INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE

Recommendation 164

RECOMMEITDATION CONCER]\IING OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

AhID HEALTH AND THE WORKING EhTVIRONMENT
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International
Labour Office, and having met in its Sixty-seventh Session on 3 June 198L,
and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to safety
and health and the working environment, which is the sixth item on thL
agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Recommenda-
tion supplementing the occupational Safety and Health convention, 1991,
adopts this twenty-second day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and
eighty-one the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the Occupa-
tional Safety and Health Recommendation, 1.981:

I. Scope eNo DrRNlrroNs

_ -1. (1) lo_ t!9 greatest extent possible, the provisions of the Occupational
Safety and Health convention, 1981 (hereinafter referred to as "the conven-
tion") and of this Recommendation should be applied to all branches of economic
activity and to all categories of workers.
(2) Provision should be made for such measures as may be necessary and
practicable to give self-employed persons protection analogous to that provided for
in the Convention and in this Recommendation.
2. For the purpose of this Recommendation-
(a) the term " branches of economic activity " covers all branches in which
workers are employed, including the public service;
(b) the term "workers" covers all employed persons, including public employees;
(c) the term workplacc " cgvers all places where workers need to be or to go by
reason of-"their work and which are under the direct or indirect control of the
employer;
(d) the term "regulations" covers all provisions given force of raw by the
competent authority or authorities;
(e) the term "health", in relation to work, indicates not merely the absence of
disease orinfirmity; it also includes the physical and mental elements affecting
health which are directly related to safety and hygiene at work.

II. TecsNrcel Flelos or ActoN

3. As appropriate for different branches of economic activity and different
types of work and taking into account the principle of giving priority to eliminating
hazards at their source, measures should be iaken in puriuanc6 of the polic!
referred to in Article 4 of the Convention, in particular in the following fieids: '

t#W' Ey<
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(a) design, siting, structural features, installation, maintenance, repair and
alteration of workplaces and means of access thereto and egress therefrom;
(b) lighting, ventilation, order and cleanliness of workplaces;
(c) temperature, humidity and movement of air in the workplace;
(d) design, construction, use, maintenance, testing and inspection of machinery
and equipment liable to present hazards and, as appropriate, their approval
and transfer;
(e) prevention of harmful physical or mental stress due to conditions of work;
(f) handling, stacking and storage of loads and materials, manually or mechani-
cally;
@ use of electricity;
(h) manufacture, packing, labelling, transport, storage and use of dangerous
substances and agents, disposal of their wastes and residues, and, as
appropriate, their replacement by other substances or agents which are not
dangerous or which are Iess dangerous;
(i) radiation protection;
0 prevention and control of, and protection against, occupational hazards due to
noise and vibration;
(k) control of the atmosphere and other ambient factors of workplaces;
0 prevention and control of hazards due to high and low barometric pressures;
(m) prevention of fires and explosions and measures to be taken in case of fire or
explosion;
(n) design, manufacture, supply, use, maintenance and testing of personal
protective equipment and protective clothing ;
(o) sanitary installations, washing facilities, facilities for changing and storing
clothes, supply of drinking water, and any other welfare facilities connected
with occupational safety and health;
(p) first-aid treatment;
(q) establishment of emergency plans;
(r) supervision of the health of workers.

III. AcrroN Ar rHE NarroNar- Level

4. With a view to giving effect to the policy referred to in Article 4 of the

Convention, and taking account of the technical fields of action listed in Paragraph
3 of this Recommendation, the competent authority or authorities in each country
should-
(a) issue or approve regulations, codes of practice or other suitable provisions on
occupational safety and health and the working environment, account being
taken of the links existing between safety and health, on the one hand, and
hours of work and rest breaks, on the other;
(b) from time to time review legislative enactments concerning occupational
safety and health and the working environment, and provisions issued or
approved in pursuance of clause (a) of. this Paragraph, in the light of
experience and advances in science and technology;
(c) undertake or promote studies and research to identify hazards and find means
of overcoming them;
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(d) provide information and advice, in an appropriate manner, to employers and
workers and promote or facilitate co-operation between them and their
organisations, with a view to eliminating hazards or reducing them as far as
practicable; where appropriate, a special training programme for migrant
workers in their mother tongue should be provided;
(e) provide specific measures to prevent catastrophes, and to co-ordinate and
make coherent the actions to be taken at different levels, particularly in
industrial zones where undertakings with high potential risks for workers and
the surrounding population are situated;
(f) secure good liaison with the International Occupational Safety and Health
Hazard Alert System set up within the framework of the International Labour
Organisation;
@ provide appropriate measures for handicapped workers.
5. The system of inspection provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 9 of the
Convention should be guided by the provisions of the Labour Inspection
Convention, t947, and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969,
without prejudice to the obligations thereunder of Members which have ratified
these instruments.

6. As appropriate, the competent authority or authorities should, in consulta-

tion with the representative organisations of employers and workers concerned,
promote measures in the field of conditions of work consistent with the policy
referred to in Article 4 of the Convention.
7. The main purposes of the arrangements referred to in Article 15 of the
Convention should be to-
(a) implement the requirements of Articles 4 and 7 of the Convention;
(b) co-ordinate the exercise of the functions assigned to the competent authority
or authorities in pursuance of Article 11 of the Convention and Paragraph 4 of
this Recommendation;
(c) co-ordinate activities in the field of occupational safety and health and the
working environment which are exercised nationally, regionally or locally, by
public authorities, by employers and their organisations, by workers'organisa-
tions and representatives, and by other persons or bodies concerned;
(d) promote exchanges of views, information and experience at the national level,
at the level of an industry or that of a branch of economic activity.
8. There should be close co-operation between public authorities and rep-
resentative employers' and workers' organisations, as well as other bodies
concerned in measures for the formulation and application of the policy referred to
in Article 4 of the Convention.
9. The review referred to in Article 7 of. the Convention should cover in
particular the situation of the most vulnerable workers, for example, the
handicapped.

IV. Acrlox AT THE Level oF THE IJNopnrnrrNc

10. The obligations placed upon employers with a view to achieving the
objective set forth in Article 16 of the Convention might include, as appropriate for
different branches of economic activity and different types of work, the following:
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(a) to provide and maintain workplaces, machinery and equipment, and use work
methods, which are as safe and without risk to health as is reasonably
practicable;
(b) to give necessary instructions and training, taking account of the functions and
capacities of different categories of workers;
(c) to provide adequate supervision of work, of work practices and of application
and use of occupational safety and health measures;
(d) to institute organisational arrangements regarding occupational safety and
health and the working environment adapted to the size of the undertaking
and the nature of its activities;
(e) to provide, without any cost to the worker, adequate personal protective
clothing and equipment which are reasonably necessary when hazards cannot
be otherwise prevented or controlled;
(f) to ensure that work organisation, particularly with respect to hours of work
and rest breaks, does not adversely affect occupational safety and health;
@ to take all reasonably practicable measures with a view to eliminating
excessive physical and mental fatigue;
(h) to undertake studies and research or otherwise keep abreast of the scientific
and technical knowledge necessary to comply with the foregoing clauses.
11. Whenever two or more undertakings engage in activities simultaneously at
one workplace, they should collaborate in applying the provisions regarding
occupational safety and health and the working environment, without prejudice to
the responsibility of each undertaking for the health and safety of its employees. In
appropriate cases, the competent authority or authorities should prescribe general
probedures for this collaboration.

12. (l)
The measures taken to facilitate the co-operation referred to in Article
20 of the Convention should include, where appropriate and necessary, the
appointment, in accordance with national practice, of workers' safety delegates, of
workers' safety and health committees, and/or of joint safety and health
committees; in joint safety and health committees workers should have at least
equal representation with employers' representatives.
(2) Workers' safety delegates, workers' safety and health committees, and joint
safety and health committees or, as appropriate, other workers' representatives
should-
(a) be given adequate information on safety and health matters, enabled to
examine factors affecting safety and health, and encouraged to propose
measures on the subject;
(b) be consulted when major new safety and health measures are envisaged and
before they are carried out, and seek to obtain the support of the workers for
such measures;
(c) be consulted in planning alterations of work processes, work content or
organisation of work, which may have safety or health implications for the
workers;
(d) be given protection from dismissal and other measures prejudicial to them
while exercising their functions in the field of occupational safety and health as
workers' representatives or as members of safety and health committees;
(e) be able to contribute to the decision-making process at the level of the
undertaking regarding matters of safety and health;
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(f) have access to all parts of the workplace and be able to communicate with the
workers on safety and health matters during working hours at the workplace;
@ be free to contact labour inspectors;
(h) be able to contribute to negotiations in the undertaking on occupational safety
and health matters;
(i) have reasonable time during paid working hours to exercise their safety and
health functions and to receive training related to these functions;
0 have recourse to specialists to advise on particular safety and health problems.
13. As necessary in regard to the activities of the undertaking and practicable
in regard to its size, provision should be made for-
(a) the availability of an occupational health service and a safety service, within
the undertaking, jointly with other undertakings, or under arrangements with
an outside body;
(b) recourse to specialists to advise on particular occupational safety or health
problems or supervise the application of measures to meet them.
14. Employers should, where the nature of the operations in their undertak-
ings warrants it, be required to set out in writing their policy and arrangements in
the field of occupational safety and health, and the various responsibilities
exercised under these arrangements, and to bring this information to the notice of
every worker, in a language or medium the worker readily understands.
15. (1) Employers should be required to verify the implementation of
applicable standards on occupational safety and health regularly, for instance by
environmental monitoring, and to undertake systematic safety audits from time to
time.
(2) Employers should be required to keep such records relevant to occupational
safety and health and the working environment as are considered necessary by the
competent authority or authorities; these might include records of all notifiable
occupational accidents and injuries to health which arise in the course of or in
connection with work, records of authorisations and exemptions under laws or
regulations in the field and any conditions to which they may be subject, certificates
relating to supervision of the health of workers in the undertaking, and data
concerning exposure to specified substances and agents.
16. The arrangements provided for in Article 19 of the Convention should aim
at ensuring that workers-
(a) take reasonable care for their own safety and that of other persons who may
be affected by their aqts or omissions at work;
(b) comply with instructions given for their own safety and health and those of
others and with safety and health procedures;
(c) use safety devices and protective equipment correctly and do not render them
inoperative;
(d) report forthwith to their immediate supervisor any situation which they have
reason to believe could present a hazard and which they cannot themselves
correct;
(e) report any accident or injury to health which arises in the course of or in
connection with work.
17. No measures prejudicial to a worker should be taken by reference to the
fact that, in good faith, he complained of what he considered to be a breach of
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statutory requirements or a serious inadequacy in the measures taken by the
employer in respect of occupational safety and health and the working environ-
ment.

V. RrlnrroNs To ExrsrrNc INrenNerroNer- Lasoun CoNvexrroNs

eNp RscoI\,II\,IENDATIoNS

18. This Recommendation does not revise any international labour Recom-
mendation.
19. (1) In the development and application of the policy referred to in Article
4 of the Convention and without prejudice to their obligations under Conventions
they have ratified, Members should refer to the international labour Conventions
and Recommendations listed in the Appendix.
(2) The Appendix may be modified by the International Labour Conference,
by a two-thirds majority, in connection with the future adoption or revision of any
Convention or Recommendation in the field of safety and health and the working
environment.
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APPENDIX
LIST OF INSTRUMENTS CONCERNING OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
AND HEALTH AND THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT ADOPTED BY
THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE SINCE 1919

Year Convention Recommcndation

l92l 13. White Lead (Painting)

1929 27. Marking of Weight (Packages
Transported by Vessels)
1937 62. Safety Provisions (Building) 53. Safety Provisions (Building)

1946 73. Medical Examinations (Seafarers) 79. Medical Examination of Young

Persons
77. Medical Examination of Young
Persons (Industry)
78. Medical Examination of Young
Persons (Non-industrial Occupa-
tions)
1947 81. Labour Inspection 81. Labour Inspection
82. Labour Inspection (Mining and
Transport)
1949 92. Accommodation of Crews (Re-
vised)
1953 97. Protection of Workers' Health

1958 105. Ships' Medicine Chests

106. Medical Advice at Sea
1959 ll3. Medical Examination (Fisher- 112. Occupational Health Services
men)
1960 ll5. Radiation Protection 114. Radiation Protection
1963 119. Guarding of Machinery 118. Guarding of Machinery
1964 120. Hygiene (Commerce and Offices) 120. Hygiene (Commerce and Offices)
121. Employment Injury Benefits 121. Employment Injury Benefits

1965 I24. Medical Examination of Young

Persons (Underground Work)
1967 127. Maximum Weight 128. Maximum Weight
1969 129. Labour Inspection (Agriculture) 133. Labour Inspection (Agriculture)
l97O 133. Accommodation of Crews (Sup- 140. Crew Accommodation (Air Condi-
plementary Provisions) tioning)
141. Crew Accommodation (Noise
Control)
134. Prevention of Accidents (Sea- 142. Prevention of Accidents (Sea-
farers) farers)
l97l 136. Benzene 144. Benzene
1974 139. Occupational Cancer 147. Occupational Cancer
1977 148. Working Environment (Air 156. Working Environment (Air
Pollution, Noise and Vibration) Pollution, Noise and Vibration)
1979 152. occupational safety and Health 160. occupational Safety and Health
(Dock Work) (Dock Work)
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