The Factories Act 1948
The Factories Act, 1948
1. About the Act:
The Factories Act, 1948, is a significant legislation in India that regulates labor in factories to ensure workers' safety, health, and welfare. It sets standards for working conditions, including working hours, rest intervals, provisions for sanitation etc. The Act mandates the appointment of safety officers and the establishment of safety committees to promote a safe working environment. It aims to protect the rights of workers while enhancing productivity and industrial efficiency.
The Factories Act, 1948 is a labour welfare legislation which was enacted with the prime objective of protecting workmen employed in factories against industrial and occupational hazards. It imposes upon the owners and occupiers obligations to protect the workers. The current edition presents detailed report on implementation of Factories Act, 1948 during the year 2022. The main highlights of the report are as follows: -
2. Growth of Factories
> There is an increase of 1.66 per cent in the number of total registered factories i.e. from 224851in the beginning of the year to 228585 at the end of the year 2022.
> Of the total registered factories, the percentage of working factories was84.16 per cent.
> The number of factories submitting returns was 32412i.e. 16.85 per cent of the total registered working factories.
3. Average Daily Employment in Factories and its Distribution
> The major proportion of working factories i.e. 70.76per cent aswell as employment i.e. 92.43per cent was reported under section 2m(i) of the Factories Act, 1948.
> Share of working factories under Public Sector was 1.73 per cent whereasin Private sector it was 98.27 per cent.
> Adult men constituted 91.88 per cent of the total average daily employment in the working factories (submitting return) whereas adult women were 8.12 per cent.
> About 19.65 per cent of the total average numbers of workers employed daily in the working factories were employed in the factories carrying on dangerousoperations.
> About 63.14 per cent of the working factories were employing less than 50 workers.
> About 79.75 per cent of the total number of factories submitting returns worked for more than 240 days.
4. Hours of Work
> Normal weekly hours of work for most of the adult men (78.38 per cent) andwomen (77.16per cent) were in the range of above 45 – 48 hours.
> About 16.63 per cent of adult men and 12.66 per cent adult women were putting in above 48 hours of work per week.
5. Industrial Injuries
> Total Injuries (fatal and non-fatal) have increased by 39.60 per cent i.e. from 2005 in 2021 to 2799 in 2022.
> Frequency rate of injuries per one lakh mandays worked has declinedfrom 0.24during 2021 to 0.22 during 2022.
> Incidence rate per thousand average daily employment increased from 0.22 in 2021 to 0.26 in 2022.
> Out of the total injuries (fatal and non-fatal) reported, about 96.75 per cent were in case of men and about 3.25 per cent wererelated to women.
> Severity rate of mandays lost due to injuries per one lakh mandays worked has decreased from 282.91 in 2021 to 6.85 in 2022.
6. Inspections
> Out of total factories inspected, 96.52 per cent factories were inspected only once and rest were inspected twice or more.
7. Convictions
> Out of the total 2870Convictions, 600 Convictions i.e. 20.91 per cent pertained to the offences relating to Safety Provisions.
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