Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Ghana (Ratification: 1959)

Articles 11 and 16 of the Convention. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report which indicates that the number of inspectors and inspection visits per year have dropped respectively from 171 (in 1991) to 98 (in 1995) and from 907 (in 1991) to 413 (in 1992). It indicates also that four of the five vehicles at the disposal of the labour inspectors have broken down and that the reimbursement to labour inspectors of their travelling expenses is delayed. The Committee requests the Government to take appropriate measures to increase the number of the operative staff sufficiently to ensure that workplaces are inspected as often and as thoroughly as is necessary as well as to improve the means of transport and the reimbursement of expenses. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide information on any improvements made in this regard as well as in relation to means of transport and reimbursement of expenses.

Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. The Committee notes that, although the Government has provided in its report some statistical information on the activities of the labour inspectorate, it is nevertheless bound to note once again that no annual report on labour inspection has been received by the ILO and that the most recent one concerned the period 1973 to 1974 and was sent to the Office in 1980. The Committee recalls that the preparation and publication of periodic inspection reports, as required by the Convention, is an essential means of determining the manner in which the instrument is applied and the remedial measures that need to be taken. The Committee trusts that the appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that annual inspection reports, containing precise information on all the matters enumerated in Article 21, are published and transmitted to the ILO within the time-limits set out in Article 20.