Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention, 1979 (No. 152) - United Republic of Tanzania (Ratification: 1983)

Article 20(1) of the Convention. Safety of workers in the hold or on the cargo deck of a ship during operations. The Committee notes that, in reply to its previous comments, the Government refers to a number of regulatory texts as giving effect to this Article of the Convention. The Committee notes that the Government refers in particular to prescriptions on general safety regulations contained in Part IX of the Tanzania Harbours Regulations, 1991. Recalling that paragraph 1 of Article 20 provides for measures to ensure the safety of workers in the hold or on the cargo deck of a ship during loading or unloading operations, the Committee considers that in order to assess more fully the effect given to this provision of the Convention it would require further information on adopted measures or regulations in relation to safety measures to prevent hazards while performing work in holds (i.e. number of workers authorized in each gang working in a hold; adequate supervision during the stowing, handling, stacking and unstacking of goods; suitable protection where workers have to work close to edges from which they can fall; measures ensuring safe position of workers during lifting of appliances; etc.) or on deck (i.e. safety measures on upper decks to prevent any worker from accidentally falling overboard; etc.). As guidance on the nature of information requested, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the ILO Code of practice on safety and health in ports (revised version of 2016), particularly to its Part 7 (operations afloat). Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the specific points raised above to ensure the safety of workers in the hold or on the cargo deck of a ship during loading or unloading operations.

Article 26(1)(b). Mutual recognition by Members of the arrangements made for the testing and certification of lifting appliances. The Committee recalls that in previous reports, the Government had indicated that there are no measures adopted to ensure the application of the requirements of this subparagraph of Article 26. Consequently, the Committee requested the Government to take measures to ensure the application of this provision. In the absence of information in the Government’s report, the Committee requests once again the Government to indicate any measures adopted or envisaged to ensure the mutual recognition of the arrangements made by other Members for the testing and certification of lifting appliances.

Application in practice. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government regarding the inspections carried out in the port of Dar es Salaam, from November 2019 to January 2020, to assess the implementation of occupational safety and health management in the workplace, which revealed a number of dysfunctions in this port that pose risks to the safety and health of port workers and made recommendations for corrective measures. The Committeerequests the Government to indicate the measures taken to address the conclusions of the inspection in the port of Dar es Salaam to reduce safety and health risks for port workers. It encourages the Government to conduct similar assessments in other major ports in the country and to report on their outcomes. More generally, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed and updated information on the application of the Convention in practice, including relevant extracts from inspection reports and available statistics on the number and nature of the violations reported, the measures adopted in this regard, and on the number of occupational accidents and diseases reported. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide any available information on the number of workers protected by the legislation.