World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Ensuring occupational safety and health in the unorganized sector is the biggest challenge for a country like India”
On world day for safety and health at work, the ILO talks to Avneesh Singh — Director General of DGFASLI (Directorate General of Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes). Dr Singh says that safe and healthy work environment is a fundamental human right and that India is taking definitive steps to ensure that every worker is protected and cared for.
1. In 2017, DGFASLI conducted a comprehensive national OSH review. The findings were are now seen as a draft national OSH profile. Tell us your experience of formulating a draft national OSH profile for India?
DGFASLI is the technical arm of the Ministry of Labour and Employment in India.
In 2017, the task of developing a comprehensive National OSH profile was jointly taken up by DGFASLI in cooperation with the ILO. This OSH profile serves as a diagnostic document containing detailed analysis of existing national OSH systems and situations. The document helps in identifying priority areas for national action in OSH and helps formulate India’s national OSH programme.
Our teams from five regional institutes in Faridabad, Kolkata, Kanpur, Mumbai, and Chennai collected OSH information and prepared the first draft of the OSH profile documents. The documents were then reviewed in regional tripartite consultation workshops. Representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations actively contributed to the review discussions. A final national OSH profile draft was prepared and published on the DGFASLI website to solicit comments from the public. A national tripartite validation workshop was also organized to discuss this draft.
The OSH profiling work is also a preparatory exercise that we hope will result in India’s ratification of the ILO Convention No. 187 — Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006. The convention looks at promoting a preventive safety and health culture in a working environment. With this regard, the development of National OSH Profile is an important step.
2. What kind of OSH challenges does India face? What is the government doing about it?
Ensuring occupational safety and health in the unorganized sector is the biggest challenge for a country like India. There is an urgent need to cover sectors like agriculture, construction, small businesses, other ports (excluding major ports) and the service industry. These sectors generate employment for a large number of people all over the country. In order to protect the safety and health of the workers, sector-specific programmes need to be developed at the national level. The labour ministry is in the process of codifying the existing central labour laws into four labour codes, and one among these will be on safety, health and working conditions.
3. Tell us about a few activities of the DGFASLI that is aimed at protecting workers from occupational accidents and diseases?
The DGFASLI has a team of professionals from various disciplines that work towards improving OSH in factories, docks and ports. We coordinate administration of Factories Act, 1948 and Rules; to enforce Dock Workers’ (Safety, Health & Welfare) Act, 1986 and Regulations 1990. We also serve as the central repository of knowledge on OSH practices and we organize trainings on OSH to create awareness on critical safety and health issues. We also formulate standards and guidelines to sensitize workers and employers on OSH. We also carry out research -- specifically identifying the needs of countries from the Asia-Pacific on OSH and then aid in designing suitable interventions. As a knowledge leader on OSH, we frequently collaborate with national and international institutes and agencies to further strengthen our technical expertise.
DGFASLI is the technical arm of the Ministry of Labour and Employment in India.
In 2017, the task of developing a comprehensive National OSH profile was jointly taken up by DGFASLI in cooperation with the ILO. This OSH profile serves as a diagnostic document containing detailed analysis of existing national OSH systems and situations. The document helps in identifying priority areas for national action in OSH and helps formulate India’s national OSH programme.
Our teams from five regional institutes in Faridabad, Kolkata, Kanpur, Mumbai, and Chennai collected OSH information and prepared the first draft of the OSH profile documents. The documents were then reviewed in regional tripartite consultation workshops. Representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations actively contributed to the review discussions. A final national OSH profile draft was prepared and published on the DGFASLI website to solicit comments from the public. A national tripartite validation workshop was also organized to discuss this draft.
The OSH profiling work is also a preparatory exercise that we hope will result in India’s ratification of the ILO Convention No. 187 — Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006. The convention looks at promoting a preventive safety and health culture in a working environment. With this regard, the development of National OSH Profile is an important step.
2. What kind of OSH challenges does India face? What is the government doing about it?
Ensuring occupational safety and health in the unorganized sector is the biggest challenge for a country like India. There is an urgent need to cover sectors like agriculture, construction, small businesses, other ports (excluding major ports) and the service industry. These sectors generate employment for a large number of people all over the country. In order to protect the safety and health of the workers, sector-specific programmes need to be developed at the national level. The labour ministry is in the process of codifying the existing central labour laws into four labour codes, and one among these will be on safety, health and working conditions.
3. Tell us about a few activities of the DGFASLI that is aimed at protecting workers from occupational accidents and diseases?
The DGFASLI has a team of professionals from various disciplines that work towards improving OSH in factories, docks and ports. We coordinate administration of Factories Act, 1948 and Rules; to enforce Dock Workers’ (Safety, Health & Welfare) Act, 1986 and Regulations 1990. We also serve as the central repository of knowledge on OSH practices and we organize trainings on OSH to create awareness on critical safety and health issues. We also formulate standards and guidelines to sensitize workers and employers on OSH. We also carry out research -- specifically identifying the needs of countries from the Asia-Pacific on OSH and then aid in designing suitable interventions. As a knowledge leader on OSH, we frequently collaborate with national and international institutes and agencies to further strengthen our technical expertise.