industrial sector, their task is only to examine the situation and to advise the state inspectorate. It is interesting to see how Norway has adapted its inspection system to the geographic constraints and to the problems of reaching certain towns in the absence of modern means of transport.

In Sweden, the Working Environment Act of 19 December 19771

entrusted the enforcement of its provisions and of the regulations issued under it to the Workers' Protection Board and to the labour inspection service, under the supervision and direction of this Board. The Act calls on each commune, in consultation with the labour inspection service, to appoint one or more supervision officers to assist the inspection service in carrying out its task, generally by supervising enterprises employing fewer than ten persons and not using machinery. All communes have to submit an annual report to the inspection service on the way in which this supervision has been exercised. If commune supervision officers fail to carry out their duties and the matter comes to the knowledge of the commune through a report from the labour inspection service or in any other way, the commune must take measures to rectify the situation.

In Italy, the law of 23 December 1978 to reform the health system decentralises responsibility for the public health, hygiene and safety to the regional and local authorities. The local health units, designated by the communal authorities, deal with everything concerning public health: hospital administration, organisation of local health services, health and safety in enterprises, etc. This reform thus withdraws from the labour inspection service, a state service coming under the Ministry of Labour, the functio

labour inspection · 2014. 6. 10. · labour legislation is a consequence of the industrial...

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