Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Denmark (Ratification: 1974)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the information it contains regarding laws relevant for giving effect to the provisions of the Convention.

Article 7 of the Convention. Performance of work involving exposure to ionizing radiation by young persons. The Committee notes that section 11, cf. annex 6, of Order No. 239 of 6 April 2005, on work performed by young persons, provides that young persons must not perform work which involves exposure to ionizing radiation. It notes however that the rules issued by the State Institute for Radiation Hygiene of the National Board of Health (SIS) contain provisions prescribing a lower age limit of 16 years for work with ionizing radiation as per which young persons aged over 15 years, who have completed compulsory school education, may perform risky functions provided that such work is a necessary element of a formally qualifying training programme of at least two years’ duration. The Committee recalls that Article 7(2), of the Convention prescribes that no person under the age of 16 years shall be engaged in work involving ionizing radiation. Noting that this prohibition under Article 7(2), does not permit any exception to be made for the purpose of training, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that young persons below the age of 16 years do not perform any work that involves exposure to ionizing radiation and to indicate the measures so taken in its next report.

Article 12. Medical examinations. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, under Order No. 206 of 23 March 1990 on medical control with work involving ionizing radiation, only persons performing radiation work under conditions which normally involve exposure to ionizing radiation in doses exceeding 6 mSv per year or 3/10th of the limits for the lens of the eye, skin and extremities mentioned in Order No. 823 of 31 October 1997, Annex 1, are required to undergo medical examinations. Recalling that Article 12 of the Convention requires all workers directly engaged in radiation work to undergo an appropriate medical examination prior to or shortly after taking up such work and to subsequently undergo further medical examinations at appropriate intervals, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all workers directly engaged in radiation work undergo appropriate medical examinations in accordance with Article 12 of the Convention and to indicate the measures so taken in its next report.

Article 14. Alternative employment or other measures offered for maintaining income where continued assignment to work involving exposure is medically inadvisable. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s indications, in response to its previous comments in respect of workers whose continued engagement in work involving exposure to ionizing radiation has been found to be medically inadvisable, that the Public Employment Service will try to place him or her in another job, such as a job with a public subsidy, that if the person cannot be placed in a job but is otherwise assessed as being available to the labour market, he or she would qualify for employment benefits for a period of up to five years, that if the person is sick he or she would qualify for sickness benefits, possibly a pension, and that, furthermore, when there is a proven occupational injury, the employer’s insurance company should pay compensation to the worker concerned. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the application in practice of this Article of the Convention.