Main functions of labour: Labour inspection systems may cover one or more different basic functions, or areas of responsibility which, while clearly distinct from each another, in fact, are usually closely interlinked and interact on one another. These main functional areas are; general conditions of work; occupational safety and health; (illegal) employment; and industrial relations. In some countries, a fifth dimension, that of social security, is sometimes added.

The functions of the system of labour inspection shall be; to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers while engaged in their work, such as provisions relating to hours, wages, safety, health and welfare, the employment of children... in so far as such provisions are enforceable by labour inspectors; to supply technical information and advice to employers and workers concerning the most effective means of complying with the legal provisions; to bring to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legal provisions.

Increasingly, new areas of responsibility are entrusted to labour inspection, such as employment equity, non-discrimination or others. Ensuring compliance with minimum age regulations is, in virtually all ILO member States, also incumbent upon labour inspection, either as part of its functional responsibilities under general conditions of work legislation, or under specific child labour regulations. From the point of view of labour inspection, work of children below the respective legal minimum age is essentially an issue of illegal employment...and labour inspection?s approach will therefore be similar to dealing with illegal employment of immigrants, and so on. That is, it will focus on the illegal employer in the first instance, and not on the illegal employee.

Functional integration: One dominant trend in labour inspection systems development since the 1990s is the integration or concentration of functions under the responsibility of a single State labour inspection service. In many transition economies, State labour inspectorates have seen their functions extended to cover, for instance, illegal employment issues, in particular related to ?black labour? and illegal immigrants or industrial relations matters such as the protection of elected workers? representatives in enterprises. The Baltic States and Bulgaria have successfully integrated occupational safety and hygiene inspection (formerly, and in some CEE countries still, under a separate inspectorate, usually under the respective ministry of health),with that of general conditions of work. Integration of safety and health inspection with the prevention functions of social security has taken place in Australia and New Zealand, and elsewhere.