Is a safety committee or a worker safety representative required in Iraq?

Not as such. Iraq's Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 does not require an enterprise OSH committee or a dedicated worker safety representative, and we could not verify whether the ministerial OSH instructions do. The law does make cooperation with workers' representatives an essential part of OSH and requires the employer to give them sufficient information on its OSH measures (Articles 114 and 123), so a joint committee is the practical way to meet that duty.

Short answer

• No committee duty in Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 and no headcount threshold for one.
• Cooperation: cooperation between employer and workers or their representatives is an essential element of OSH at enterprise level, and workers' representatives must cooperate with the employer on OSH (Articles 114(1) and 123).
• Information: workers' representatives must receive sufficient information on the employer's OSH measures; the most representative workers' associations may be consulted, without disclosing trade secrets (Article 123).
• Inspection: labour inspection committees include an employers' and a workers' representative (Article 128).
• Instructions and contracts: check the current OSH instructions with the National Centre for Occupational Health and Safety; many client contracts require a site HSE committee.

What the law says about workers' representatives

The Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 (قانون العمل رقم 37 لسنة 2015) recognises workers' associations (trade unions) and, where there is none, workers' representatives elected under the law (Article 1 definitions and Article 146). In OSH, these representatives have two roles:

1. Cooperation. Article 114(1) makes cooperation between the employer and the workers or their representatives an essential element of OSH measures in the enterprise.
2. Information. Article 123 makes the workers' representatives in the enterprise cooperate with the employer on OSH and requires that they receive sufficient information on the procedures the employer takes to ensure OSH. The most representative workers' associations may be consulted on that information, provided they do not disclose commercial or industrial secrets.

Workers' representatives also take part in disciplinary hearings and must be consulted before a final decision to terminate a contract (Articles 140 and 143). At national level, OSH policy is reviewed with the most representative employers' and workers' organisations (Article 115), and labour inspection is tripartite: each inspection committee is chaired by a Ministry inspector and includes one employers' and one workers' representative (Article 128).

How it compares

Setting up a committee that works in Iraq

A joint OSH committee is the simplest way to show cooperation and information under Articles 114 and 123:

• Members: the employer or site manager, the HSE lead, the contracted or resident physician where there is one, and elected workers' or union representatives.
• Meetings: monthly on large sites, with minutes in Arabic (and Kurdish where relevant).
• Agenda: incidents and near misses, inspection findings, training, medical surveillance results in aggregate, heat and other seasonal hazards, actions and owners.
• Records: keep minutes and action lists available for the inspection committee.

Example: A cement plant in Anbar with 300 workers has no union branch. Workers elect three representatives, who sit on a monthly OSH committee with the plant manager, the HSE engineer and the plant physician. Each month the representatives receive the incident log and the inspection results, which meets the information duty of Article 123, and their proposals on dust control are tracked to completion.

Related on excodex

• Occupational safety and health in Iraq: law, authorities and employer duties
• What is the main OSH law in Iraq and who enforces it?
• What OSH training must employers provide to workers in Iraq?

Standards and further reading

• Labour Law No. 37 of 2015 (قانون العمل رقم 37 لسنة 2015), Articles 1, 114, 115, 123, 128, 140, 143, 146; unofficial English translation: alnoor.edu.iq
• ILO, labour inspection policy and national OSH profile for Iraq (November 2022): ilo.org
• Directive 89/391/EEC (EU OSH framework directive), Article 11; Türkiye: Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety (6331 sayılı İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Kanunu), Articles 20 and 22.

This article is general occupational safety and health information prepared by the excodex editorial team. It does not replace the applicable legislation, standards, manufacturers' instructions or the assessment of a competent OSH professional or occupational physician.