NHRC sends notices to Centre, others on high death rate of factory workers

The NHRC has sent notices to the Centre and various states and Union Territories over the reported high death rate of workers in accidents at registered factories, officials said on Thursday.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), in a statement, said it has taken suo motu cognisance of a newspaper article that according to the Ministry of Labour and Employment's Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) data, three people died and 11 were injured each day on an average between 2017 and 2022, due to accidents at registered factories in the country.

Reportedly, as many as 3,331 deaths were recorded between 2018 and 2020, but only 14 people were imprisoned for offences under the Factories Act, 1948, it said.

The data collected by DGFASLI from Chief Inspectors of Factories and Directors of Industrial Safety and Health represents that only registered factories provided the figures, whereas, 90 per cent workers in India are employed in the informal sector, the statement said.

And, even after two years of passing the new occupational safety and health code, it is yet to be implemented, the rights panel said.

The Commission feels that considering the gravity of the matter, as highlighted in the newspaper article, raises serious concerns about the human rights of the workers in various business enterprises including factories.

"Human rights risk can be mitigated at the stage of structuring contracts or other agreements between employers and employees within the purview of law giving due importance to the concept of business and human rights," it said.

Accordingly, the Commission has issued notices to all the chief secretaries, principal secretaries, department of labour of all the states and Union Territories to provide detailed reports with respect to the death, incapacity of workers or employees due to accidents in the factories in their jurisdictions and the compensation paid to the injured or the next of kin of the deceased, prosecution initiated against the occupier or factory owners, and the number of safety officers employed as per Section 40B of the Factories Act, 1948, the statement said.

The reports must contain year-wise reports of the Chief Inspector of Factories taking measures against defaulting factory owners, including prosecution for the period from 2017 to 2022, in a tabulated form.

Measures taken by the states or UTs for effective implementation of the various provisions of the Factories Act, 1948, must also be part of the reports, it added.

A notice has also been issued to the secretary, Union Ministry of Labour and Employment to submit an action taken report with regard to the implementation of the occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions Code and the measures taken or to be taken for improving the human rights conditions in respect of the factory workers across the country.

The response is expected within six weeks, the statement said.