A Dipping Graph in Occupational Safety

Recently, the CRUSHED Report 2021 released by Safe in India (SII), reported in this daily, portrays a dismal picture concerning occupational safety and health in the auto sector. 

Background of CRUSHED Report:

• The report is based on the real experience of 2,500+ injured workers from the auto-sector in Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana, Rudrapur in Uttarakhand and Neemrana in Rajasthan.
• This Report is the third annual sequel after CRUSHED 2019 and CRUSHED 2020, which were released at the Ministry of Labor, at IIM Ahmedabad, with injured workers in Gurgaon in August 2019 and with auto-industry associations, SIAM and ACMA in 2020.

Highlights of the report:

• 80% of the injured workers met with accidents in the supply chains of some of the largest auto-sector brands.
• 70% lost their hands/fingers.
• About 70% received their ESIC Identity Card after the accident and not on the date of joining. These workers/families could not use ESIC through their working lives, until they suffered grave injuries.
• The new OSH & WC labour code has at least 8 major dilutions of factory safety.
• Over 50% injuries reported to SII occur on power press machines.
• A majority of the workers injured on power presses inadequately trained and have low education levels.

About Safe in India Foundation:

• Since 2015, Safe in India Foundation (SII) has worked to improve the post-accident life of injured workers, to prevent these accidents, and to thereby improve labour productivity in manufacturing, which is currently among the lowest in the world.
• To achieve this, SII engages constructively with the industry and the government stakeholders to advance the OSH agenda and educates workers on safe working practices and their Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) entitlements.

Labour laws:

• Labour falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution.  Therefore, both Parliament and state legislatures can make laws regulating labour.  
• The central government has stated that there are over 100 state and 40 central laws regulating various aspects of labour such as resolution of industrial disputes, working conditions, social security and wages.
• The Second National Commission on Labour (2002) found existing legislation to be complex, with archaic provisions and inconsistent definitions.
• To improve ease of compliance and ensure uniformity in labour laws, it recommended the consolidation of central labour laws into broader groups such as: (i) industrial relations, (ii) wages, (iii) social security, (iv) safety, and (v) welfare and working conditions. 
• In 2019, the Ministry of Labour and Employment introduced four Bills to consolidate 29 central laws.  These Codes regulate:
• Wages
• Industrial Relations
• Social Security
• Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions