Industrial Safety and Labour Rights in India

Industrial Safety and Labour Rights in India have come into the spotlight due to the Sigachi Industries Reactor Blast in Telangana. Read here to learn more.

The Sigachi Industries reactor blast in Telangana (2025), which killed multiple workers and injured several others, has reignited the national debate on industrial safety, workers’ rights, and the erosion of labour protections.

The tragedy, alongside other industrial accidents this year, underscores a growing pattern of systemic neglect, weak enforcement, and underinvestment in worker safety in India’s industrial landscape.

The State of Industrial Safety in India

India witnesses over 4,000 industrial accidents annually, as per the Labour Bureau and NCRB data.

Sectors such as chemicals, construction, mining, and manufacturing account for the majority of workplace fatalities.

Notable past industrial disasters, including the Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984), the Visakhapatnam LG Polymers leak (2020), and the Ankleshwar chemical plant fires (2023–24), reveal a recurring cycle of negligence, weak monitoring, and inadequate legal deterrence.

Reasons for Rising Industrial Accidents in India

1. Negligence and Cost-Cutting

• Employers often ignore maintenance schedules, use outdated equipment, or bypass safety audits to cut operational costs.
• As per the ILO, most industrial accidents stem from corporate corner-cutting and unsafe work intensification rather than random failures.
• In the Sigachi case, the reactor operated at twice its permissible temperature without safety alarms.

2. Lack of Training and Safety Systems

• Most factory workers receive minimal safety training.
• Emergency exits, alarms, and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) are either missing or poorly maintained.
• Firefighting systems are often non-functional.

3. Overwork and Fatigue: Long shifts (12–14 hours) in hazardous environments increase human error and fatigue-induced mishaps.

4. Weak Enforcement and Regulatory Capture

• Labour departments are understaffed and underfunded.
• The Factory Inspector-to-Industry ratio is extremely low — 1 inspector per 500+ factories in some states.
• The 2015 “Self-Certification Scheme” in states like Maharashtra has reduced third-party oversight, leading to lax compliance.

5. Informality and Unregistered Workers

• Over 90% of India’s workforce is in the informal sector, lacking insurance, legal recourse, or accident compensation.
• Informal and contract workers are rarely recorded in official accident data.

6. Insurance Manipulations and Underreporting: Some firms underreport incidents or manipulate accident claims to avoid scrutiny and preserve investor confidence.

Legal and Policy Framework

1. Factories Act, 1948

• Regulates working hours, safety, health, and welfare of industrial workers.
• Strengthened the post-Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1987 Amendment) to include hazardous process regulations.

2. Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948: Provides medical and cash benefits to insured workers and dependents.
3. Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923: Ensures financial compensation for work-related injury or death.
4. Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code, 2020

• Consolidates 13 previous labour laws into a single safety framework.
• Covers safety, health, and working conditions for workers across industries.
• Implementation, however, remains pending in several states.

5. Environmental Protection Act, 1986: Provides environmental oversight over hazardous industries, but overlaps with industrial regulation often cause administrative delays.

Challenges in Protecting Labour Rights

1. Erosion of Legal Safeguards: Labour reforms under the guise of “ease of doing business” have diluted inspection norms and reduced worker protections.
2. Normalization of Informality: Contractualisation and outsourcing create layers of responsibility, leaving real employers unaccountable.
3. Corporate Accountability Deficit: Few executives face criminal prosecution after accidents; fines are nominal compared to corporate profits.
4. Gendered Inequality: Women face higher exposure to unsafe informal work (garments, fireworks, bidi industries) with no social security.
5. Data Gaps: No centralised database of workplace injuries or fatalities, leading to policy blind spots.

Reform Measures: Strengthening Labour Rights and Safety

1. Reinforce Legal Safeguards

• Expedite implementation of the OSHWC Code, 2020 with strong enforcement provisions.
• Ratify and align with ILO Conventions 155 (Occupational Safety) and 187 (Promotional Framework for OSH).

2. Formalisation and Universal Social Security

• Digitally register informal workers under the e-Shram portal and link them to ESIC, EPFO, and PM-SYM pension schemes.
• Expand coverage to self-employed and gig workers.

3. Skill Development and Safety Training

• Implement mandatory industrial safety certification for workers in hazardous industries through Skill India and NSDC.
• Include safety modules in ITI and vocational curricula.

4. Leverage Technology

• Deploy AI-enabled compliance monitoring, IoT-based sensors, and predictive analytics to detect equipment failure and hazards.
• Use drone surveillance for inspection of large industrial sites.

5. Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG Compliance

• Make worker safety audits mandatory under ESG reporting frameworks.
• Encourage companies to treat worker welfare as part of corporate sustainability goals.

6. Gender-Inclusive Reforms

• Ensure equal safety standards, maternity benefits, and on-site childcare to promote women’s participation.

7. Data-Driven Monitoring

• Develop a National Industrial Safety Dashboard to record and analyse accidents, violations, and corrective actions.

8. Cultural Change: Safety as a Value

• Promote collective bargaining, worker representation, and whistleblower protection to foster a “safety-first culture”.

Broader Implications

• Worker safety is not merely a social issue but a macroeconomic imperative.
• Unsafe work environments reduce productivity, discourage investment, and undermine India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 goals.
• Aligning worker protection with industrial modernization and sustainability frameworks is essential for inclusive growth.

Conclusion

The Sigachi Industries blast serves as a grim reminder that India’s industrial growth cannot come at the cost of worker safety.

Achieving “Viksit Bharat” demands not just economic growth, but humane growth, where workers’ rights, dignity, and safety are at the core of industrial policy.

Reforms must move beyond symbolic legislation to ensure real accountability, stronger enforcement, and data-driven prevention, protecting both lives and livelihoods.

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. “How do systemic erosion and weak enforcement affect labour rights and industrial safety in India? Suggest a multi-dimensional strategy to strengthen accountability and worker protection.”

Related articles:

• Labour codes
• Occupational Safety and Health
• Industrial and Chemical Disasters
• Occupational diseases