The occupational safety, health and working conditions code, 2019 (OSH code) should aim at facilitating the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which recently said ease of doing business and simplification and rationalisation of provisions will help smaller enterprises scale up and create more jobs.
The code proposes lower employee limits for applicability to enterprises for various welfare measures. Welcoming the code, CII has submitted detailed recommendations on the duties of manufacturers, importers and suppliers, weekly working hours and notice period.The occupational safety, health and working conditions code, 2019 (OSH code) should aim at facilitating the micro, small and medium enterprises sector, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry, which recently said ease of doing business and simplification and rationalisation of provisions will help smaller enterprises scale up and create more jobs.#
“Extending the OSH Code’s provisions to smaller enterprises will add to their costs and impact their margins. It would also adversely affect expansion, which is seen to have a strong relationship to the creation of new jobs,” said CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said in a release.
As per the Factories Act, establishments must appoint welfare officers if they employ manpower of more than 500 persons. The code cuts this to 250 employees, which would impose a high cost burden on MSMEs now coming in this ambit. Other provisions too, such as canteen, face reduction in applicable employee limits.
As an alternative to lowering applicability criteria, CII suggests that common facilities can be set up for establishments in a locality to avail of on cost basis.
CII also suggested a review of the penalties for contraventions so that the focus is on compliance and deterrence and not through punishments that include incarceration of the employer. Irrespective of the person nominated for and entrusted by a company with the responsibility of compliance, all contraventions and non-conformities that are non-compoundable should be handled by labour courts and not criminal courts, it said.
The code is one of the four labour codes amalgamating 44 central laws on labour and welfare. It was introduced in parliament in July 2019 and is currently referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for consideration. It codifies 13 labour laws regarding occupational health and safety into a single code.
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