Safety and Health Standards, Research and Committees

Three of these are worth naming in an answer.

Clause (a) sets the objective. Not merely that exposure be reduced, but that no employee suffers material impairment of health or functional capacity even with regular exposure over his working life. That is a high statement of aim.

Clause (b)(iv) puts the cost on the employer. Medical examinations are to be made available by the employer or at his cost, which locks together with section 6(1)(c) and section 6(1)(g).

Clause (c) follows the worker out of the door. Medical examination and the reporting of occupational disease are to be extended to an employee even after he ceases to be in employment. Read it with section 12(2), which makes the doctor's reporting duty apply to a person who is or has been employed. The Code recognises that occupational disease appears late.

Section 18(3), amending the Second Schedule. Notwithstanding section 131, the Central Government may, on the recommendation of the National Board and after notifying its intention for not less than forty-five days, amend the Second Schedule by notification.

Section 18(4), State amendment. A State Government may, with the prior approval of the Central Government, amend the standards for establishments for which it is the appropriate Government situated in that State.

Section 19: research

It is the duty of such institutions in the field of occupational safety and health as the Central or State Government may notify to conduct research, experiments and demonstrations relating to occupational safety and health, and to submit their recommendations to the Government which notified them.

The proviso. The State Government shall consult the National Board before notifying an institution to conduct research.

Section 20: safety and occupational health surveys

Section 20(1), who may survey. At any time during normal working hours, or at any other time he deems necessary, after giving notice in writing to the employer:

may conduct a survey, and the employer shall afford all facilities for it, including facilities for the examination and testing of plant and machinery and the collection of samples and other data.

The Explanation provides that "employer" here includes the manager of a factory, or in any other establishment the person for the time being responsible for the safety and occupational health of it.

Section 20(2), the worker's part. Every worker shall, if required by the person conducting the survey, present himself to undergo such medical examination as that person considers necessary, and furnish all information in his possession relevant to the survey.

Section 20(3), and this is the humane provision. Any time spent by a worker undergoing that medical examination or furnishing that information shall, for calculating wages and extra wages for overtime work, be deemed to be working hours for him.

The Explanation to the section provides that the report submitted to the appropriate Government by the person conducting the survey shall be deemed to be a report submitted by an Inspector-cum-Facilitator under the Code.

Section 20(3) is the point to make. A worker required to be examined during a survey is not asked to give up his own time or his own wages, and the time counts for overtime as well.

Section 21: statistics and the migrant workers' portal

Section 21(1). The Central Government and the State Government shall collect, compile and analyse occupational safety and health statistics in the prescribed form and manner.

Section 21(2), the portal. The Central and State Governments shall maintain the database or record for inter-State migrant workers, electronically or otherwise, in such portal and in such form and manner as the Central Government prescribes.

The first proviso. An inter-State migrant worker may register himself on that portal on the basis of self-declaration and Aadhaar.

The second proviso. Workers who have migrated from one State to another and are self-employed in that other State may also register on the portal.

The Explanation gives "Aadhaar" the meaning in section 2(a) of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016.

Section 21(2) deserves a paragraph in any essay on this Code. In 2020 no Government could say how many migrant workers were where, because the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979 registered only those brought by a licensed contractor. The two provisos here fix exactly that gap: a worker may register himself, on self-declaration, and the self-employed migrant may register too, though he has no employer at all.

Section 22: Safety Committee and safety officers

Section 22(1), the Safety Committee. The appropriate Government may, by general or special order, require any establishment or class of establishments to constitute, in the prescribed manner, a Safety Committee consisting of representatives of employers and workers, in such manner that the number of representatives of workers shall not be less than the number of representatives of the employer, the workers' representatives being chosen as prescribed.

The parity floor is the examinable half. Workers may have more representatives than the employer, but never fewer.

Section 22(2), safety officers. In every establishment which is a:

the employer shall also appoint such number of safety officers, with such qualifications and duties, as the appropriate Government prescribes.

Learn the four numbers as a set and note the logic: 500 for an ordinary factory, halved to 250 where the process is hazardous, 250 for construction, and only 100 for a mine, because a mine is the most dangerous workplace of all.

A worked example

Sentinel Chemicals runs a factory with three hundred workers, carrying on a hazardous process, and is also building a new plant employing two hundred construction workers. Forty of its workers came from Jharkhand.

Must it have a Safety Committee? Only if the appropriate Government, by general or special order, requires establishments of its class to constitute one: section 22(1). If required, the workers' representatives must be at least as many as the employer's.

Must it appoint safety officers? Yes. It is a factory carrying on a hazardous process with two hundred fifty workers or more ordinarily employed: section 22(2)(b). Had it not been a hazardous process, the threshold would have been five hundred and three hundred workers would not have reached it.

And for the construction site? No. Section 22(2)(c) requires two hundred fifty or more for building or other construction work, and it has two hundred.

Where are the rules it must comply with? Not in the Code. The Central Government declares standards under section 18(1), and section 6(1)(b) obliges the employer to comply with them.

Who works out what those standards should say? Institutions notified under section 19 conduct research, experiments and demonstrations and submit recommendations; the National Board advises under section 16(1)(a).

The Director General of Factory Advice Service and Labour Institute wants to survey the plant. He may, at any time during normal working hours or at any other time he deems necessary, after giving notice in writing to the employer: section 20(1)(b). Sentinel must afford all facilities, including for the examination and testing of plant and machinery and the collection of samples.

A worker is asked to undergo a medical examination for the survey. He must present himself and furnish relevant information: section 20(2). The time he spends is deemed to be working hours for calculating his wages and his overtime: section 20(3).

What becomes of the surveyor's report? By the Explanation to section 20, it is deemed to be a report submitted by an Inspector-cum-Facilitator under the Code.

How are the forty Jharkhand workers recorded? On the portal maintained under section 21(2). Each of them may register himself on self-declaration and Aadhaar, and had any of them come on his own and become self-employed, he could still register under the second proviso.

A worker who left Sentinel two years ago develops an occupational disease. Section 18(2)(c) requires the standards to provide for medical examination and the detection and reporting of occupational diseases to be extended to an employee even after he ceases to be in employment, where he is suffering from a disease arising out of or in the course of his employment.

What this does NOT mean

The Code does not contain the safety rules. Section 18(1) requires the Central Government to declare standards, and section 6(1)(b) makes compliance with them the employer's duty.

A Safety Committee is not automatic. Section 22(1) requires an order of the appropriate Government.

Five hundred is not the threshold for every factory. A factory carrying on a hazardous process needs safety officers at two hundred fifty.

Section 20 is not an inspection under section 35. It is a survey, requires written notice to the employer, and its report is only deemed to be an Inspector-cum-Facilitator's report.

Registration on the migrant portal does not need an employer. The provisos allow self registration on self-declaration and Aadhaar, and cover the self-employed migrant.

Limits and criticism

Everything of substance is in the standards. Until they are declared under section 18(1), the employer's duty under section 6(1)(b) has nothing to attach to, and the Code's own safety content is section 23 and Chapter XI.

Section 22(1) makes the Safety Committee discretionary. It exists only where the appropriate Government orders it, so the participatory element of the Code depends on an executive order.

The safety officer thresholds are high. A factory of four hundred and ninety workers with no hazardous process need appoint none.

The portal in section 21(2) depends on registration, and a migrant worker who does not know of it, or has no Aadhaar, is not on it.

Quick revision

• Section 18(1): the Central Government shall declare standards for factory, mine, dock work, beedi and cigar, building and other construction work and other establishments.
• Section 18(2): standards relate to hazards over the working life so that no employee suffers material impairment even with regular exposure; norms on appraisal, symptoms and treatment, monitoring, medical examination at the employer's cost, and hazard evaluation including safety audit and hazard and operability study; medical examination extended after employment ends; specific workplace conditions; and the Second Schedule.
• Section 18(3): the Second Schedule may be amended on the National Board's recommendation after forty-five days' notice of intention. Section 18(4): a State may amend the standards with prior Central approval.
• Section 19: notified institutions must research and recommend; a State must consult the National Board before notifying one.
• Section 20: surveys by the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator, the Directors General of Factory Advice Service, Mines Safety and Health Services, or an authorised officer, on written notice; the employer affords all facilities; workers must present themselves for examination and furnish information, and that time counts as working hours for wages and overtime; the report is deemed an Inspector-cum-Facilitator's report.
• Section 21: statistics collected and analysed; a portal for inter-State migrant workers, with self registration on self-declaration and Aadhaar, and open to self-employed migrants.
• Section 22(1): Safety Committee on the appropriate Government's order, with worker representatives not fewer than the employer's. Section 22(2): safety officers in a factory with 500, a hazardous process factory with 250, construction with 250, and a mine with 100 workers ordinarily employed.

Test yourself

1. Where are the detailed safety rules of Indian law now found? In the standards declared by the Central Government by notification under section 18(1), which the employer must comply with under section 6(1)(b). The Code itself contains the general duty and the specific provisions in section 23 and Chapter XI.

2. State three matters to which the standards must relate. Any three of: physical, chemical, biological and other hazards over the employee's working life so that no employee suffers material impairment of health or functional capacity even with regular exposure; norms for appraising hazards, for symptoms and treatment, for monitoring and measuring exposure, for medical examination at the employer's cost, and for hazard evaluation procedures such as safety audit and hazard and operability study; medical examination and reporting of occupational disease extended to an employee even after he ceases to be employed; measures required by specific workplace conditions; and the matters in the Second Schedule.

3. At what size must safety officers be appointed? In a factory with five hundred or more workers ordinarily employed; a factory carrying on a hazardous process with two hundred fifty or more; building or other construction work with two hundred fifty or more; and a mine with one hundred or more: section 22(2).

4. What is the rule about the composition of a Safety Committee? It consists of representatives of employers and workers, and the number of representatives of the workers shall not be less than the number of representatives of the employer: section 22(1).

5. A worker spends two hours undergoing a medical examination during a survey. Is he paid? Yes. Section 20(3) deems that time to be working hours for him for the purpose of calculating wages and extra wages for overtime work.

6. How may an inter-State migrant worker get onto the national database? By registering himself on the portal maintained under section 21(2) on the basis of self-declaration and Aadhaar: the first proviso. A worker who has migrated and is self-employed in the destination State may also register: the second proviso.