Occupational Health and Safety Legislation : INDIA

Legislation makes a positive contribution to employee relationships and increases employees' sense of fairness and trust in their employer. Ultimately it can also have a positive impact in supporting strategic HR and business goals. All of the laws regulating the conditions under which employees work for employers are called labor and industrial law.This vital area of labor law began with prescribing basic safety rules for work in mines and for hazardous jobs to cover a great range of industrial processes and other occupations. Laws are concerned not only with accident prevention and building safety but with workers who are exposed to radioactive materials, poisons, lead, asbestos, and chemicals with potentially harmful effects.

The Main Objectives of OHS Legislation are:

• Providing a statutory framework including the enactment of a general enabling legislation on HSE in respect of all sectors of economic activities, and designing suitable control systems of compliance, enforcement and incentives for better compliance.

• Providing administrative and technical support services. Providing a system of incentives to employers and employees so that they achieve higher health and safety standards. Establishing and developing research and development capabilities in emerging areas of risk and effective control measures.

• Reducing the incidence of work related injuries, fatalities and diseases.Reducing the cost of workplace injuries and diseases. Increasing community awareness regarding areas related to HSE.

List of OHS Legislation Related Legislation in India

• The Factories Act, 1948.

• The Mines Act, 1952

• The Dock Workers (Safety, Health & Welfare) Act, 1986

The Factories Act, 1948 : The legislation for labour welfare known as the Factories Act, 1948, was enacted with the prime objective of protecting workmen employed in factories against industrial and occupational hazards. With that intent it imposes upon owners and occupiers certain obligations to protect unwary as well as negligent workers and to secure employment for them which is conducive and safe.

The Act’s objective is to protect human beings from being subjected to unduly long hours of bodily strain and manual labour. It provides that employees should work in healthy and sanitary conditions as far as the manufacturing process will allow and that precautions be taken for their safety and for the prevention of accidents.

In order to ensure that the objectives are carried out, local governments are empowered to appoint inspectors to call for returns and to ensure that the prescribed registers are duly maintained. The Act provides for the health, safety, welfare and other aspects of OHS for workers in factories.

It is enforced by the state governments through their factory inspectorates. It also empowers the state governments to frame rules, so that local conditions prevailing in the state are appropriately reflected in the enforcement, to make the punishments provided in the Act stricter and that opportunities are taken advantage of to make certain other amendments found necessary in the implementation of the Act.

India has a large number of labour legislation enacted for the promotion and protection of workers’ welfare. Major reason for the non-satisfactory levels of OHS in factories is the unsuitability of the centrally drafted regulations to local situations. Legislation are either unrelated to the danger or do not take into account distinctive work situations. Obviously, workplaces differ from one another. Legislation, which neglects these differences, imposes very high costs on some workplaces, while others still remain unsafe, despite complying with the requirements. Only a small section on the Indian labour force is employed in the organised sector; therefore the law does not necessarily cover a larger part of the workforce.

Industrial Relations OSH Code 2020

In 2019, the Ministry of Labour and Employment introduced four Bills to consolidate 29 central laws. These Codes regulate: (i) Wages, (ii) Industrial Relations, (iii) Social Security, and (iv) Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions.

The Industrial Relations Code 2020 is seen as one that would energise industry and spur economic activity. It aims to free employees from the constraints of earlier labour laws. The Industrial Relations Code combines the features of three erstwhile laws. These are – the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (“OSH Code“) received the President's assent on September 28, 2020. The OSH Code has subsumed several key pieces of legislation on the working conditions of labour and consolidated it into one comprehensive act, including, inter alia, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, the Factories Act, 1948, etc. The new codes are an exercise in ensuring a streamlining of the labour laws in the country.

What are the main features of the Industrial Relations Code?

The code was one among the four codes which constituted the labour reforms law 2020. The OSH is expected to consolidate and amend the laws regulating the occupational safety, health and working conditions of persons employed in an establishment and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The CODE legislation intends to amalgamate, simplify and rationalise the relevant provisions of the following
13 Central labour enactments relating to occupation, safety, health and working conditions of workers.

They are:

1. The Factories Act, 1948;

2. The Plantations Labour Act, 1951;

3. The Mines Act, 1952;

4. The Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1955;

5. The Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Act, 1958;

6. The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961;

7. The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966;

8. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970;

9. The Sales Promotion Employees (Condition of Service) Act, 1976;

10. The Inter-State Migrant workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979;

11. The Cine Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers Act, 1981;

12. The Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986; and

13. The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996.

The Industrial Relations Code combines the features of three erstwhile laws — the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. It defines ‘workers’ to include, besides all persons employed in a skilled or unskilled, manual, technical, operational and clerical capacity, supervisory staff drawing up to 18,000 a month as salary. It introduces ‘fixed term employment’, giving employers the flexibility to hire workers based on requirement through a written contract. Fixed term employees should be treated on a par with permanent workers in terms of hours of work, wages, allowances and other benefits, including statutory benefits such as gratuity.

Key Issues in the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2020

The 2020 Bill consolidation and simplification of 13 laws regulating health, safety and working conditions of workers. The National Commission on Labour (2002) recommended consolidation and simplification of these laws.

The Bill contains general provisions which apply to all establishments. These include provisions on registration, filing of returns, and duties of employers. However, it also includes additional provisions that apply to specific type of workers such as those in factories and mines, or as audio-visual workers, journalists, sales promotion employees, contract labour and construction workers.

It may be argued that special provisions on health and safety are required for certain categories of hazard-prone establishments such as factories and mines. It may be necessary to allow only licensed establishments to operate factories and mines.

For workers covered under the Bill, the minimum leave and maximum work hours are prescribed through rules.