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Occupational health and safety in India: The need for reform

Article  in  Economic and Political Weekly · November 2014

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COMMENTARY
Occupational Health and
Safety in India
The Need for Reform
Gurumurthy Ramachandran, Panneer Sigamani
In light of the focus on the
manufacturing sector it is
important to scrutinise the
existing occupational health and
safety provisions in Indian law
and their implementation. This
article argues that the current
disregard for workers’ health
and safety could prove costly in
the long run, and any growth
in manufacturing must entail a
clear practicable system to ensure
occupational health and safety
for workers.
Gurumurthy Ramachandran (ramac002@
umn.edu) is with the Division of
Environmental Health Sciences, School of
Public Health, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, the US. Panneer Sigamani (siga-
manip@jmi.ac.in) is with the Department of
Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
26
W
hile much of the growth in the
Indian economy over the last
few decades has been in the
outsourcing of back-office operations
from western companies, experts be-
lieve that manufacturing is the next
growth sector. Just as one example,
India is the world’s largest small-car mar-
ket. Chennai is the small-car hub for the
region for several automobile companies
and from here it exports cars, engines
and components across the world. Suzuki,
BMW, Hyundai and others similarly pro-
duce hundreds of thousands of cars and
motorcycles in Chennai. Similar trends
are foreseen in the pharmaceutical, other
consumer and capital goods manufactur-
ing sectors in the medium to long term.
This rapid industrial growth is in con-
junction with a population shift from
rural to urban areas that has severely
strained urban infrastructure. The rise of
India as a manufacturing hub with a sig-
nificant increase in industrial employ-
ment will have implications for occupa-
tional health that have not been consid-
ered with any degree of seriousness.
In this commentary, we examine
some aspects of the existing infrastruc-
ture for occupational health and safety
(OHS) in India – the adequacy of existing
legal provisions, its coverage of the
Indian workforce, its implementation, and
the availability of trained personnel. We
posit that the existing infrastructure
does not meet the needs of an economy
november 22, 2014
with the projected rates of growth, espe-
cially in the manufacturing, chemical,
pharmaceutical, and commercial goods
sectors. We propose that the system
undergo substantial change with signifi-
cant labour law reforms, improved im-
plementation of laws, investments in
developing capacity, including trained
personnel in a variety of relevant disci-
plines, and development of a culture of
OHS consciousness among owners, em-
ployers, labour unions, workers and
enforcement agencies.
Disease and Economic Losses
The workforce faces a range of occupa-
tional health problems including diseases
of various kinds – respiratory, circulato-
ry, digestive system, urinary tract, nerv-
ous system and other sensory organs,
auditory disability, musculoskeletal dis-
orders, reproductive health issues, and
dermal allergies (Saiyed and Tiwari
2004). The International Labour Organi-
zation (ILO) reported in 2003 that
~4,03,000 people die from work-related
causes annually in India and another
3,56,000 suffer from occupational dis-
eases (ILO 2008). To put this in context,
the number implies that ~1 per thousand
working adults die annually from work-
related causes – an astonishingly high
number. In contrast, the corresponding
numbers for the United States (US) for
2003 are 55,200 deaths (range 32,200-
78,200). These high estimates are in sharp
contrast to the official numbers that sig-
nificantly underestimate mortality.
The poor availability and access to oc-
cupational health services and the bur-
den of occupational disease may cause
an economic loss of up to 10%-20% of
the gross national product (Zodpey et al
2009). The rapid growth of the Chinese
economy over the past few decades offers
useful lessons about the consequences of
vol xlIX no 47 EPW Economic & Political Weekly

rapid industrialisation on occupational
health. The lack of attention to environ-
mental and occupational issues during
this period has had severe negative con-
sequences for worker health and safety
in China. For example, there has been a
huge increase in respiratory diseases in
newly industrialised rural areas, where
hazardous industrial agents are poorly
controlled, and occupational health serv-
ices and medical care are lacking. Direct
and indirect costs due to occupational
injuries and illnesses in China are ~ $38
billion annually, which is 6% of the
gross domestic product (GDP) (Yu 2009).
The occupational disease and injury
burden for India, though poorly charac-
terised, is comparable to that of China
despite having a much smaller industrial
base. An increase in this sector will only
increase the disease and injury burden
further, with the inevitable costs to Indi-
an society and economy.
Regulatory Framework
The Directive Principles of State Policy
enjoin the government to regulate all
economic activities for management of
safety and health risks at workplaces
and to provide measures so as to ensure
safe and healthy working conditions for
every working man and woman in the
nation (GOI 2012b). For example, Article
24 prohibits child labour, Article 39
directs the state to ensure that health
and strength of workers including men,
women and children are not abused,
and Article 42 directs the state to make
provisions for securing just humane con-
ditions of work and maternity relief.
Roughly 91% of the total workforce
and ~95% of the female workforce in
India is employed in the informal econo-
my (Pingle 2012; GOI 2012a; 2012b). The
Directorate General, Factory Advice
Services and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI)
shows that for 2009 there are about
3,24,761 registered factories with a total
employment of 1,31,00,129 (DGFASLI 2012).
In contrast, there are roughly 400 million
workers in the unorganised sector (Sai-
yed and Tiwari 2004), of which the vast
majority are in the agriculture and con-
struction sectors. Thus only ~9% of the
workforce comes under the purview of
occupational health laws such as the
Economic & Political Weekly EPW november 22, 2014
Factories Act of 1948 despite repeated
amendments over the years. Other laws
such as the Mines Act (1952), Plantation
Labour Act (1951), Dangerous Machines
Act (1983), and Radiological Protection
Rules (1971) cover very small sectors of
the workforce. The Workers Compensa-
tion Law and the Employees State Insur-
ance Act have the same limitation. Even
the Unorganised Sector Social Security
Act of 2008 does not adequately cover
many workers, especially women. There
are other limitations in the laws – no
mechanisms for periodic audits, for re-
porting incidents, lack of significant
penalties for non-compliance, a lack of
defined exposure limits for the vast ma-
jority of hazardous pollutants, and a lack
of guidance for exposure and hazard
monitoring.
Occupational Health Facilities
Nationally, there is a serious shortage of
trained occupational health profession-
als including occupational physicians,
industrial hygienists, occupational nur-
ses, and safety specialists. DGFASLI (2012)
reports that there were 2,642 safety of-
ficers and 938 factory inspectors, with
26 medical inspectors, 18 chemical in-
spectors, and one hygiene inspector in the
country in 2009. On top of the shortage
of human resources, these inspectors
have limited training to carry out their
duties. Factory inspectors in India typi-
cally undergo only a three-month certifi-
cate course in industrial health offered
by the Central Labour Institute (CLI); in
contrast, an occupational hygienist in
Europe, North America or Australia un-
dergoes a two-year master’s degree in
these disciplines. Pingle (2005, 2009)
estimates ~100 occupational hygienists
in the entire country. There are no com-
petence-based syllabi for occupational
medicine, nursing, or industrial hygiene,
accreditation organisations, specialist
certifications such as the Certified
Industrial Hygienist (CIH) designation.
There are several government organi-
sations that carry out research and train-
ing in occupational health including the
CLI, the National Institute of Occu-
pational Health, the Industrial Toxi-
cology Research Centre, and regional
occupational health centres. However,
vol xlIX no 47
COMMENTARY
they are underfunded and typically do not
have strong collaborative links with each
other. Their output in terms of trained
professionals graduating each year is
much less than the need for such profes-
sionals. There are no standard-setting
bodies that develop occupational expo-
sure limits as compliance yardsticks in
workplaces or guidance on best practices.
Global Competitiveness
The lax laws and their enforcement and
lack of expertise in OHS are reflected in
the private sector too where, with the
exception of very large Indian and mul-
tinational corporations, most companies
view OHS activities as reducing produc-
tivity and thus spend the minimum re-
quired to meet existing laws. In fact a
strong case can be made that the reverse
is true, and that investment in OHS pro-
vides a competitive advantage in the
global marketplace. For example, an ISO
14000 certification, with its extensive
guidelines regarding the implementa-
tion of OHS management systems, pro-
vides a company a competitive market-
ing tool, provides a guarantee that the
company meets global OHS quality
standards, and facilitates its entry into
Western markets. It is all too easy to im-
agine scenarios such as the pullout by
many Western companies from Bangla-
desh after the recent garment factory
fires also occurring in India. The contro-
versy over the poor manufacturing con-
ditions at many Indian pharmaceutical
companies and the potential rescinding
of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
approval is a concrete example of eco-
nomic fallout of lack of investment in
workplace environments and quality
control.
Recommendations
Infrastructure investment is a strong
determinant of sustained economic
growth. Occupational health is a key
component of a nation’s infrastructure,
and the safety and health of workers en-
hances productivity and has a positive
impact on economic and social develop-
ment. It is also a source of competitive
advantage. Given this growing recogni-
tion it is imperative that significant
reforms be implemented to improve
27
COMMENTARY

I­ndia’s OHS infrastructure. While we
recognise that these may be challenging
to achieve, the following are some of the
more immediate needs:
(i) Regulatory reforms are needed to en-
sure that occupational health laws cover
all workers including those in the infor-
mal sector, as well as those engaged in
agriculture. The laws should also be
u­pdated to encompass the full range
of physical, chemical, and biological
h­azards to which workers are exposed.
(ii) Significant investments by the cen-
tral and state governments are required
in developing trained personnel in occu-
pational medicine, industrial hygiene
and safety, occupational nursing, social
workers, and public health researchers.
A public-private partnership for these
­investments would be ideal. These will
be needed to meet the needs of occu­
pational health management in industry
as well as the needs of the central and
state government compliance and enforce­
ment activities. This entails investments
in existing central institutes relevant to
OHS and universities to develop interdis-
ciplinary curricula and training pro-
grammes in OHS. A national and state-
wise needs assessment should be carried
out to tailor the investments.
(iii) The research and development ac-
tivities of these institutes and universi-
ties need to be aligned with national pri-
orities with an emphasis on translating
research into practice. A central govern-
ment institute needs to be given the
mandate to generate systematic and reli-
able data on toxicological and epidemio-
logical information relating to various
hazards to guide standards-setting and
implementation processes.
(iv) Administrative reforms are required
to enhance coordination between various
ministries with OHS relevance such as la-
bour, health and family welfare, human
resource and development, industry and
agriculture, environment and forest, and
commerce, and affiliated institutes, to
more effectively utilise resources. The oc-
cupational health infrastructure needs to
be integrated with primary health centres
to provide timely available, easily accessi-
ble and affordable healthcare services.
(v) In the private sector, the larger com-
panies need to take the lead in making
OHS a priority and recognising that it can
be a strategic enabler of growth and
source of competitive advantage (e g, ISO
certification). The culture of awareness
of OHS can then diffuse the global supply
chain if the larger companies i­nsist on it.
References
DGFASLI (2012): “Safety and Health Information”,
Directorate General, Factory Advice Service and
Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Ministry of
L­abour and Employment, Government of India
(GoI) http://www.dgfasli.nic.in/about1.htm
GoI (2012a): Statistical Year Book, India 2012, Min-
istry of Statistics and Programme Implementa-
tion, available at, http://mospi.nic.in/mospi_
new/upload/statistical_year_book_2012/htm/
ch32.html, accessed on 25 June 2013.
– (2012b): National Policy on Safety, Health and
Environment at Work Place, Ministry of Labour
and Employment, New Delhi, http://labour.
nic.in/content/innerpage/environment-at-
work-place.php
ILO (2008): Beyond Deaths and Injuries: The ILO’s
Role in Promoting Safe and Healthy Jobs, Inter­
national Labour Organization (ILO)
Pingle, S (2005): “Do Occupational Health Services
Really Exist in India?”, proceedings of a WHO/
ICOHL/ILO workshop on challenges to occupa-
tional health services in the regions-the national
and international res­ponse, Finnish Institute of
Occupational Health, Helsinki, 24 January, avail-
able at, http://www.ttl.fi/en/publications/Elec-
tronic_publications/Challenges_to_occupation-
al_health_services/Documents/India.pdf
– (2009): “Basic Occupational Health Services”,
Indian Journal of Occupational & Environmen-
tal Medicine, Vol 13, No 1, pp 1-2.
– (2012): “Occupational Safety and Health in
I­ndia: Now and the Future”, Industrial Health,
Vol 50, No 3, pp 167-71.
Saiyed H N and R R Tiwari (2004): “Occupational
Health Research in India”, Industrial Health,
Vol 42, No 3, pp 141-48.
Yu, W (2009): “Occupational Health and Safety in
China : A Case Study of China CDC and GE
Foundation Project”, Discussion Papers in
S­ocial Responsibility, No 0906, Social Respon-
sibility Research Network.
Zodpey S P, H Negandhi and R R Tiwari (2009):
“Mapping ‘Occupational Health’ Courses in
I­ndia: A Systematic Review”, Indian Journal of
Occupational and Environmental Medicine,
Vol 13, No 3, pp 135-40.

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