Only 60 safety officers for Gujarat's 34,217 factories

Ahmedabad, June 07 The odds facing the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health, (DIS), which is responsible for ensuring that the 34,217 factories in the state are ‘safe workplaces,’ are too high. For starters, there is just one Industrial Safety & Health Officer (ISHO) for every 560 factories in the state.

Only 60 posts of Safety and Health Officers (ISHOs) are occupied as against the specified 110 in the state.

International Labour Organization (ILO) norms stipulate that there should be one ISHO for every 150 factories. The factories in Gujarat employ more than 10 lakh people.

ISHOs also say that the work pressure is tremendous. “After all, we look after the safety and health issues at factories. The kind of workload on each officer at the moment is way beyond a single person’s capability,” said an ISHO on conditions of anonymity.

The officers are responsible for the implementation of 10 labour legislations, which have been enacted to ensure that workplaces are safe for employees. They are expected to carry out inspections, find out if the proprietor is following the laws and look into the grievances of workers over safety issues. They also have the power to issue notices to errant factory managements and even prosecute them for non-compliance of the laws.

Another Industrial Safety and Health Officer said: “How do you expect us to properly carry our work in this scenario? We cannot carry out timely inspections in all the factories. Many factory owners are getting careless about safety regulations and we do not have enough people to ensure that the regulations are followed properly. Moreover, a large amount of paperwork is required in case of prosecution.”

Apart from keeping an eye on the factories, the ISHOs also have the added responsibility of ensuring the safety and welfare of construction workers. The task of getting construction workers registered with the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board has also been entrusted to the ISHOs. Sources say that a target of 10,000 registrations every month has been fixed, which has only added to the burden of the ISHOs.

According to estimates, there are close to six lakh construction workers in the state.

R M Patel, Principal Secretary, Labour and Employment Department said: “We are aware of the situation. The ILO norms are an ideal, which we want to achieve, but the government has its own constraints. The vacant posts are of a technical nature and cannot be filled by an administrative reshuffle or promotion. We have asked the GPSC to directly recruit people for these posts.”