It is crucial to take care of the workers' health and safety at the job. This will directly affect the workers' ability to work and the quality of the work they do. An environment that is safe and healthy at work is now essential for increasing productivity among employees. In terms of health and safety, the government should ensure that the workplace is suitable for the employees. According to the author, it must uphold its duty to the workers by giving them equal pay possibilities and a safe and healthy working environment. Additionally, the government needs to focus on establishing a Code that addresses all issues for all workers regardless of their age, gender, or industry. When creating programmes for workplace safety and health, health care managers should take these factors into account. If they must raise the bar for employment, they must concentrate on enhancing the calibre of working conditions (International Journal of Law Management and Humanities)[1].

If there is a possibility of an accident, employers in the construction industry cannot hire employees who have poor vision, are deaf, or have a tendency to be giddy. In order to offer either side power, extensive rules about interstate migrant labourers, plantation employers, and contractor obligations have been incorporated. In light of Covid-19, the Central Government has set aside the authority to enact measures for people's general safety and health in the event that an epidemic, pandemic, or calamity is declared. This has not to be affected by any other law for the time being in force. Any other law that is now in effect cannot have any bearing on this. The Code has reduced the amount of physical touch by requiring that the registration procedure be started as electronically as possible. Contrary to former regulations, women employees have the right to employment in all establishments for all jobs, even those involving hazardous procedures, as long as the company meets whatever requirements the government may have for providing necessary protections. The law is anticipated to bring about a significant reform in terms of health and safety as well as the welfare of hired individuals, according to the author. On the other hand, by substituting one common licencing for various registrations and licences, it will also lessen the load on employers. Code's overall goal is to give employers and workers more power. On the one hand, it permits hiring and layoff flexibility, and on the other, it will widen the social safety net for both formally employed people and self-employed people. Rules and Regulations enacted under this Code by the Central and State Government shall also establish clarifications and procedures (www.lawbit.com).

The 2019 Code of Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions has been reviewed, and references have been gathered from a variety of sources.

Background of The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019

The important thing to remember here is that this is a rule, not an Act. Prior to the establishment of the code, there were approximately 13 legislations dealing with worker safety and health, which, according to the Second National Labour Commission established in 2002, was ambiguous and had huge procedural discrepancies due to the multiplicity of institutions under the various Acts. In addition, the two main reasons stated by the central government for implementing the OSH code are as follows-

1. The majority of the consolidated Acts were drafted in the 1970s and 1980s, and since then, the Indian Industrial system has experienced substantive changes in terms of structure and function, necessitating major modifications to all of those Acts.

2. Approximately 90% of Indian industries are unorganized, with only 10% organized, implying that previous legislation was not applicable to the majority of industries, and even if it was, these institutions were not required to abide by the rules because they were untraceable.

The law currently combines the Factories Act of 1948, the Contractual Labor Act of 1970, the Interstate Migrant Workers Act of 1979, the Mines Act of 1952, and other acts. This law was approved by the Lok Sabha on September 22, 2020, and by the Rajya Sabha on September 23, 2020. On September 28th, the measure received President's assent.

Objectives

According to the preamble of the Act, the primary purpose of the code is to consolidate pre-existing law dealing with the occupational safety of persons employed under an establishment and disputes arising out of such employment in terms of safety, health, and working conditions of such employees. The goals can be broken down into three main categories-

1. Economic benefits- An increase in a worker's welfare, security, and safety leads to increased employment satisfaction, which leads to an increase in the workers' working hours. As a consequence of the procedure, a worker can increase his income while maintaining good health and hygiene.

2. Repeals 13 labour laws- Previously, there were 13

3. Labour laws dealing with the same subject matter, which was a compromise with the efficiency of the laws because multiplicity produces ambiguity and uncertainty. This new law divides 633 provisions into 143 sections, 14 chapters, and three schedules.

This single code simplifies the procedure, and doing business is simple. Both employees and employers can now readily understand the benefits and limitations of employment.

4. Increases the Ambition of Certain Provisions- The effectiveness of any law is mainly determined by the definition clauses of the Act, which represent the scope of the law. OSH coverage has expanded to a greater degree. One of the major changes to the definition is that it now applies to establishments with as few as ten employees. It has also made a significant change to the definition of "employee," which now includes managerial, supervisory, and administrative positions with a minimum wage of 15,000 rupees. 

Applicability of the Code

One of the main highlights is the code's applicability. Legislation with limited authority is a toothless tiger, but that is not the case here. This code applies to:

1. all establishments employing 20 workers with the aid of power (electricity)/ 40 workers without the aid of power (without electricity),

2. entities in the nature of industry, factory, business, motor transport, construction, press, plantation, dock, audio-video production, and service sector.

Except for contract labourers appointed by the contractor for any state or central government office, this act does not extend to offices of the central government, state governments, or ships of war.

The code also specifies licence requirements, safety regulations, and employer responsibilities for employees in factories, mines, and docks. The code also includes schedules that include a list of industries with hazardous procedures and a list of notifiable diseases that must be reported to the appropriate authorities.

Key highlights of the code

This code is very firmly drafted to address the problem of complications that emerge during dispute resolution. The new code provisions will avoid procedural flaws in the course of job and industrial dispute adjudication. Here are a few of the code's standout characteristics –

1. Establishment of national and state occupational safety boards that serve as consultative bodies to the state and federal governments.

2. This code required employers to give "service letters" to all employees on the date of appointment.

3. The establishment with 100 or more employees must expand its canteen amenities. Previously, the required amount was 250.

4. If there is a danger of an accident, employers in the construction industry cannot recruit workers with impaired vision or deafness.

5. The terms "wages," "banking company," and "core activity" have been redefined.

6. Employers must handle the removal of hazardous and toxic refuse.

7. Employees must take one day off every week and at the conclusion of every 20-day period.

8. The code specifies special work hours and leave standards for transportation, sales promotion, and journalism employees.

9. Employers are responsible for performing free annual health examinations of their employees.

Dissection of the code

The code is split into 14 chapters, three schedules, and 143 sections in general. The first schedule establishes a list of hazardous sectors, the second establishes the nature of work, and the third establishes a list of diseases that must be reported as soon as any worker is diagnosed with such diseases. The main provisions of the code concern the following topics:

1. Authorities Concerned

2. Advisory Committees

3. Employers' Responsibilities

4. Employee Rights and Duties

5. Working Hours

6. Penalties and offences

Let's go over them one by one.

1. Authorities Concerned

This includes the organisations in charge of ensuring the code's efficient administration. In terms of code implementation, the "registering officer" is a crucial authority. The appointment and responsibilities of a registering officer are enshrined in Section 3(1)[2] of the code. All establishments that come into existence after the enactment of the code must submit e-applications to the registering officer for registration, according to the activities. The relevant government will appoint such registering officers. All registered businesses must obtain a registration certificate. When an establishment is about to close, the registering officer must be notified with a) information about the closure and b) assurance that the employees' pending wages are paid.

An "Inspector-cum-Facilitator" is the second most important authority. Section 34 of the law provides for the authority and appointment of such inspectors. The appointment of these inspectors will be handled by the relevant authority. The nature of the inspection will be web-based, i.e., the calling of e-documents; however, in exceptional situations, they may directly call on documentation from any institution other than web-based inspection. In terms of the appointment of such power, the nature of the establishment is randomised. For efficient examination, these inspectors-turned-facilitators will assign unique numbers to each business.

In addition to the foregoing, there is a power for special examination, the parameters of which must be communicated by the relevant government. In addition, according to U/S 34(5), the proper government shall appoint a chief Inspector-cum-facilitator for one or more states.[3]

Finally, the proper government may establish a safety committee by general or special order. This group will be formed by equal numbers of worker and employer representatives. A safety committee can be established in the following establishments:

1. Factories employing 500 or more workers,

2. Factories employing 200 or more workers and involved in the hazardous process,

3. Construction works involving 250 or more workers, and

4. Mines employing 100 or more workers.[4]

Section 14 of the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020 grants employees the right to request information about their health and safety from their employers via a safety committee, and according to sub-clause (2), if any worker suspects an imminent danger to his or her health or safety, he or she may bring it to the attention of the committee as well as the inspector-cum-facilitator.

2. Advisory Committees

Creating a completely new infrastructure entails the duty to draught and execute efficient procedures and regulations on which pre-existing authorities cannot be relied because they are overburdened with their own functions. This code empowers the union and state governments to establish their own advisory bodies for the same purpose.

The National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board and the State Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board are the two organisations.  duties and composition of these bodies are described in Chapter 4, Sections 16 and 17 of the code.

As the name suggests, the National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board will be established by the central government to provide advice on the rules and regulations that will be further developed under the ambit of this code, the implementation of the given provisions, policies and programmes for the welfare of workers, and any other matter dealt with by the code. This will be a 27-member body, with the Secretary of Labour and Employment serving as ex-officio chairman of the Advisory Board and Chief Controller of Explosives Nagpur, the Director General (Mines and Safety, Dhanbad), the Chief Labor Commissioner (New Delhi), and 16 other members. The Central Government will appoint the remaining employees and decide their role in supporting the Board. In addition, the union will establish extra committees to assist the Board.

The state Occupational Safety and Health Advisory board-

Section 17 of the Code grants the state government the same authority as the federal government to establish "The state Occupational Safety and Health Advisory board." The Board's functions will be identical to those of the central advisory board, but will be confined to the state boundary. There is no explicit provision in the law regarding the state advisory board, which must be reiterated by the state government. The state government also has the authority to form groups that provide assistance to both the Board and the state government.

3. Duties of Employers

This will be a 27-member body, with the Secretary of Labour and Employment serving as ex-officio chairman of the Advisory Board and Chief Controller of Explosives Nagpur, the Director General (Mines and Safety, Dhanbad), the Chief Labour Commissioner (New Delhi), and 16 other members. The Central Government will appoint the remaining employees and decide their role in supporting the Board. In addition, the union will establish extra committees to assist the Board.

Employers of such establishments must ensure that the plant and systems are maintained in such a way that there is no risk to the workers' health, that necessary training and skills are provided to maintain safety, and that the arrangements for handling/storage/use are such

that the workers' health security is maintained.

The National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board and the State Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board are the two organisations. The duties and composition of these bodies are described in Chapter 4, Sections 16 and 17 of the code.

As the name suggests, the National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board will be established by the central government to provide advice on the rules and regulations that will be further developed under the ambit of this code, the implementation of the given provisions, policies and programmes for the welfare of workers, and any other matter dealt with by the code.

The code includes rules not only for employers, but also for employees. Everyone who is indirectly engaged in the safety of the workplace. To comprehend to understand it better, consider parts 8 and 9 of the Occupational Safety, Health, and Security Act. 2020 Working Condition Code. Section 8 says that any person who is in charge of designing, manufacturing, importing, or supplying articles for use in any business must ensure that such articles or goods are safe to use, and in order to reach a conclusion, he must perform a practical evaluation of such goods in the workplace.

If such products or articles are imported from abroad, the importer must ensure that they meet Indian standards. Section 8 also imposes a duty on the person who installs such article for use to ensure that the article is installed in such a way that there are no risks to the workers.

Section 8 (6) (b) of the law expressly states that "Factories" are not exempt from the section 8 rules. In this part, "article" refers to the plant or machinery used, and "substance" refers to all artificial and natural substances in solid, liquid, gas, and vapour form.

According to Section 9 of the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, the 2020 architect, project manager, or engineer shall design the building in such a way that any danger to building workers is avoided. Sections 10, 11, and 12 impose an obligation on the employer, agents, or managers of mines, factories, and so on to immediately notify the inspector-cum facilitator of any accident, injury, dangerous occurrence, or disease of which any worker is a victim. All of the provisions are entirely inclusive in nature, which results in stringent workplace safety prevention.

4. Rights and Duties of Employees

Everyone is familiar with the various general rights guaranteed by different labour laws and the Indian constitution. In this section, we will go over specific rights in relation to the new institutions created in the code.

1. Employees have the right to acquire information from their employer about their health and safety at work and to represent themselves to the employer directly or through a member of the Safety Committee established under Section 22. Furthermore, if a worker believes that there are insufficient measures for safety and health, he should notify the Inspector-cum facilitator.

2. In addition, if any workers have a personal belief that there is a reasonable risk of severe injury or death, he may bring this to the attention of the Inspector-cum facilitator.

3.  If an imminent danger exists, either the employer or the employee may take the necessary precautions to prevent it, and a report shall be sent to the Inspector.[5]

No privileges are absolute, and neither are these. The aforementioned harm must not be the result of the worker's own wilful negligence or mishandling. All privileges come with responsibilities; here are a few of the employees' responsibilities.

a. The workers must ensure the safety of their own; at the same time, their act or omission must not result in harm of any other person.

b. Employees must follow safety regulations. 

c. They must comply and cooperate with their employers while adhering to their legal responsibilities.

d. If a worker sees an unsafe situation, he must report it rather than simply ignoring it.

e. He must not commit any careless act on purpose.

The proper government may impose additional duties.

5. Working Hours

Human working circumstances are also part of a healthy working environment. Overburdening an employee with physical or mental labour can expose him to contagious illnesses such as asthmatic symptoms and heart disease. According to a WHOILO report, 3.98 lakh people perished from strokes and 3.47 lakh from heart disease after working 55 hours or more each week. Between 2000 and 2016, deaths from heart disease and stroke rose by 42% and 19%, respectively."[6] The COVID-19 pandemic was an excellent opportunity for the government to take working out seriously and to enact more stringent regulations in this respect.

Working hours and vacations are addressed in Chapter 7 of the code. This Chapter covers, among other things, daily and weekly working hours, compensatory weekly vacations, overtime pay, and so on.

Section 25 of the code specifies time constraints for employees in various industries. Nonetheless, its maximum time limit is 8 hours per day, and no worker shall perform more than that. In the event of a close mine, the central government shall notify the working hours, and no worker shall be present except for his shift hours, which shall be recorded in a journal U/S- 33(a) of the code. This section also states that working journalists may not labour for more than 144 hours in four consecutive weeks. It also allows for cash compensation to be paid to employees in the event of service relinquishment, but such relinquishment must not be in the form of any punishment. In the event that a service member dies while on the job, the heir is entitled to compensation for accumulated leaves.

Furthermore, no worker is permitted to work in any establishment for more than six days per week, and the appropriate government must set a time limit on the daily and weekly crossing, which will be considered "overtime," and the workers shall be paid twice the normal wage for such period of time. When workers are generally engaged in work after midnight, that period is considered the previous day for the purposes of section 26. Furthermore, Section 30 of the code includes a logical rule that prohibits any establishment covered by the code from hiring any worker who has worked in mines, factories, or similar establishments in the previous 12 hours. Section 32 of this Chapter reiterates for a holiday in any annual year subject to the following circumstances-

i. The employee has been on the job for 180 days.

ii. Every worker is entitled to 20 days of vacation every year, but adolescent employees and those working in hazardous conditions are entitled to 15 days.

iii. Layoffs and maternity absences are not counted towards the 180-day limit.

iv. Leave must not include any holidays.

v. Every worker whose employment begins in any month other than January and who has worked for one-fourth of the calendar year shall be entitled to mandatory leave under sub-clause (ii).

vi. If such an employee is discharged or fired during the calendar year, or resigns or dies during the employment relationship, he or his heir or authorised agent is entitled to a salary in lieu of the number of leaves taken.

If no such leave is taken by any of these employees during a calendar year, the same number will be added to the following year, and the central government may apply the provision to any company other than the railway department. Putting an embargo on working hours was necessary because otherwise, inhumane working hours could have harmed employees' health. There are no oversights in terms of provisions and rules, but the majority of them can be taken out of law only when correctly implemented.

6. Offences and penalties

Here we arrive at the final but most essential section of the code: offences and penalties for violations of the rules cited herein. Offenses and penalties are enshrined in Chapter XII of the law. The following are a few key offences under the code:

1. Due to the fact that the inspector-cum facilitator is a primary inspecting authority under the law, restraining/obstructing him while he is carrying out his job under the code, or refusing to do so failure to produce any document or cooperate with any order issued by him is an offence punishable by imprisonment for up to three months or a fine of up to one lakh rupees, or both, and if the offence is repeated, the punishment is one lakh rupees and imprisonment for up to six months under Section 95 of the Code.

2. Any person who fails to comply with any provision of the code pertaining to employees, including women, audio-visual workers, contract labor, and employees under the age of eighteen in the case of mines, shall be subject to a penalty of fifty thousand rupees under section 97 of the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020.

3. Falsification of any document demonstrating compliance with the code carries a penalty of up to one lakh rupees or three months in jail. Under Section 98, the punishment cannot be less than one lakh rupees or six months imprisonment, or both.

4. Any person who violates the procedure mentioned for carrying out the hazardous process in an establishment under clauses (a) to (h) of sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 6 or clause (d) of section 13 or section 80 shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of two years or a penalty of up to five lakh rupees, or both, if the same continues after that. (Section 102)

5. If such an employee is discharged or fired during the calendar year, or resigns or dies during the employment relationship, he or his heir or authorised agent is entitled to a salary in lieu of the number of leaves taken. If no such leave is taken by any of these employees during a calendar year, the same number will be added to the following year, and the central government may apply the provision to any company other than the railway department. Putting an embargo on working hours was necessary because otherwise, inhumane working hours could have harmed employees' health.

6. This code makes not only the employer but also the employees liable for violating any duty or liability vested in him; he shall be punished with a penalty that may extend to ten thousand rupees; additionally, in such cases, section 106 does not make the employer guilty in respect of such violation. 

Mannerism of Prosecution

The code's approach to prosecution differs from that of previous legislation. Here are a few of the code's reformed procedural features.

1. According to section 107 of the code, any mine owner, agent, or manager may be prosecuted by the chief inspector-cum-facilitator, district judge, or inspector-cum-facilitator. The first exception to such prosecution is that the above-mentioned officers must evaluate such owner, agent, or manager's practise of due diligence.

2. Section 108 of the law provides a few exemptions from liability for the mine's owner, agent, or manager. On any complaint filed against such an establishment, the prosecutor must notify the management of his plan to file such a complaint so that the management can identify the actual offender at the time of the charge hearing. Furthermore, if the owner, agent, or manager proves their share of due diligence or claims that another person committed the offence without his knowledge or consent, he will be punished as if he were the mine's owner, agent, or manager.

3. According to Section 109, when a company (a firm or any other association of individuals) commits an offence under this code, the person in charge of carrying out the business at the moment of the offence is held liable alongside the company itself. Both the business and the individual will be found guilty and prosecuted. However, if the person demonstrates that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission and that it occurred without his awareness, the person is exempt from guilt.

Jurisdictions under the Code

If the adjudication process is not crystal clear, any legislation will lose most of its lustre. As a result, there are a few explicit insertions of processes for adjudication of offences by the authorities created by this code. According to Section 110, an Inspector cum-Facilitator must give the employer thirty days to comply with the code before launching a prosecution process; however, accidents are an exception to this rule. Furthermore, the section states that no court shall take cognizance of the case unless the Inspector-cum-Facilitator files a complaint within six months of the commission of the offence. Furthermore, no judge with a lower rank than Metropolitan Magistrate or Chief-Judicial Magistrate shall hear cases. Try any offence listed in this law. Section 112 reiterates a court of law's territorial authority when dealing with an offence under this code. The offence will be decided by the code whose jurisdiction the business falls under.