Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167) - Hungary (Ratification: 1989)

Article 35 of the Convention. Appropriate inspection. Effective enforcement of the provisions of the Convention. Application in practice. With reference to its previous comments, in which it requested information on the measures taken to address the upward trend in infringements of rules on electrical shock protection, the Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that the occupational safety and health (OSH) authority pays special attention to the control of electrical safety requirements during inspections and that targeted inspections were carried out in this regard in 2014. The Committee also notes that the Government once again refers to section 82(1) of Act No. XCIII of 1993 on labour safety which requires OSH inspectorates to impose fines on employers who have exposed their workers to severe risks by failing to provide safe and healthy working conditions. In this regard, the Committee notes from the statistical information provided by the Government, that there was a decrease between 2010 and 2014 in the number of employers inspected in the construction industry (from 6,997 to 5,251), with some fluctuations during these years. It also notes that the number of resolutions imposing occupational safety fines fell from 643 in 2010 to 370 in 2014. Furthermore, the Committee notes that the number of measures taken with regard to violations of the rules pertaining to prevention of electrical shocks fell from 1,837 in 2010 to 1,254 in 2014, and that the number of measures taken with regard to violations of the rules pertaining to individual protective equipment, after having regularly fallen between 2010 and 2013, increased from 1,380 in 2013 to 2,346 in 2014. Finally, it notes that the number of occupational accidents in construction fell from 1,053 in 2010 (25 of which were fatal and 15 cases of total mutilation) to 791 in 2014 (18 of which were fatal and 18 cases of total mutilation). The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the measures taken to ensure that appropriate inspection is carried out and the effective enforcement of the provisions of the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide information on the causes of the increase between 2013 and 2014 in the number of violations of the rules pertaining to individual protective equipment and on the measures taken or envisaged to address this increase, and to continue providing detailed information on the application of the Convention in practice.