Section 136 Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020

Section 136 Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020: 

 Power of Central Government to make regulations in relation to mines and dock work. - The Central Government may, by notification, make regulations consistent with this Code for all or any of the following purposes, namely:-

(a) for specifying the qualifications required for appointment as Inspector-cum-Facilitator;

(b) for specifying and regulating the duties and powers of the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator and of Inspector-cum-Facilitators in regard to the inspection of mines under this Code;

(c) for specifying the duties of owners, agents and managers of mines and of persons acting under them, and for specifying the qualifications (including age) of agents and managers of mines and of persons acting under them;

(d) for requiring facilities to be provided for enabling managers of mines and other persons acting under them to efficiently discharge their duties;

(e) for regulating the manner of ascertaining, by examination or otherwise, the qualifications of managers of mines and persons acting under them, and the granting and renewal of certificates of competency;

(f) for fixing the fees, if any, to be paid in respect of such examinations and of the grant and renewal of such certificates;

(g) for determining the circumstances in which and the conditions subject to which it shall be lawful for more mines than one to be under a single manager, or for any mines to be under a manager not having the specified qualifications;

(h) for providing for inquiries to be made under this Code, including any inquiry relating to misconduct or incompetence on the part of any person holding a certificate under this Code and for the suspension or cancellation of any such certificate and for providing, wherever necessary, that the person appointed to hold an inquiry shall have all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908(5 of 1908), for the purpose of enforcing the attendance of witnesses and compelling the production of documents and material objects;

(i) for regulating, subject to the provisions of the Indian Explosives Act, 1884(4 of 1884), and of any rules made thereunder, the storage, conveyance and use of explosives;

(j) for prohibiting, restricting or regulating the employment of women in mines or in any class of mines or on particular kinds of labour which are attended by danger to the life, safety or health of such persons and for limiting the weight of any single load that may be carried by any such person;

(k) for providing for the safety of the persons employed in a mine, their means of entrance there into and exit therefrom, the number of shafts or outlets to be furnished, and the fencing of shafts, pits, outlets, pathways and subsidences;

(l) for prohibiting the employment in a mine either as manager or in any other specified capacity of any person except persons paid by the owner of the mine and directly answerable to the owner or manager of the mine;

(m) for providing for the safety of the roads and working places in mines, including the siting, maintenance and extraction or reduction of pillars or blocks of minerals and the maintenance of sufficient barriers between mine and mine;

(n) for the inspection of workings and sealed off fire- areas in a mine, and for the restriction of workings in the vicinity of the sea or any lake or river or any other body of surface water, whether natural or artificial, or of any public road or building, and for requiring due precaution to be taken against the irruption or inrush of water or other liquid matter into, outbreak of fire in or premature collapse of, any workings;

(o) for providing for the ventilation of mines and the action to be taken in respect of dust, fire, and inflammable and noxious gases, including precautions against spontaneous combustion, underground fire and coal dust;

(p) for regulating, subject to the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003(36 of 2003), and of any rules made thereunder, the generation, storage, transformation, transmission and use of electricity in mines and for providing for the care and the regulation of the use of all electrical apparatus and electrical cables in mines and of all other machinery and plant therein;

(q) "for regulating the use of machinery in mines, for providing for the safety of persons employed on or near such machinery and on haulage roads and for restricting the use of certain classes of locomotives underground;

(r) for providing for proper lighting of mines and regulating the use of safety lamps therein and for the search of persons entering a mine in which safety lamps are in use;

(s) for providing against explosions or ignitions of inflammable gas or dust or irruptions of or accumulations of water in mines and against danger arising therefrom and for prohibiting, restricting or regulating the extraction of minerals in circumstances likely to result in the premature collapse of workings or to result in or to aggravate the collapse of workings or irruptions of water or ignitions in mines;

(t) for specifying type of accidents for the purposes of notice under section 10 and for specifying the notices of accidents and dangerous occurrences, and the notices, reports and returns of mineral output, persons employed and other matters provided for by regulations, to be furnished by owners, agents and managers of mines, and for specifying the forms of such notices, returns and reports, 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;

(u) for requiring owners, agents and managers of mines to have fixed boundaries for the mines, for specifying the plans and sections and field notes connected therewith to be kept by them and the manner and places in which such plans, sections and field notes are to be kept for purposes of record and for the submission of copies thereof to the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator, and for requiring the making of fresh surveys and plans by them, and in the event of non-compliance, for having the survey made and plans prepared through any other agency and for the recovery of expenses thereof in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue;

(v) for regulating the procedure on the occurrence of accidents or accidental explosions or ignitions in or about, mines; for dealing effectively with the situation;

(w) for specifying the form of, and the particulars to be contained in, the notice to be given by the owner, agent or manager of a mine under section 5;

(x) for specifying the notice to be given by the owner, agent or manager of a mine before mining operations are commenced at or extended to any point within forty-five meters of any railway subject to the provisions of the Indian Railways Act, 1989(24 of 1989) or of any public roads or other works as the case may be, which are maintained by the Government or any local authority;

(y) for the protection from injury, in respect of any mine when the workings are discontinued, of property vested in the Government or any local authority or railway company as defined in the Indian Railways Act, 1989(24 of 1989);

(z) for requiring protective works to be constructed by the owner, agent or manager of a mine before the mine is closed, and in the event of non-compliance, for getting such works executed by any other agency and for recovering the expenses thereof from such owner in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue;

(za) for requiring the fencing of any mine or part of a mine or any quarry, incline, shaft, pit or outlet, whether the same is being worked or not, or any dangerous or prohibited area, subsidence, haulage, tramline or pathway, where such fencing is necessary for the protection of the public;

(zb) for specifying the number of officials to be appointed;

(zc) for specifying the qualifications of the officials to be appointed;

(zd) for specifying the qualifications and experience of the agents;

(ze) for specifying the period during which the agent shall be resident in India;

(zf) for specifying duties and responsibilities of suppliers, designers, importer and contractors for safety in mines;

(zg) for requiring the owners, agents and managers of mines to formulate, maintain and enforce safety management plan in their mines;

(zh) for requiring the managers of mines to formulate and implement codes of practice or standard operating procedure in respect of any machinery or operation used in the mines;

(zi) for providing for the safety in opencast mines and associated operations and machineries used therein;

(zj) for regulating the extraction of methane from working or abandoned coal mines or from virgin coal seam;

(zk) for specifying the forms of returns which shall be filed by the establishments or the class of establishments under this Code;

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

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

(zn) for 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;

(zo) providing and maintaining adequate ventilation and suitable temperature in every building or an enclosure on ship where dock workers are employed;

(zp) providing for the fire and explosion prevention and protection;

(zq) providing for safe means of access to ships, holds, stagings, equipment, lifting appliances and other working places;

(zr) providing for the safety of workers engaged in the opening and closing of hatches, protection of ways and other openings in the docks which may be dangerous to them;

(zs) providing for the safety of workers on docks from the risk of falling overboard being struck by cargo during loading or unloading operations;

(zt) providing for 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;

(zu) providing for the safety of workers employed in freight container terminals or other terminals for handling unitised cargo;

(zv) providing for the fencing of machinery, live electrical conductors, steam pipes and hazardous openings;

(zw) providing for the construction, maintenance and use of staging;

(zx) providing for the rigging and use of ship's derricks;

(zy) providing for 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;

(zz) providing for 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 handling coal or other bulk cargo;

(zza) providing for 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;

(zzb) providing for the handling of dangerous substances and working in dangerous or harmful environments and the precautions to be taken in connection with such handling;

(zzc) providing for the work in connection with cleaning, chipping, painting, operations and precautions to be taken in connection with such work;

(zzd) providing for the employment of persons for handling cargo, handling appliances, power operated hatch 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;

(zze) providing for the transport of dock workers;

(zzf) providing for the precautions to be taken to protect dock workers against harmful effects of excessive noise, vibrations and air pollution at the workplace;

(zzg) providing for protective equipment or protective clothing;

(zzh) providing for the sanitary, washing and welfare facilities;

(zzi) providing for-

(i) the medical supervision;

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

(iii) the safety and health organisation; and

(iv) the training of dock workers and for the obligations and rights of the dock workers for their safety and health at the workplace;

(zzj) providing for 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;

(zzk) providing for the submission of statement of accidents, man-days lost, volume of cargo handled and particulars of dock workers; and

(zzl) any other matter which is required to be or may be specified by regulation.

Supreme Court of India Important Judgments And Leading Case Law Related to Section 136 Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 ( in Hindi ) :  Not Yet Available

To download this dhara / Section of OSHWC Code 2020 in pdf format use chrome web browser and use keys [Ctrl + P] and save as pdf.