“Preventable accidents, if they are not prevented due to our negligence, it is nothing short of a murder” - Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, 1st Vice President and 2nd President of India.
Any factory that employs more than 10 persons and uses power for its operations is governed by Factories Act, 1948 and the Rules made there under. In addition, a factory has also to comply with other legislations for different activities in its premises. Many of us do not know about these legislations though with common sense we comply with some of the requirements of these legislations. Many managers, shop floor in-charges and even technicians feel that their productivity is hampered by legislations without which they would have produced much more.
However, it must be realized that laws are not formulated overnight. These are formulated based upon the experience of earlier accidents and its consequences, concern of all stake holders, concerted efforts by various persons, organizations some times even extending to decades. The legislations are compilation of lessons learnt from various past accidents in the world, not necessarily from the same country and thus a source of rich knowledge. By enactment in the parliament, compliance of provisions of legislations was made mandatory. I was told during my study of safety course by one faculty that "We have to learn the law in its letter and spirit to understand and apply to the work environment. Letter can be found in books for reading and spirit can be found from history".
Factory legislations in India are formulated by our pre-independence rulers i.e. Britishers and thus history is linked to development of legislations in the land our erstwhile rulers. The factories in UK during 18th century employed a number of people without basic amenities like water, clean air, ventilation, washing facility, illumination, toilets, etc and were forced to work in most dangerous conditions. Persons were forced to work for 12-16 hours without rest and even children were also employed in these conditions. At that time, most of the factories were cotton mills and many got injured, incapacitated, died due to lack of proper machine guards. With the advent of steam engine, the situation became worse. There were many steam leaks, burn injuries, boiler explosions, etc. Owners of these factories have no accountability for the loss of life and persons were removed if they got injured and not capable of doing the work. These incapacitated persons were not compensated and their lives were miserable. These conditions along with movement by workers and organizations lead to the enactment of first act in 1802 in UK and followed with many amendments by including many provisions for the betterment of working conditions. Factory inspectorates were also formed to monitor compliance with these legislations and were authorized to take necessary action.
Though similar pathetic conditions existed in Indian factories, it is not until 1881 that the Factories Act was passed in India and further in 1891, 1911, 1934 by including restricted hours of work for men and women, age of children to be employed, rest periods, hours of overtime in a week, employment of full time factory inspectors, paid holidays, etc. The Factories Act (FA) 1948 provides the minimum requirements with regards to i) obtaining licence for setting up of the factory, operating licence, need for authorization of changes in process; ii) health – cleanliness, disposal of wastes and effluents, ventilation, lighting, drinking water, toilets; iii) safety – machine guarding, maintenance and testing of hoists and lifts, pressure vessels, proper means of access, manual handling, work permit system, fire protection and fighting measures, guarding of openings, personal protective equipment, safety of buildings and machinery and iv) welfare – provision for washing, sitting, first aid, rest rooms, lunch rooms, canteen, etc. The amended FA, 1976 included safety of contract labour in the definition of workers and vested more powers with the factory inspectors.
The Bhopal accident in 1984 shook the entire world to relook into suitability of legislations in their land and provide for stringent requirements for compliance by industrial establishments.
Major amendments were made to the Indian Factories Act in 1987 by assigning the responsibilities for the occupier (Section 7-A), for the manufacturer (Sec 7-B), special provisions for hazardous processes (Chapter IV-A), onus of proving limits practicable (Sec 104-A) along with other provisions like safety policy, safe operating procedures, supervision, disclosure of information, medical examination, house keeping, training, emergency preparedness, accident reporting within the period and investigation, conduct of safety meetings, maintenance of permissible limits of chemicals, etc.
Similarly, penalties were made more stringent to force the establishments and its employees at all levels to ensure safe working conditions. The punishments for violation of each and any of the safety provisions of Factories Act and its Rules extended upto 2 years / fine and for special provisions (Chapter IV-A), upto 10 years. Even obstruction of factory inspector or failure to maintain / show registers or documents invites penalty upto 6 months and or fine.
Apart from the Factories Act, there are other legislations for handling of boilers, gas cylinders, chemicals, emissions / discharges, radioactive materials, electricity, disposal of effluents and wastes, noise, contract labour, etc. Penalties are also specified for violation of provisions under these legislations as well as under Indian Penal Code
Some of the best companies / manufacturing facilities issue safety regulations beyond what is required by Factories Act and others from time to time for various activities, sometimes even such a thing is not thought off by the government.
It must be noted that each and every activity in the work premises is governed by one regulation or other and employees at all levels are responsible for ensuring safety at the work place. Ignorance of law is not an excuse and law of the land is applicable.
We have to prevent accidents at the work place not only because of legislations but also because of also on humanitarian grounds and also the enormous economic impact of such accidents on the persons, organization and the country. It is our moral responsibility to prevent accidents so that at the end of the day, all of us reach our homes safely and take care of our beloved family members and smiles in their faces.