Section 111A of the Factories Act 1948 - Workers' Health and Safety Rights

Section 111A of the Factories Act, 1948 gave factory workers specific rights concerning information, training, health and workplace safety. The provision is important historically, but its present legal status must be read with the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.

Current legal status: The Factories Act, 1948 was repealed when the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 came into force on 21 November 2025. Section 143 of the Code contains the repeal and savings provisions. Accordingly, Section 111A should now be read as a provision of the former Factories Act and not as the principal current statutory provision governing these rights.

What was Section 111A of the Factories Act?

Section 111A was inserted by the Factories (Amendment) Act, 1987 with effect from 1 December 1987. Despite the heading used on some older references, the provision primarily conferred workplace health and safety rights on workers.

Section 111A - Rights of workers

Every worker had the right to:

  1. obtain from the occupier information relating to workers' health and safety at work;
  2. receive training within the factory wherever possible, or be sponsored by the occupier for training at an approved training centre or institute dealing with workers' health and safety; and
  3. make a representation to the Inspector, directly or through a representative, where protection of the worker's health or safety in the factory was inadequate.

Meaning of the important terms

Worker

Under the former Factories Act, the expression "worker" generally referred to a person employed, directly or through an agency, in a manufacturing process, in cleaning machinery or premises used for a manufacturing process, or in work incidental or connected with that process, subject to the statutory definition in the Act.

Occupier

The "occupier" of a factory meant the person who had ultimate control over the affairs of the factory, subject to the specific rules in the former Act for firms, companies and factories owned or controlled by government.

Inspector

Under the former Factories Act, Inspectors were appointed by the State Government for enforcement of the Act within assigned local limits. Under the current OSH Code framework, the corresponding enforcement authority is generally described as the Inspector-cum-Facilitator.

Current law - Section 14 of the OSH Code 2020

Present framework: Section 14 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 gives every employee in an establishment the right to obtain health and safety information from the employer and to raise inadequate safety or health protection with the employer or through the Safety Committee, where constituted. If the employee is not satisfied, the matter may be taken to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator.

Section 14 also addresses situations involving a reasonable apprehension of imminent serious personal injury, death or danger to health. The employee may bring such danger to the employer's notice and simultaneously inform the Inspector-cum-Facilitator. The Code provides for immediate remedial action where the danger is accepted and a reference to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator where the employer disputes its existence.

Section 143 - Repeal and savings

Section 143 of the OSH Code repeals the Factories Act, 1948 along with other specified labour enactments. Its savings provisions preserve actions and instruments made under repealed enactments to the extent provided by the Code and subject to consistency with the new framework. This is relevant when dealing with older factory records, proceedings, rules, notifications or events that arose while the Factories Act was in force.

Practical importance for workers and employers

The underlying principle remains workplace safety through access to information and an effective route for reporting unsafe conditions. Employers should maintain clear safety information and reporting systems, while employees should promptly report serious hazards through the channels recognised by the applicable law and workplace safety arrangements.

Official legal sources

For authoritative and updated material, see the Factories Act, 1948 published by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 page of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Note: This page explains the statutory position for general legal information. For a particular workplace dispute, accident, pending proceeding or state-specific rule, the applicable notifications, rules and saved provisions should also be checked.