By:

Karthik.V
3rd semester LLB
 According to Section 2 (cb) of Factories act,
1948 , Hazardous process means, any process or
activity in relation to an industry specified in the First
Schedule where, unless special care is taken, raw
materials used therein or the intermediate or finished
products, bye-products, wastes or effluents thereof
would –
i.) cause material impairment to the health of the
persons engaged in or connected therewith, or
ii.) result in the pollution or the general
environment; provided that the State Government
may, by notification in the Official Gazette, amend the
First Schedule by way of any industry specified in the
said Schedule.
New Chapter IVA inserted in the Act.- The Factories (Amendment) Act, 1987, has
inserted this new chapter in the Act after Chapter IV.
The new Chapter lays down provisions relating to hazardous process in sections 41A
to 41H.
Under provisions of section 41A of this Chapter the State Government in empowered
to form a Site Appraisal Committee to examine the application for establishment of a
factory involving hazardous process and send its recommendations to the State
Government. The chairman and members of the Committee will be persons as
specified in the section. Powers of the Committee are also specified. The proposal for
establishment or expansion of such a factory, if approved by the State Government,
has to be further approved by the authorities mentioned in the section. Duties and
responsibilities of the occupier of such a factory have been specified in sections 41B
and 41C.
Section 41D empowers the Central Government to appoint Inquiry Committee to
enquire whether such a factory is observing the standards of health and safety of
workers as well as of the general public as prescribed and make recommendations. Its
recommendations shall be however of advisory nature The Committee shall have a
chairman and two members. The Central Government shall determine the tenure of
office of the members.
Section 41E empowers the Central Government to take certain steps for laying down
emergency standards and enforcement thereof in case no standard of safety has been
prescribed for hazardous processes.
Section 41F enjoins that the maximum permissible limits of exposure of chemical and
toxic substances in manufacturing processes (whether hazardous or otherwise) in any
factory shall be of the value indicated in the Second Schedule. The section empowers
the Central Government to make suitable changes in the said Schedule by notification
in the Official Gazette.
Section 41G requires the occupier of a factory in which a hazardous process takes
place to set up a Safety Committee with equal number of representatives of workers
for the purpose of enforcing the safety measures in the factory. The State
Government may, however, exempt any factory for reasons to be recorded in writing,
any factory from setting up such a Committee.
Section 41H gives the right to workers of a factory in which a hazardous process
takes place to bring to the notice of the occupier, agent, manager or any other
person who is in-charge of the factory or the Inspector of the area, of their
apprehension about any imminent danger and the person or persons informed must
enquire immediately on receipt of the information and take remedial action.
Case study on child labour :
Child labour is exploitation of underage children in any forms, forcing them to work
illegally which harms or abuses them. This abuse may be physical, mental or sexual;
depriving the children (child labourers) of their right of basic education. . According
to the International Labour Organization(ILO), "child labour is where children are
deprived of their childhood because they are forced to work long hours for little or
no money, deprived of education and in conditions harmful to their mental and
physical development.” It is present everywhere i.e. in developed, developing and
underdeveloped world though ratios differ. Asia leads by 61% followed by Africa
32%. According to UNICEF, there are 250 million children aged between 5-14 years
employed as child labour in developing countries out which 120 millions work full
time.
Among the developing countries, India has the highest number of child labours under
the age of 14 years which is approximately 12.6 millions. Children are engaged in
every sector of economy like match stick making, fireworks, domestic labour,
construction, carpet making industry, brick kilns, etc. one of the places where child
labour is experienced the most is Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu.
Case: M C Mehta v. State of Tmailnadu, 1996
Sivakasi case : Sivakasi is a small municipal town in Ramanathapuram district. In the
immediate vicinity of the town are two other municipal areas, Thiruthangal and Sattur. It
is famous for three types of industries – fireworks, match sticks and printing. 90% of
India’s fireworks is produced here. There are nearly 450 fireworks factories in Sivakasi
employing almost 40,000 workers directly and about 1 lakh indirectly such as paper tube
making, wire cutting, box making in the country side.Due to lack of modern machines
child labour is extensively used. Economic factor is also one of reasons responsible for
child labour. Poverty forces parents to send their children to work in these industries.
Employers take advantage of their economic condition and force them to work at low
wages. According to official Harban Singh’s report which was conducted in 1976, in spite
of working 12 hours a day younger children aged 4 – 10 earn an average of Rs. 2 per day.
The older ones get maximum of Rs. 6 -7 per day. According to a magazine published by
The Hindu in april 29-may 12, 2000, children earn around Rs. 20-30 per day. Talking
about the working conditions, according to sources children are taken to industries like
animals in buses filling almost 150-200 children in a bus. And they have to leave their
house as early as 3a.m. in the morning and come back at 9p.m. at night. There are agents
to make sure that they get up and go for work.
Some children stay at home and work. Even they have to work for long hours.
According to a magazine Sumathi age 11 of Ammapatti village rolls 2300 paper
pipes a day for just Rs. 20 though she had been working for a year in a firewoks
unit. Also Chellaiyan age 12 working in a factory in anaikuttam village earns Rs. 30
though working 12 hours a day. Expecting them to think about their health,
education and personal growth at this situation is impossible.
Education is nowhere in their life. They are unable to think beyond their
food. It’s a fact that children are the future of any nation or community. If this
condition of children prevails what can be expected for a country. According to
International Labour Organization (ILO), if child labour will be banned and all
children get proper education, world’s total income would be raised by nearly 22%
over 20 years, which accounts for more than $4 trillion. Banning child labour will
help in boosting the economy of a country. But the situation here is worse. Most
working children in Sivakasi have not been to school. According to a sample survey
conducted in 16 factories covering 4,181 children, 3,323 (79.48%) are illiterate ;
474 children (11.34%) were educated upto primary school level. Dropouts were 384
(9.2%).
 Health is very important. And children working in these factories suffer a lot due to
the hazardous working conditions. Also they don’t have enough time and money to spend on
health issues. Filling their stomach is their prime goal. Hence by the time they grow up they
lose their health and are no longer like other normal people of their age. Asthma and TB
are prevalent among 90 per cent of them who are involved in gun powder filling and are
directly in contact with the chemical ingredients of crackers and matches. These workers
usually do not wear any protective clothes and their whole skin can be seen covered with
the chemicals such as sulphur, aluminium powder and gun powder. “Snake Tablet” – one
type of firework, which uses nitric acid, causes skin diseases. Working on this type of
firework is considered to be highly dangerous for workers. The work children do from the
early stage of their life can affect them in several ways.
AFFECTS ON CHILDREN,
positive
 Work can strengthen self
esteem of a child, who feels
that he or she is contributing
for the family.
 Work can help support
children’s right to survival,
helping them to pay for food
and health care. It can help
them to learn important
skills.
negative
 Children can suffer negative
psychological effect from
verbal, physical or sexual
abuse from the employer.
 Work can have very harmful
affect on child’s right to
survival and development
and in worst case it can kill
the child.
Hence child labour should be removed soon to ensure basic rights of every child. It
hinders their personality development.
Despite many laws framed for the children to protect them from the injustice done
to them, not much progress has been seen. Laws are only made but practically it is
not being followed.

The main reason for the still existing child labour may be corruption. Also child
labour contributes a lot in the economy of a country especially for a developing and
under developed countries. So removing child labour is really difficult in these
countries though loss is for short duration. Removal of child labour ensures good
future economy. Many NGOs have come up to fight for child labour and hence then
on some positive progress has been seen. A NGO in delhi rescued around 450
children and helped them in rehabilliation. And then on child labour rescue is on full
swing. But until government takes some real initiative it is not going to improve.
Hence for the good future of our country government has to be responsible.
Case: M C Mehta v. UOI
Bhopal gas tragedy has opened the eyes of many environmental activists and also
let out the main reasons of hazardous process of manufacturing used in the chemical
factories . The blast in 1984 led to the explosion of chemical methyl isocyanate
exposing over 5 lakh people to the toxic substances and making their life miserable.
The Supreme Court in its first order considered the question concerning the true
scope and ambit of Articles 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) and
32(remedies for enforcement of rights conferred by this part _ writ petitions to
Supreme Court) of the Constitution, the principles and norms for determining the
liability of large enterprises engaged in manufacture and sale of hazardous
products, The most important development in this case was made in its third order,
wherein a milestone in the Indian legal system was created whereby the rule of strict
liability as laid down in the case of Rylands v Fletcher.
Supreme court held that the Union Carbide company limited is liable to pay the
damages for all the victims without any delay.