The First Schedule · OSH Code

Industries Involving Hazardous Processes

This Schedule lists 40 industries involving hazardous processes, from steel, cement, chemicals and pharmaceuticals to ship breaking, e-waste processing and semiconductor plants. Section 2(za) defines a "hazardous process" as a process or activity in an industry named here where, unless special care is taken, the materials, products, wastes or effluents would harm workers' health or pollute the environment. So this list is the starting point for deciding whether a unit is covered by the Code's provisions on hazardous processes, and the Central Government can change it by notification under section 131. It matters to anyone who runs, inspects or works in such a plant.

1 section ~2 min read Official text, PDF p. 78

Factory owners and occupiersSafety officersEHS and compliance managersHR managers in manufacturing

Key points

1The Schedule lists 40 industries involving hazardous processes. Being on the list is not the whole test: section 2(za) also asks whether, without special care, the materials, products, wastes or effluents would harm the health of the people involved or pollute the environment. §schedule
2Heavy industry is covered: iron and steel, ferro-alloys, primary zinc, lead, copper, manganese and aluminium, foundries, coal and coke, power generation, cement, oil refining and petrochemicals. §schedule
3Entry 17 alone covers 12 groups of chemical industries, items (a) to (l), including industrial gases, acids and alkalies, chromates, lead compounds, halogens such as chlorine, and explosives. §schedule
4Some listed trades do not look hazardous at first sight: breweries and distilleries, printing and dyeing on fabrics, plywood and laminate manufacture, glass and ceramics, and extraction of oils and fats from vegetable and animal sources. §schedule
5Newer sectors are named too: ship breaking, stone crushing, oil extraction from scrap tyres, hazardous waste and e-waste processing, semiconductor manufacturing and industries using nano-particles. §schedule
6Several entries are written around a substance or activity rather than an industry name, such as handling and use of benzene, processes involving carbon disulphide, asbestos, radioactive substances, highly flammable liquids and gases, and mercury, arsenic, beryllium, phosgene and isocyanates. §schedule
7The list is not fixed. Section 131 lets the Central Government amend any Schedule by notification, adding, altering or dropping entries, so check for later notifications before relying on this list alone. §schedule

At a glance

40 (entries 1 to 40)Industries listedSection schedule 12 (items a to l)Chemical industry groups under entry 17Section schedule

Earlier law:Factories Act, 1948

THE FIRST SCHEDULE

In plain words

This Schedule lists the 40 industries, from metals, coal, cement and chemicals to e-waste, semiconductors and mercury compounds, that section 2(za) uses to define a hazardous process. A process in one of these industries counts as hazardous where, without special care, it would harm workers' health or pollute the environment. The Central Government can amend the list by notification under section 131.

[See section 2(za)]

List of Industries involving hazardous processes:

Ferrous Metallurgical Industries

— Integrated Iron and Steel

— Ferro-alloys

— Special Steels.

Non-ferrous metallurgical Industries

— Primary Metallurgical Industries, namely, zinc, lead, copper, manganese and aluminium.

Foundries (ferrous and non-ferrous)

— Castings and forgings including cleaning or smoothening/roughening by sand and shot blasting.

Coal (including coke) industries

— Coal, Lignite, Coke and like other substances

— Fuel Gases (including Coal Gas, Producer Gas, Water Gas).

Power Generating Industries.

Pulp and paper (including paper products) industries.

Fertiliser Industries

— Nitrogenous

— Phosphatic

— Mixed.

Cement Industries

— Portland Cement (including slag cement, puzzolona cement and their products).

Petroleum Industries

— Oil Refining

— Lubricating Oils and Greases.

10.

Petro-chemical Industries.

11.

Drugs and Pharmaceutical Industries

— Narcotics, Drugs and Pharmaceuticals.

12.

Fermentation Industries (Distilleries and Breweries).

13.

Rubber (Synthetic) Industries.

14.

Paints and Pigment Industries.

15.

Leather Tanning Industries.

16.

Electro-plating Industries.

17.

Chemical Industries.

(a)

Coke Oven by-products and Coaltar Distillation products:

(b)

Industrial Gases (nitrogen, oxygen, acetylene, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, halogenated hydrocarbon, ozone, or any like gases);

(c)

Industrial Carbon;

(d)

Alkalies and Acids;

(e)

Chromates and dichromates;

(f)

Lead and its compounds;

(g)

Electrochemicals (metallic sodium, potassium and magnesium, chlorates, perchlorates and peroxides);

(h)

Electrothermal produces (artificial abrasive, calcium carbide);

(i)

Nitrogenous compounds (cyanides, cyanamides and other nitrogenous compounds);

(j)

Phosphorous and its compounds;

(k)

Halogens and Halogenated compounds (Chlorine, Fluorine, Bromine and Iodine);

(l)

Explosives (including industrial explosives and detonators and fuses).

18.

Insecticides, Fungicides, Herbicides and other Pesticides Industries.

19.

Synthetic Resin and plastics.

20.

Man made Fibre (Cellulosic and non-cellulosic) industry.

21.

Manufacture and repair of electrical accumulators.

22.

Glass and Ceramics.

23.

Grinding or glazing of metals.

24.

Manufacture, handling and processing of asbestos and its products.

25.

Extraction of oils and fats from vegetable and animal sources.

26.

Manufacture, handling and use of benzene and substances containing benzene.

27.

Manufacturing processes and operations involving carbon disulphide.

28.

Dyes and Dyestuff including their intermediates.

29.

Highly flammable liquids and gases.

30.

Printing and dyeing on fabrics in textiles and plywood and laminate manufacturing process.

31.

Process involving usage of radium or Radioactive Substances.

32.

Stone Crushing industry.

33.

Extraction of Oil and Raw material from the scrap tyres.

34.

Cigarette manufacturing industry.

35.

Ship breaking industry.

36.

Hazardous waste and e-waste processing plants.

37.

Semiconductor manufacturing industry.

38.

Styrene manufacturing, handling and processing industry.

39.

Nano-particles utilising industry.

40.

Manufacturing, processing, preparation and utilisation of Mercury or Compounds of Mercury, Lead Tetra-ethyl, Manganese, Arsenic, Chrome, Aliphatic series, Beryllium, Phosgene and Isocyanates.

Source: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, official gazette copy, page 78

In plain words

For employers

Several entries name a substance or activity rather than an industry, such as benzene, carbon disulphide, asbestos, radioactive substances and highly flammable liquids and gases, so the materials a unit uses are worth checking against the list as well as its line of business.

Did you know?

Cigarette manufacturing is listed as an industry involving hazardous processes (entry 34), and so are distilleries and breweries under fermentation industries (entry 12).

Did you know?

Printing and dyeing on fabrics in textiles sits in the same entry as plywood and laminate manufacturing (entry 30).

Did you know?

Extraction of oils and fats from vegetable and animal sources is on the list (entry 25), so it is not only chemical and metal plants that appear here.

Did you know?

Semiconductor manufacturing (entry 37) and industries using nano-particles (entry 39) appear on the same list as coal, cement and foundries.

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