Special Officers for Mines and Medical Officers

In one line

A specially authorised officer may enter a mine to survey, level or measure it at any time of day or night on three days' notice, or without notice in an emergency; and the appropriate Government appoints medical officers to examine and certify workers, who must first declare any interest in the establishment.

In exam wording: section 41 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 empowers a person in Government service, authorised by special order in writing of the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator or an Inspector-cum-Facilitator, to enter a mine to survey, level or measure it on not less than three days' notice, or without notice in an emergency; and section 42 provides for the appointment of medical officers and states their three duties.

Why the law has these at all

Section 41 is about the shape of the mine, and the shape of a mine is a safety question. Whether a gallery is where the plan says it is, whether pillars have been cut back, and how much has actually been extracted are all matters of measurement, and they are matters an owner has an interest in not having measured. So the Code authorises a surveyor to enter, and lets him do it at any time by day or night, because a measurement taken only when the mine is prepared for it is worth nothing.

Section 42 is about the person who certifies fitness. Much of the Code depends on medical judgment: whether a worker may be employed in a dangerous process, whether an adolescent is fit for work, whether an illness is due to the process. A doctor paid by the establishment to give those opinions is in an impossible position, which is why the proviso requires him to disclose his interest before entering office.

Some words this chapter uses

Survey here means to determine the position and extent of the workings. Level means to determine relative heights. Special order in writing is an order made for a particular case, as distinct from a general order. Output is what has been extracted from the mine. Medical supervision is continuing oversight of health rather than a single examination. Adolescent takes its meaning from the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986.

Section 41: the special officer for a mine

Any person in the service of the Government duly authorised by a special order in writing of the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator or of an Inspector-cum-Facilitator may, for the purpose of surveying, levelling or measuring any mine or any output from it, after giving not less than three days' notice to the manager of the mine, enter the mine and survey, level or measure the mine or any part of it or any output from it, at any time by day or night.