In March 2018, the Ministry of Labour and Employment released the draft Labour Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions. According to the National Commission on Labour, the ministry has been taking steps for simplification, amalgamation and rationalisation of central labour laws. These include periodic medical inspections, mandatory registration of workplaces and surprise checks on safety of employees.
While preparing the preliminary draft on Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2018, the ministry took into consideration thirteen labour laws relating to safety, and health standards, health and working conditions, welfare provisions for the employees and leave and hours of work. In the draft, workers from different sectors have been classified. The draft laid out guidelines for construction workers, plantation labour, contractual labour, beedi and cigar workers, cine and cinema theatre workers and working journalists, and motor transport workers.
The draft says that the responsibility of maintaining health and working conditions of employees in relation to cleanliness and hygiene, ventilation, temperature, humidity, dust and noxious free environment, provision of potable drinking water, adequate lightning, etc. rests on the employer. It is mandatory for all types of companies to constitute a safety committee and notify it about the spread of diseases, if any, and also about any hazardous circumstances at the workplace.
As for the work hours, the draft says that no worker shall be required or allowed to work for—(i) more than forty-eight hours in a week; (ii) nine hours in a day subject to hours of work specified in clause (i); (iii) the period of work in each day shall be so fixed that no period shall exceed five hours and there shall be half an hour of interval after each such period.
The draft also gives guidelines regarding the registration of companies. However, it states that offices attached to the state or central government are exemp from this registration process.
The draft also suggests setting up a National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board to advise the government on matters pertaining to the code. The secretary of the labour ministry will be its chairman, and representatives of all stakeholders will be its members. The board will also conduct regular health and occupational hazard surveys at workplaces.
The appointment of facilitators is recommended to ensure that the code is adhered to at workplaces.