NEW DELHI: Periodic medical inspections, mandatory registration of workplaces and surprise checks on employee safety by facilitators appointed by the government are some of the provisions that the labour ministry has proposed in the new draft policy to ensure safety and health of workers at their workplaces.
The draft, titled Labour Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions has provisions for which the ministry has taken cues from 13 acts to prepare the draft regarding working conditions. The draft classifies workers from different sectors and has laid out guidelines for each sector separately. Some of the categories which factory workers, miners, dock workers, building and construction workers, plantation labour, contractual labour, working journalists, motor transport workers, beedi and cigar workers and cine and cinema theatre workers.
The draft also prescribes guidelines regarding the registration of companies. "Every employer of an establishment, employing ten or more employees, shall, register within a period of six months from such commencement or, as the case may be, from the date on which this Code becomes so applicable," the draft states. However, offices attached to the state or central government are exempt from this registration process.
The draft also specifies duties for an employer to ensure that employees do not face hazards and remain healthy at their respective workplaces.
"Every employer shall ensure the periodical medical examination and prescribed tests of the employee employed in his establishment. Every employer shall provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of the employees," the draft says. Activists are all smiles about the development.
"Given the current scenario of the working conditions in the country, the draft is a positive sign. But in reality, there is a long way to go till it is implemented. The real improvement will come about only when it is passed and enforced properly," Alka Singh of Nirman, ab NGO working for the welfare of workers said.
The draft also mandates all types of companies to constitute a safety committee and notify it about the spread of diseases, if any and also about hazardous circumstances at the workplace. The committee will have members who will be designated as safety officers.
The ministry has proposed the setting up of a National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board to advise the government on the matters relating to the code. The board will comprise of a secretary of the labour ministry as the chairman with representatives of all stakeholders as its members.
The board will also be tasked with conducting regular health and occupational hazard surveys at workplaces. The draft proposes the appointment of facilitators to ensure that the code is being adhered to at workplaces. "A facilitator may enter a work place, make examination of the premises, plant, machinery, article, or any other relevant material," the draft says.