The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Many rules, but little safety for workers

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Thursday, Feb 03, 2011
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Many rules, but little safety for workers

Bageshree S.

— FILE PHOTO

IN COLD STORAGE:A Labour Department plan suggesting that engineers from the Department of Factories and Boilers should be notified to monitor safety standards at construction sites is pending with the Government.

Bangalore: The tragedy at the construction site at C.K. Palya near Bannerghatta, which claimed five lives on Wednesday, yet again underlines the breach of virtually every safety regulation and its monitoring laid down by law.

For instance, Section 44 of the Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1996, states that an employer is responsible for providing constant and adequate supervision of any construction work in his establishment “as to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Act relating to safety and for taking all practical steps to prevent accidents.”

Yet another Rule (69), framed under the Act for Karnataka in 2006, states that the employer has to ensure that no wall or any other part of the structure is left unguarded “in such condition that it may fall, collapse or weaken due to wind pressure, vibration or due to any other reason at a site of a building or other construction work.”

Safety gear, medicare

Apart from these, there are rules galore on how workers have to be protected with safety gear and medical care at building sites, availability of first aid at every site being one of them. There are additional entitlements to workers under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979, which is particularly applicable in this case because all workers were migrants from Bihar.

The recurrence of such tragedies clearly shows that the monitoring mechanism to ensure these laws are followed is too weak to deal with the bourgeoning construction industry in Bangalore and on its outskirts.

A proposal sent by the Labour Department suggesting that engineers from the Department of Factories and Boilers should be notified to monitor safety standards at construction sites is still pending with the Government.

An additional suggestion had been made by the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission that the Government set up a standing technical committee to undertake quick investigation into accidents at construction sites, considering that such accidents are on the rise. This is too is yet to be acted upon.

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