Health and Safety in India

 India aims to become an industrial power

WORKERS RESISTANCE

, with government schemes and reforms tailored to encourage investments and innovation. India is a major auto manufacturing hub in South Asia, employing an estimated 10 million workers. A large part of the manufacturing is contracted and subcontracted to smaller companies. But desperate and vulnerable workers often pay the price.

Industrial accidents kill hundreds of people and permanently disable thousands every year. A federal minister told parliament in 2021 that at least 6,500 workers had died while working in factories, ports, mines and construction sites in five years. The figures could be higher as many incidents are not reported or recorded.

According to data collected by global workers' union IndustriAll, sectors such as manufacturing, chemicals and construction report the most fatalities in India. In 2021 alone, it said an average of seven accidents were reported every month in Indian manufacturing industries, killing more than 162 workers.

There is no official national data on workers left disabled by industrial accidents. But a recent survey by non-profit Safe in India Foundation - done mainly in the vehicle parts manufacturing factories in northern India - says 3,955 serious accidents took place between 2016 and 2022. Seventy-percent of the injured had lost their fingers or crushed their hands while using a metal pressing machine.

 Many news reports have flagged that workers in "small, unregistered factories" are often most affected by industrial accidents. The victims are usually poor workers or migrants whose families don't have the resources to fight legal battle.

Rajesh Kashyap, a trade union activist in Delhi, alleges that many factories in the capital and its suburbs flout at least one industrial or safety law, but action is rarely taken. He and other labour activists allege that in many industrial accidents, cases languish for years while the accused are released on bail.  Legal red tape and a mix of factors can make it hard to access compensation from the companies.  Legal proceedings usually ran on for years. The government itself announces a lump-sum payment to the families, shifting focus away from demanding compensation from companies. By the time a case is taken up, the families of the migrant workers may have moved back to their village or another city in search of jobs.

"Workers don't have much faith in the legal system due to the long, complex processes. So, they take whatever money they get as settlement or ex-gratia from the government and leave," says Chandan Kumar, who assists informal workers.

Labour activists are concerned that the new laws might set the health and safety compliance bar even lower. While the earlier law said that any company with 10 workers or more should have a safety committee, the proposed new law raises the number to 250. But according to the 2016 Economic Census, just 1.66% of total non-agricultural establishments, 2% in manufacturing and 1.25% in the construction industry employed 10 or more workers. There is no data available for the informal economy, which employs 90% of India's workforce.

The government has also changed protocols for workplace inspections in an effort to make the process easier for companies. While currently, labour officers are responsible for inspecting and ensuring the implementation of safety rules, their role will change to that of mediators under the new codes.

Labour experts say this makes it even less likely for factory owners to prioritise workers' safety or social security.

Many companies are also shifting to hiring contract workers over permanent ones which further weakens workers' rights, says lawyer and labour rights activist Sudha Bhardwaj.

Desperation for jobs has also made workers hesitant to join unions.

"Workers' safety will eventually be nobody's responsibility," says Sidheshwar Prasad Shukla, an academic and labour activist.

Workplace accidents: Poor workers pay price for India's economic push - BBC News