The Second Schedule · OSH Code

Matters Covered by Safety and Health Standards

This Schedule, linked to section 18(2)(f), lists 73 matters that the Central Government's occupational safety and health standards are to deal with. It runs from machinery fencing, hoists and pressure plant to dock work, building and construction sites, plantations, chemical exposure limits in factories and lightning. It names the subjects only; the working requirements come from the standards the Central Government notifies under section 18, together with the Code's own sections and rules where they cover the same subject.

1 section ~7 min read Official text, PDF p. 81

Factory ownersSafety officersPort and dock operatorsConstruction contractors

Key points

1The Schedule is a list of 73 subjects that the safety and health standards under section 18 must cover, not a set of rules in itself. It has no headings; the groups below are by subject. The actual requirements come from the notified standards and, for some items, from other sections of the Code and the rules. §schedule
2Items 1 to 25 cover machinery, plant and general workplace safety: fencing, work near moving machinery, power cut-off devices, hoists and lifts, lifting tackle, pressure plant, floors and pits, eye protection, dangerous fumes and dust, safety of buildings, safety officers, safety committees, notice of accidents and courts of inquiry. §schedule
3Items 27 to 51 deal with dock work and ships, including safe access, lighting, cargo handling gear, testing and certification of chains, ropes and slings, noise and vibration, protective clothing, medical supervision, ambulance rooms and accident statements. §schedule
4Items 52 to 69 deal with building and construction: scaffolding, demolition and explosives under competent persons, testing of hoists and lifting gear, limits on weights workers lift, safety nets and belts, and a safety policy framed by employers and contractors. §schedule
5Items 70 and 71 cover factories: emergency standards for hazardous processes, and maximum permissible exposure limits for chemical and toxic substances in any factory. §schedule
6The list is open-ended: item 73 lets the standards also cover any other matter the Central Government considers needed for better working conditions and safety at the workplace. The Schedule itself can be amended by notification under section 18(3), on the National Board's recommendation and after giving at least 45 days' notice of the intention. §schedule

At a glance

73Matters listedSection schedule 25 (items 27 to 51)Items on dock work and shipsSection schedule 18 (items 52 to 69)Items on building and constructionSection schedule

Earlier law:Factories Act, 1948Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996

THE SECOND SCHEDULE — LIST OF MATTERS

In plain words

This Schedule lists 73 matters, covering machinery, dock work, building and construction, plantations, factory chemical exposure and lightning, that the safety and health standards under section 18(2)(f) are to deal with.

[See section 18(2)(f)]

List of matters:

(1)

fencing of machinery;

(2)

work on or near machinery in motion;

(3)

employment of adolescents on dangerous machines;

(4)

striking gear and devices for cutting off power;

(5)

self acting machines;

(6)

casing of new machinery;

(7)

prohibition of employment of women, children and adolescent near cotton openers;

(8)

hoists and lifts;

(9)

lifting machines, chains, ropes and lifting tackles;

(10)

revolving machinery;

(11)

pressure plant;

(12)

floors, stairs and means of access;

(13)

pits, sumps, openings in floors and other similar indentation of area;

(14)

safety officers;

(15)

protection of eyes;

(16)

precautions against dangerous fumes, gases, etc.;

(17)

precautions regarding the use of portable electric light;

(18)

explosive or inflammable dust, gas, and other like dusts or gases;

(19)

safety committee;

(20)

power to require specifications of defective parts or tests of stability;

(21)

safety of buildings and machinery;

(22)

maintenance of buildings;

(23)

prohibition in certain cases of danger;

(24)

notice in respect of accidents;

(25)

court of inquiry in case of accidents;

(26)

safety management in plantation;

(27)

the general requirement relating to the construction, equipments and maintenance for the safety of working places on shore, ship, dock, structure and other places at which any dock work is carried on;

(28)

the safety of any regular approaches over a dock, wharf, quay or other places which dock worker have to use for going for work and for fencing of such places and projects;

(29)

the efficient lighting of all areas of dock, ship, any other vessel, dock structure or working places where any dock work is carried on and of all approaches to such places to which dock workers are required to go in the course of their employment;

(30)

adequate ventilation and suitable temperature in every building or an enclosure on ship where dock workers are employed;

(31)

the fire and explosion preventions and protection;

(32)

safe means of access to ships, holds, stagings, equipment, appliances and other working places;

(33)

the construction, maintenance and use of lifting and other cargo handling appliances and services, such as, pallets containing or supporting loads and provision of safety appliances on them, if necessary;

(34)

the safety of workers employed in freight container terminals of other terminals for handing unitized cargo;

(35)

the fencing of machinery, live electrical conductors, steam pipes and hazardous openings;

(36)

the construction, maintenance and use of staging;

(37)

the rigging and use of ship's derricks;

(38)

the testing, examination, inspection and certification as appropriate of' loose gears including chains and ropes and of slings and other lifting devices used in the dock work;

(39)

the precautions to be taken to facilitate escape of workers when employed in a hold, bin, hopper or the like or between decks of a hold while handing coal of other bulk cargo;

(40)

the measures to be taken in order to prevent dangerous methods of' working in the stacking, unstacking, stowing and unstowing of cargo or handling in connection therewith;

(41)

the handling of dangerous substances and working, in dangerous or harmful environments and the precautions to be taken in connection with such handling;

(42)

the work in connection with cleaning, chipping, painting, operations and precautions to be taken in connection with such work;

(43)

the employment of persons for handling cargo, handling appliances, power operated batch covers or other power operated ship's equipment such as, door in the hull of a ship, ramp, retraceable car deck or similar equipment or to give signals to the drivers of such machinery;

(44)

the transport of dock workers;

(45)

the precautions to be taken to protect dock workers against harmful effects of excessive noise, vibration and air pollution at the work place;

(46)

protective equipment and protective clothing;

(47)

the sanitary, washing and welfare facilities;

(48)

the medical supervision;

(49)

the ambulance rooms, first aid and rescue facilities and arrangements for the removal of dock workers to the nearest place of treatment;

(50)

the investigation of occupational accidents, dangerous occurrences and diseases, specifying such diseases and the forms of' notices, the persons and authorities to whom, they are to be furnished, the particulars to be contained in them and the time within which they are to be submitted;

(51)

the submission of statement of accidents, man-days lost, volume of cargo handled and particulars of dock workers.

(52)

the safe means of access to, and the safety of, any working place, including the provision of suitable and sufficient scaffolding at various stages when work cannot be safely done from the ground or from any part of a building or from a ladder or such other means of support;

(53)

the precautions to be taken in connection with the demolition of the whole or any substantial part of a building or other structure under the supervision of a competent person for the avoidance of danger from collapse of any building or other structure while removing any part of the framed building or other structure by shoring or otherwise;

(54)

the handling or use of explosive under the control of competent persons so that there is no exposure to the risk of injury from explosion or from flying material;

(55)

the erection installation, use and maintenance of transporting equipment, such as locomotives, trucks, wagons and other vehicles and trailers and appointment of competent persons to drive or operate such equipment;

(56)

the erection, installation, use and maintenance of hoists, lifting appliances and lifting gear including periodical testing and examination and heat treatment where necessary, precautions to be taken while raising or lowering loads, restrictions on carriage of persons and appointment of competent persons on hoists or other lifting appliances;

(57)

the adequate and suitable lighting of every workplace and approach thereto, of every place where raising or lowering operations with the use of hoists, lifting appliances or lifting gears are in progress and of all openings dangerous to building workers employed;

(58)

the precautions to be taken to prevent inhalation of dust, fumes, gases or vapours during any grinding, cleaning, spraying or manipulation of any material and steps to be taken to secure and maintain adequate ventilation of every working place or confined space;

(59)

the measures to be taken during stacking or unstacking, stowing or unstowing of materials or goods or handling in connection therewith;

(60)

the safeguarding of machinery including the fencing of every fly-wheel and every moving part of prime mover and every part of transmission or other machinery, unless it is in such a position or of such construction as to be safe to every worker working only of the operations and as if it were securely fenced;

(61)

the safe handling and use of plant, including tools and equipment operated by compressed air;

(62)

the precaution to be taken in case of fire;

(63)

the limits of weight to be lifted or moved by workers;

(64)

the safe transport of workers to or from any workplace by water and provision of means for rescue from drowning;

(65)

the steps to be taken to prevent danger to workers from live electric wires or apparatus including electrical machinery and tools and from overhead wires;

(66)

the keeping of safety nets, safety sheets and safety belts where the special nature or the circumstances of work render them necessary for the safety of the workers;

(67)

the standards to be complied with regard to scaffolding, ladders and stairs, lifting appliances, ropes, chains and accessories, earth moving equipment and floating operational equipments;

(68)

the precautions to be taken with regard to pile driving, concrete work, work with hot asphalt, tar or other similar things, insulation work, demolition operations, excavation, underground construction and handling materials;

(69)

the safety policy, that is to say, a policy relating to steps to be taken to ensure the safety and health of the building workers, the administrative arrangements therefore and the matters connected therewith, to be framed by the employers and contractors for tile operations to be carried on in a building or other construction work;

(70)

emergency standards for enforcement of suitable standards in respect of hazardous processes in a factory;

(71)

the maximum permissible threshold limits of exposure of chemical and toxic substances in manufacturing processes (whether hazardous or otherwise) in any factory;

(72)

lightning; and

(73)

any other matter which the Central Government considers under the circumstance for better working condition for safety at the workplace.

Source: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, official gazette copy, page 81

In plain words

For employers

The Schedule gives subjects, not figures. Test intervals for lifting gear and similar details are in the notified standards and rules. Some items also have their own section in the Code: safety committees and safety officers are in section 22 (which itself fixes the workforce sizes at which safety officers must be appointed), emergency standards for hazardous processes in section 87, and factory exposure limits in section 88, whose values are prescribed by the State Government.

Did you know?

Lightning is a matter of its own on the list (item 72), separate from fire and explosion.

Did you know?

Chemical exposure limits under item 71 reach manufacturing processes in any factory, whether the process is hazardous or not.

Did you know?

The dock workers' statement under item 51 covers the volume of cargo handled as well as accidents and man-days lost.

Did you know?

Item 7 still lists the prohibition of employing women, children and adolescents near cotton openers as a matter for standards.

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