In News: Provisions in the proposed Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019 (OSH Code) will make it mandatory for firms employing more than 250 people to have welfare officers, against the current threshold of 500.
About OSH Code
- The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (“OSH Code“) received the President’s assent on September 28, 2020.
- Free health checkup once a year by the employer for workers which are more than a certain age.
- A legal right for getting an Appointment Letter given to workers for the first time.
- Cine Workers have been designated as Audio Visual Worker so that more and more workers get covered under the OSH code. Earlier, this security was being given to artists working in films only.
The OSH Code has subsumed several key pieces of legislation on the working conditions of labour
- The Factories Act, 1948
- The Plantations Labour Act, 1951
- The Mines Act, 1952
- The Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955
- The Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Act, 1958
- The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961
- The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966
- The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970
- The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976
- The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979
- The Cine-Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1981
- The Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986
- The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996
Source: PIB
