Labour Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions

CODE on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (COSHWC) is not a legislation with clear cut directions to be enforced but full of ambiguities, deception and rhetoric. It looks like a novel rather than any piece of legislation. For example, the code that replaces 13 legislations offers 'suitable' arrangements only for wash room and all existing provisions of working conditions are done away with by a stroke of the pen. For women workers with children of tender age, it does not offer a creche but for a suitable room for children. Likewise, the list is endless.

The proposed law completely removes the system of inspectors and puts in its place “facilitators”, substantially reducing their powers and making them redundant.

Industry has been defined to exclude any activity of the Government relatable to the sovereign functions of the Government including all the activities carried on by the departments of the Central Government dealing with defence research, atomic energy and space; and any domestic service. This allows for the exemption of a large number of establishments outside the ambit, include those that would require steps for occupational health and safety.

The aim of the act is to institutionalise the system of hire and fire and giving all leverage to industrialists.

The Bill attempts to exclude several categories of workmen from the purview of the Bill and makes an attempt to insulate the principal employer.

• The Bill excludes workman who are regularly employed in an establishment of a contractor and who are hired in or in connection with work of the principal employer by or through the contractor. Such an exemption allows for large level of misuse and allows establishments from excluding any workmen from the scope of the Act.


• The clause relating to penalty has also been watered down with the penalty being reduced for violation of the Act in regard to regulation of contract labour from imprisonment for 3 months to merely a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees.


• The Bill seeks to relieve the principal employers of their responsibility towards its contract workers but for making payments to social security schemes under the new code.


• The provision for 'Same Work Same Pay' is done away with. Instead, it is sufficient if workers are paid minimum wages.


• The present system of getting licence for specific nature of work and required number of workers is being abolished while it is sufficient to mention some general requirements. By this, the code has opened the channels of manipulation and fraud by industrialists in the name of contractor. It has also institutionalised denial of wage security, social security and job security to vast majority of contract labourers.


• The bill seeks to enhance the limit of overtime hours from the present limit of 50 hours per quarter to 100 plus hours per quarter. It further increases the limit of overtime hours to maximum of 124 per quarter in public interest under section 65.

This is a highly retrograde step especially in the context of various countries across the world, in fact, reducing the number of maximum hours of work. It enhances the limit of overtime hours from the present limit of 50 hours per quarter to 100-124 hours per quarter.