Cabinet okays labour safety code that will benefit 400 million workers

New Delhi, July 10: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill that seeks to merge 13 central labour laws into a single code which would apply on all establishments employing 10 or more workers.

The Occupational, Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, also known as the OSH Code, will cover 400 million workers in the organised and the unorganised sectors and encompass provisions from around 13 labour laws.

The decision was taken at the union cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Environment and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

The proposed code enhances the coverage of workers manifold as it would be applicable to all establishments employing 10 or more workers, where any industry, trade, business, manufacture or occupation is carried on, including IT establishments or establishments of service sector, the release said.

India's labour laws are complex and the government wants to simplify them into four codes: wages; OSH; industrial relations; and social security.