38. Safety Committee and safety officers.
(1) In every establishment wherein five hundred or more building workers are ordinarily
employed, the employer shall constitute a Safety Committee consisting of such number
of representatives of the employer and the building workers as may be prescribed by the
State Government: Provided that the number of persons representing the workers, shall,
in no case, be less than the persons representing the employer.
(2) In every establishment referred to in sub- section (1), the employer shall also appoint
a safety officer who shall possess such qualifications and perform such duties as may be
prescribed.
39. Notice of certain accidents.
(1) Where in any 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 a
period of forty- eight hours or more immediately following the accident, or which is of
such a nature as may be prescribed, the employer shall give notice thereof to such
authority, in such form and within such time as may be prescribed.
(2) On receipt of a notice under sub- section (1) the authority referred to in that
subsection may make such investigation or inquiry as it considers necessary.
(3) Where a notice given under sub- section (1) relates to an accident causing death of
five or more persons, the authority shall make an inquiry into such accident within one
month of the receipt of the notice.
40. Power of appropriate Government to make rules for the safety and health of
buildings workers.
(1) The appropriate Government may, by notification, make rules regarding the
measures to be taken for the safety and health of building workers in the course of their
employment and the equipment and appliances necessary to be provided to them for
ensuring their safety, health and protection, during such employment.
(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such
rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
(a) the safe means of access to, and the safety of, any working place, including the
provision of suitable and sufficient scaffolding at various stages when work cannot be
safely done from the ground or from any part of a building or from a ladder or such
other means of support;
(b) the precautions to be taken in connection with the demolition of the whole or any
substantial part of a building or other structure under the supervision of a competent
person and the avoidance of danger from collapse of any building or other structure
while removing any part of the framed building or other structure by shoring or
otherwise;
(c) the handling or use of explosive under the control of competent persons so that there
is no exposure to the risk of injury from explosion or from flying material;
(d) the erection, installation, use and maintenance of transporting equipment, such as
locomotives, trucks, wagons and other vehicles and trailers and appointment of
competent persons to drive or operate such equipment;
(e) the erection, installation, use and maintenance of hoists, lifting appliances and lifting
gear including periodical testing and examination and heat treatment where necessary,
precautions to be taken while raising or lowering loads, restrictions on carriage of
persons and appointment of competent persons on hoists or other lifting appliances,
(f) the adequate and suitable lighting of every workplace and approach thereto, of every
place where raising or lowering operations with the use of hoists, lifting appliances or
lifting gears are in progress and of all openings dangerous to building workers
employed;
(g) the precautions to be taken to prevent inhalation of dust, fumes, gases or vapours
during any grinding, cleaning, spraying or manipulation of any material and steps to be
taken to secure and maintain adequate ventilation of every working place or confined
space;
(h) the measures to be taken during stacking or unstacking, stowing or unstowing of
materials or goods or handling in connection therewith;
(i) the safeguarding of machinery including the fencing of every fly- Wheel and every
moving part of a prime mover and every part of transmission or other machinery, unless
it is in such a position or of such construction as to be safe to every worker working on
any of the operations and as if it were securely fenced;
(j) the safe handling and use of plant, including tools and equipment operated by
compressed air;
(k) the precautions to be taken in case of fire;
(l) the limits of weight to be lifted or moved by workers;
(m) the safe transport of workers to or from any workplace by water and provision of
means for rescue from drowning;
(n) the steps to be taken to prevent danger to workers from live electric wires or
apparatus including electrical machinery and tools and from overhead wires;
(o) the keeping of safety nets, safety sheets and safety belts where the special nature or
the circumstances of work render them necessary for the safety of the workers;
(p) the standards to be complied with regard to scaffolding, ladders and stairs, lifting
appliances, ropes, chains and accessories, earth moving equipments and floating
operational equipments;
(q) the precautions to be taken with regard to pile driving, concrete work, work with hot
asphalt, tar or other similar things, insulation work, demolition operations, excavation,
underground construction and handling materials;
(r) the safety policy, that is to say, a policy relating to steps to be taken to ensure the
safety and health of the building workers, the administrative arrangements therefor and
the matters connected therewith, to be framed by the employers and contractors for the
operation to be carried on in a building or other construction work;
(s) the information to be furnished to the Bureau of Indian Standards established under
the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986 (63 of 1986 ), regarding the use of any article
or process covered under the Act in a buildings or other construction work;
(t) the provision and maintenance of medical facilities for building workers;
(u) any other matter concerning the safety and health of workers working in any of the
operations being carried on in a building or other construction work.
41. Framing of model rules for safety measures. The Central Government may, after
considering the recommendation of the expert committee constituted under section 5,
frame model rules in respect of all or any of the matters specified in section 40 and
where any such model rules have been framed in respect of any such matter the
appropriate Government shall, while making any rules in respect of that matter under
section 40, so far as is practicable, conform to such model rules.