Duties of the Employer
Chapter Forty-Two
Syllabus topic 3.1, "Concept, definitions, registrations and Duties of Employer and Employee"
Pages 302 to 307 of 597
In one line
Every employer must keep the workplace free of hazards, meet the safety standards, pay for an annual health check, give every employee an appointment letter, and never charge a worker for his own safety.
In exam wording: section 6 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 imposes eight general duties on every employer and five further duties in respect of a factory, mine, dock, building or other construction work or plantation; and section 7 makes the owner and agent of a mine jointly and severally responsible and deems named officials guilty of contraventions unless they prove due diligence.
Why the law has this at all
Because safety legislation which only lists specific hazards is always out of date. A statute that says "guard this machine" is silent about the machine invented next year.
So section 6 is drafted as a general duty: the employer must ensure the workplace is free from hazards which cause or are likely to cause injury or occupational disease, and must provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to health. The specifics in Chapter V and Chapter XI sit under that umbrella and do not exhaust it.
There is a second idea in section 6 which is worth naming, because it is what makes this Code different from the Factories Act 1948 it replaced. Three of the eight duties are not about hazards at all. They are about the relationship: a free annual health examination, an appointment letter, and a prohibition on making the worker pay for his own safety. Those exist because a worker who does not know his own terms, or whose health is never checked, or who is charged for his mask, is unsafe for reasons no machine guard addresses.
Some words this chapter uses
Reasonably practicable is the standard qualifier in safety law: it means what can be done weighing the risk against the time, trouble and cost of averting it, and it is a lower standard than absolute. Occupational disease is one arising out of the nature of the work. Egress means the way out. Due diligence is all reasonable care. Jointly and severally means each of two or more is liable for the whole. e-waste is discarded electrical and electronic equipment.
Section 6(1): the eight general duties
Every employer shall:
| Clause | Duty |
|---|---|
| (a) | ensure that the workplace is free from hazards which cause or are likely to cause injury or occupational disease to the employees |
| (b) | comply with the occupational safety and health standards declared under section 18, and with the rules, regulations, bye-laws or orders under the Code |
| (c) | provide an annual health examination or test free of costs to such employees, of such age or class, or of such class of establishments, as the appropriate Government prescribes |
| (d) | provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of the employees |
| (e) | ensure the disposal of hazardous and toxic waste including e-waste |
| (f) | issue a letter of appointment to every employee on his appointment, with the prescribed information and form; and where an employee was not issued one before the commencement of the Code, issue it within three months of commencement |
| (g) | ensure that no charge is levied on any employee in respect of anything done or provided for the maintenance of safety and health at the workplace, including medical examination and investigation for detecting occupational diseases |
| (h) | in relation to a factory, mine, dock work, building or other construction work or plantation, ensure and be responsible for the safety and health of employees, workers and other persons who are on the work premises, with or without his knowledge |
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