1. Overview

In addition to your legal responsibilities, your business can also benefit from good health and safety practices at work. Effective health and safety practices pay for themselves, as they help you avoid staff illness, accidents, and the costs associated with them. They can also improve your reputation with customers, regulators, and employees.

2. Appoint a Competent Person

The Factories Act, 1948, and the Indian Labor Act require all businesses in India to appoint a competent person to manage health and safety. A competent person is someone with the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience to manage health and safety. You could appoint:

- Yourself

- One or more of your workers

- Someone from outside your business

The Directorate General of Factory Advice Service and Labor Institutes (DGFASLI) provides guidance on appointing a competent person.

3. Write a Health and Safety Policy

Describing how you will manage health and safety in your business will let your staff and others know about your commitment to health and safety. This will be your health and safety policy. It should clearly state who does what, when, and how.

If you have 10 or more employees, you must have a written policy. Most businesses set out their policy in three parts:

- The statement of general policy section sets out your commitment to managing health and safety effectively and what you want to achieve.

- The responsibility section allows you to state who is responsible for what.

- The arrangements section contains the detail of what you are going to do in practice to achieve the aims set out in your statement of general policy.

The National Safety Council of India provides guidance on writing a health and safety policy.

4. Manage the Risks in Your Business

You should use a risk assessment as the main health and safety tool to identify workplace hazards. It will also allow you to put measures in place to control and minimize the hazards and risks you find.

Key aspects of your risk assessment include:

- Identifying potential hazards in the workplace

- Identifying who might be harmed by each hazard and how

- Evaluating the risks identified and deciding on precautions

- Documenting your findings and implementing them

You should regularly review your risk assessment to ensure it still meets all requirements and complies with health and safety legislation.

5. Consult and Train Your Employees

You have certain legal obligations to consult with your employees or their representatives on health and safety issues. It is also good practice to find out what your employees and their representatives think about any changes that might affect their health and safety and the quality of your health and safety information and training.

The Indian Labor Act requires you to provide training and information to your employees on health and safety issues, including:

- Hazards and risks in the workplace

- Measures in place to deal with those hazards and risks

- How to follow any emergency procedures

You also have an obligation to provide this information for any contractors or self-employed people who may be working for you.

6. Display the Health and Safety Policy

You must display your health and safety policy where your workers can easily read it.

7. Provide the Right Workplace Facilities

As an employer, you must protect the safety and health of everyone in your workplace and provide welfare facilities for your employees. Facilities include:

- Toilets and hand basins, with soap and towels or a hand-dryer

- Drinking water

- A place to store clothing (and somewhere to change if special clothing is worn for work)

You will also need to consider the working environment. You must make sure there is:

- Good ventilation - a supply of fresh, clean air drawn from outside or a ventilation system

- A reasonable working temperature

- Lighting suitable for the work being carried out

- Enough room space and suitable workstations and seating

- A clean workplace with appropriate waste containers

8. First Aid, Accidents, and Ill Health

You must have first aid arrangements in your workplace, as you are responsible for making sure that your employees receive immediate attention if they are taken ill or are injured at work.

Under health and safety law, you must also report and keep a record of certain injuries, incidents, and cases of work-related disease.

The Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, requires you to provide first aid facilities and report accidents and injuries to the relevant authorities.

Remember:

- Make sure you protect people's personal details by storing records confidentially in a secure place.

- If you have more than 10 employees, you must keep an accident book under the Indian Labor Act.

- You can buy an accident book or record the details in your own record system.

You may need to report workplace incidents to the relevant authorities - you can find out which incidents must be reported and how to report them on the website of the