Where does India stand in the world of Occupational Safety & Health?

GNN | May 31, 2017, 3:16 PM IST|

Legislation in the U.K. states employers should have suitable arrangements in place for the management of health and safety at workplace. To reach these requirements, employers need to have an effective occupational health and safety management system.There are numbers of management systems to regulate Occupational Health and Safety policy. For example HS(G)65, the British Standard BS OHSAS 18001:2007, ISO standards, US standards and many more. In U.K. HS(G)65 and BS OSHAS are the management systems for health and safety policy. Both of them work on “plan-do-check-act” management model.
In U.K. generally BS are famous standards to follow, even some other countries also try to adopt this system to regulate Occupational Health and Safety policy. But in our country, ISO standards and BIS system are there to regulate OHS.
British System To Maintain OSH Policy: In Britain the tradition of health and safety regulation is going on from last 150 years. But the present system came in 1974 by Health and Safety at Work act. And it also modified in 2008.
The Health and Safety Executive enforced the law in many workplaces, in nuclear installation, mines, factories, farms, schools and hospitals, offshore-onshore gas and oil installation, movements of heavy goods, dangerous substance and many other areas for the protection of both, workers and general public. The standards of health and safety achieved in Great Britain are delivered by flexible regulatory system introduced by HSW Act. (Health and Safety Executive, 2009).
The health and safety executive brings all the sector staff together including administrator, lawyer, inspectors, scientists, medical professionals, and finance and accounting specialists. In policy section, policy staff from all the sectors work across HSE to advice on policy concerns, including legislation. HSE regulates the work fields by their Field Operations Directorate and the nuclear industries through its Nuclear Directorate. Field Operations Directorate has health and safety awareness officers who guide the local SMEs. The Hazardous Installations Directorate (HID) is responsible for enforcing health and safety legislation in upstream petroleum and diving industries (Health and Safety Executive, 2009).
The United Kingdom promotes decent working methods and conditions worldwide and as a member of the International Labour Organization, in part by adopting and passing rule on occupational safety and health. The nuclear sector is regulated in accordance with International Atomic Energy Agency standards and HSE’s Nuclear Directorate is an active member of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (Health and Safety Executive, 2009).
Indian System To Maintain OSH Policy: BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) has adopted these ISO Standards and published them as IS Standards with the same numbering scheme (BIS). BIS made a code IS 18001:2000 for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems(IPTU, 2008).
1. Government of India-The Constitution of India contains specific provisions on occupational safety and health of workers.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH Constitutional Provision Chapter13.124 -No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine orengaged in any other hazardous employment (The Constitution of India, 2006). Then 13.2 is about safety, health and welfare of workers in factories and port/dock. And it work on Factories Act, 1948 and Dock Workers (safety, health & welfare) Act, 1986.
There are studies and survey programmes to check working condition and standards of safety in selected group of industries and operation.The Govt of India has National Referral Diagnostic Centre for Suspected cases of occupational diseases, such as; silicosis, occupational dermatitis etc. are referred to the National Referral Diagnostic Centre for opinion. There is a PLAN SCHEMES OF DGFASLI department for development, establishment and improvement of safety and health information. There is The Major Accident Hazards Control Advisory Division, at the Central Labour Institute, Mumbai, which advises State Governments and MAH units on control of Major Accident Hazards, preparation of emergency plans, Safety Audit, Risk Assessment etc (The Constitution of India, 2006).
The Govt of India has Safety and Health Communication centre, Industrial Safety, Health & Welfare Centre, Testing of Personal Protective Equipment Centre and Approval of Flame proof Electrical Equipment centre for managing good level of safety and health in country. To encourage people to develop and follow the safety rules and regulation in the society there are some award system also, like National Safety Awards, Golden Peacock Awards. There are also some celebration days for safety and health as National Safety Day and National Fire Day.
There is special division for Mine safety. There are many rule and regulation codes for Mine safety and according to codes the mine industries have to work. Coal Mines Regulations, 1957. Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 1961. Oil Mines Regulations, 1984. Mines-Rules, 1955. Mines Vocational Training Rules, 1966. Mines Rescue Rules, 1985. Mines Crèche Rules, 1966. Coal Mines Pit Head Bath Rules, 1959. The Indian Electricity Act, 1910, Indian Electricity Rules, 1966, Factories Act, 1948: Chapters III & IV Manufacture, Storage & Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989, under Environmental Protection Act, 1986, Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, 1885, The Coal Mines (Conservation & Development) Act, 1974(The Constitution of India, 2006).
There are also some major programmes in establishment for improvement of occupational safety and health knowledge. Occupational Safety, Occupational Hygiene and Health, Installation of testing facility SCBA of Resuscitator. Creation of Rescue Data bases- a) CMR/OMR/MMR/dBase, b) RRAE databases, Design of rescue systems- a) Inundation RRS, b) Fire RRS, c) Explosion RRS, Development of disaster control systems. Testing of self-rescuers, Testing SCBA., Rescuers Competition, Standard setting, review of emergency plans, Issue of Technical circulars to the mining industry.
The Council has started New Initiatives in three sectors namely:
1). Road Transportation Safety2). Safety and Health in Construction Sector3). Safety, Health & Environment in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) (The Constitution of India, 2006).
In India there is one centre called National APELL Centre (NAC) to make awareness and preparedness for Emergencies at Local Level. NAC has some policies for HSE department. It gives NSCI safety award, safety constancy services department, NSC for HSE training and etc.
Government of India also published Health, Safety & Environment Diary in 2006. It contains the information on safety, health and environment protection, road safety, disaster management, corporate social responsibility, energy audits and other aspects. Local and privet sector work on this rules, but according to their flexibility they can change in their own policy of occupational safety and health. If rules and regulations broken by any then it depend on which sector is involves in that particular issue, if the violation is in private sector then on initial stage privet sector will act on it then it goes to the government and the judgement also given on the base of private sector policy(The Constitution of India, 2006).
Comparisons:
There are many similarities in both countries. Like they both are almost same for mines, factorise, SMEs, construction and for oil companies. But India has to work on Health and Safety policy of school, hospital and health sectors. Even India have different sectors and bodies who work for different sectors, which is more complex.
In ICMR bulletin (Indian Council of Medical Research) they have mentioned that there is a difference between India and UK, in standards, guidelines and certification systems for OHS Management system. India has a system for OHS management but it mixed up with different policy. And U.K. has two standard system BS and CIA system. In India the Factories Act includes procedures in respect to industrial installations, work atmosphere and occupational health and safety guide channels. Refer to rule provisions (41A to 41H) — industrial site appraisal, hazardous process, emergency standards, exposure of chemical and toxic substances, workers’ participation in health and safety management and many. The provisions (85 to 91A) cover dangerous portioning methods, accidents and incidents, work-related health diseases, safety and occupational health surveys. Though, the OHSAS 18001/ILO-OSH 2001 and other models bring voluntary approach to OHSMS in India. The structured systems approach has primarily been motivated by the ISO management systems (ICMR Bulletin, 2003).
The lackadaisical attitude of the Indian policy makers has made the situation worse. The enforcement of legislative measures and their active implementation is also very poor. So the need arises to develop a proper infrastructural status in India for occupational health and safety (TIFAC, 2009). But in UK, the government is so much concerned about OHS.
CONCLUSIONS:
By using one of the above occupational health and safety management systems, organisations will be able to show legislative fulfilment, their commitment to health and safety regarding issues; and the improvement of standards in the management and control of environmental risk. As a direct outcome there should be a reduction in organization accidents, incidents, insurance claims, downtime and costs. RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) believes that incidents can be prevented and environmental standards can be improved to the same standard as other main business activities in the organization.To this extent health and safety should be seen as an essential part of a management system of organization. The adoption of a formalised organized management system gives good basis for achieving these ideals. In India there is a need of improvement in this area to get good result.
Courtesy: Urja Setu