Duties of employer:

1.  Every employer shall ensure to his employees that work place is free from hazards that cause or are likelyto cause injury or occupational disease to the employees, and shall comply with the Occupational Safety and Health standards made under this Code and of the regulations, rules, bye-laws and orders made there under.
2. Every employer shall provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of the employees.
3. Every employer or manager of an establishment shall furnish to every worker on his appointment in the establishment, a letter of appointment in the prescribed form and where a worker appointed on or before the commencement of this Code does not have an appointment letter furnished by his employer or manager, such worker shall, within three months of such commencement, be furnished with appointment letter in the form so prescribed.
4. No employer shall levy or permit to be levied on any employee, any charge in respect of anything done or provided for maintenance of safety and health at work place including conduct of medical examination and investigation for the purpose of detecting occupational diseases.
5. Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), (2), (3), (4) the duties of an employer shall particularly in respect of factory, mines, dock, building and other construction work or

plantation include –

• the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work in the workplace that are safe and without risks to health.
• the arrangements in the workplace for ensuring safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances.
• the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as are necessary to ensure the health and safety of all workers at work.
• the maintenance of all places of work in the workplace in a condition that is safe and without risks to health and the provision and maintenance of such means of access to, and egress from, such places as are safe and without such risks
• the provision, maintenance or monitoring of such working environment in the workplace for the employees that is safe, without risks to health and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.
• Every employer relating to factory, mine, dock work, building or other construction work or plantation shall ensure and be responsible for the safety and health of persons who are on the work premises of the employer, with or without his knowledge.

Duties and responsibilities of owner, agent and manager in relation to mine:

• The owner and agent of every mine shall jointly and severally be responsible for making financial and other provisions and for taking such other steps as may be necessary for compliance with the provisions of this Code and the regulations,rules, bye-laws and orders made there under.
• The responsibility in respect of matters provided for in the rules, made by the Central Government under this Code in respect of mines –

(a) requiring the maintenance therein, wherein the women are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months, suitable rooms to be reserved for the use of children under the age of six years belonging to such women and for providing, either generally or with particular reference to the number of women employed in the mine, the number and standards of such rooms provided and the supervision to be exercised therein.

(b) for requiring the maintenance at or near pitheads of bathing places equipped with shower baths and of locker rooms for the use of men employed in mines and of similar and separate places and rooms for the use of women employed therein, and for providing, either generally or with particular reference to the number of men and women ordinarily employed in a mine, the number and standards of such place and rooms;

(c) for requiring the provision and maintenance in any mine specified in this behalf by the Chief Facilitator or Facilitator, wherein, more than two hundred and fifty persons are ordinarily employed of a canteen or canteens for the use of such persons shall be exclusively complied with by the owner and agent of the mine and by such person (other than the mines manager) whom the owner or agent may appoint for securing compliance with the aforesaid provisions.

If the compliance of any instructions given under sub-section (2) or given otherwise than through the manager under sub-section (3) of section 63, results in the contravention of the provisions of this Code or of the regulations, rules, bye-laws or orders made there under, every person giving such instructions shall also be liable for the contravention of the provisions concerned.

(4) Subject to the provisions of sub-sections (1), (2) and (3), the owner, agent and manager of every mine shall jointly or severally responsible to see that all operations carried on in connection with the mine are conducted in accordance with the provisions of this Code and of the regulations, rules, bye-laws and orders made there under.

(5) In the event of any contravention by any person whosoever of any of the provisions of this Code or of the regulations, rules, bye-laws or orders made there under, relating to mine, except those which specifically require any person to do any act or thing or prohibit any person from doing an act or thing, besides the person who contravenes, then, each of the following persons shall also be deemed to be guilty of such contravention unless he proves that he had used due diligence to secure compliance with the provisions and had taken reasonable means to prevent such contravention, namely:—

(i) the official or officials appointed to perform duties of supervision in respect of the provisions contravened.

(ii) the manager of the mine.

(iii) the owner and agent of the mine.

(iv) the person appointed, if any, to carry out the responsibility under sub-section (2).

(6) It shall not be a defence in any proceedings brought against the owner or agent of a mine under this section that the manager and other officials have been appointed in accordance with the provisions of this Code or that a person to carry the responsibility under sub-section (2) has been appointed.

Duties of manufacturers –

1. The Central Government shall make regulations after consultation with the National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board and such regulations shall be complied with by every person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use in any factory.
2. The regulations under sub-section (1) shall be made generally for governing the duties of manufacturers as regards articles and substances for use in factories and particularly to-

(a) ensure so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed in the factories as to be safe and without risks to the health of the workers when properly used;

(b) carry out or manage for the carrying out such tests and examination in the factories as may be considered necessary for the effective implementation of the provisions of clause (a).

(c) take out steps as may be necessary to ensure that adequate information will be made available-

(i) in connection with the use of the article in any factory.

(ii) about the use for which such article is designed and tested; and

(iii) about any conditions necessary to ensure that the article, when put to such use shall be safe, and without risks to the health of the workers:

Provided that where an article is designed or manufactured outside India, then such regulations shall containprovisions making obligatory on the part of the importer to see –

(A) that the article conforms to the same standards of such article manufactured in India; or

(B) if the standards adopted in the country outside India for the manufacture of such article is above the standards adopted in India, that article conforms to such standards in such country;

(C) if there is no standard of such article in India, then, the article confirms to the standard adopted in the country from where it is imported at its national level;

Duties of architects, project engineers and designers:

1. It shall be the duty of the architect, project engineer or designer responsible for any building or other construction work or the design of any project or part thereof relating to such building or other construction work to ensure that, at the planning stage, due consideration is given to the safety and health aspects of the building workers and employees who are employed in the erection, operation and execution of such projects and structures as the case may be.
2. Adequate care shall be taken by the architect, project engineer and other professionals involved in the project referred to in sub-section (1), not to include anything in the design which would involve the use of dangerous structures or other processes or materials, hazardous to health or safety of building workers and employees during the course of erection, operation and execution as the case may be.
3. It shall also be the duty of the professionals, involved in designing the buildings structures or other construction projects, to take into account the safety aspects associated with the maintenance and upkeep of the structures and buildings where maintenance and upkeep may involve special hazards.

Notice of certain accident:

(1) Where at any place in an establishment, an accident occurs which causes death, or which causes any bodily injury by reason of which the person injured is prevented from working for period of forty-eight hours or more immediately following the accident or which is of such nature as may be prescribed then-

(i) employer or owner of such establishment if it is mine or where an agent of such mine takes part in management of the place where such accident occurs in the mine, then, such agent.

(ii) employer in relation to such establishment if it is factory or relates to dock work.

(iii) the employer of such establishment if it is plantation.

(iv) employer of the establishment if it relates to building or other construction work.

(v) employer in relation to any other establishment.

as the case may be, shall send notice thereof to such authorities, in such manner and within such time, as may

be prescribed.

(2) Where a notice given under sub-section: (1) relates to an accident causing death in an establishment, the

authority to whom the notice is sent shall make an inquiry into the occurrence within one month of the receipt

of the notice or if there is no such authority, the Chief Facilitator shall cause the Facilitator to make an inquiry

within the said period.

Notice of certain dangerous occurrences: Where in an establishment any dangerous occurrence of such nature as may be prescribed, occurs, whether causing any bodily injury or disability, or not, the employer shall send notice thereof to such authorities, and in such form and within such time, as may be prescribed.

Notice of certain diseases: (1) Where any worker in an establishment contracts any disease specified in the Third Schedule the employer of the establishment shall send notice thereof to such authorities, and in such form and within such time, as may be prescribed.

(2) If any qualified medical practitioner attends on a person, who is or has been employed in an establishment and who is, or is believed by the qualified medical practitioner, to be suffering from any disease specified in theThird Schedule, the medical practitioner shall without delay send a report in writing to the office of the Chief Facilitator in the form and manner and within such time as prescribed.

(3) If any qualified medical practitioner fails to comply with the provisions of sub-section (2), he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees.

(4) The Central Government may, by notification, add to or alter the Third Schedule and any such addition or alteration shall have effect as if it had been made by amendment of this Code.

Duties of employees:

Every employee at work place shall :

(a) take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at the work place.

(b) comply with the safety and health requirements specified in the Standards.

(c) co-operate with the employer in meeting the statutory obligations of the employer under the Code.

(d) if any situation which is unsafe or unhealthy comes to his attention, as soon as practicable, report such situation to his employer or to the health and safety representative for his workplace or section thereof, as the case may be, who shall report it to the employer.

(e) willfully interfere with, or misuse, or neglect any appliance, convenience or other thing provided work for the purpose of securing the health, safety and welfare of workers and

(f) not do, willfully and without reasonable cause, anything, likely to endanger himself or others.

Rights of employee:

(1) Every employee in an establishment shall have the right to obtain from the employer information relating to safety and health at work; and represent to the employer directly or through a member of the Safety Committee, if constituted by the employer for such purpose, regarding inadequate provision for protection of his safety or health in connection with the work activity in the workplace, and if not satisfied, to the Facilitator.

(2) (i) where the employees referred to in sub-section (1) in any work place have reasonable apprehension that there is a likelihood of imminent serious personal injury or death or imminent danger to health, they may bring the same to the notice of their employer directly or through a member of the Safety Committee referred to in sub-section (1) and simultaneously bring the same to the notice of the Facilitator.(ii) The employer or any employee referred to in sub-section (1) shall take immediate remedial action if he is satisfied about the existence of such imminent danger and send a report forthwith of the action taken to the Facilitator.

(3) If the employer referred to in clause (ii) of sub-section (2) is not satisfied about the existence of any imminent danger as apprehended by his employees, he shall, nevertheless, refer the matter forthwith to the Facilitator whose decision on the question of the existence of such imminent danger shall be final.

Duty not to interfere with or misuse things: 

No person shall intentionally or recklessly interfere with,damage or misuse anything which is provided in the interest of health safety or welfare under this Code.