Workplace Safety and Workers’ Health Promotion for a Humanistic Approach

We are wedded to socialistic welfare goals of providing wider social security to workers against accidents, insecurities, occupational hazards, technology-led risk exposures, work-related squalor, diseases, pollution of environs, etc., under the Directive Principles of our constitution. The legislative framework in this context is superb in India in providing for benefits in maternity, sickness, disablement, occupation led hazards, etc. India follows the model of the British safety net. The fallouts are of course at implementation levels due to the low level of governance.

The approach to workers’ health promotion and physical safety has undergone a twist, and emphasis is now central on relief from worries, tensions and defeated psycho-pathology of mind of being scared and hunted in the work place. The focus has now shifted from compensation above to wider arrangements in favour of workers’ health. These arrangements avoid workplace accidents and workers’ illness, sickness and worries. Workers’ education, sensitisation, occupational training, living amenities like housing, medical facilities, canteens, nutrition supply, entertainments, child care, social insurance, gratuity and pension provisions, borrowing facility and favourable conditions of work reduce the tensions of workers. Levels of achieved productivity by and large depend on their provisions. These reduce workers’ absenteeism and labour turnover. Good housing, supporting services, amenities and sanitation avoid workers’ diseases by squalor, strenuous tensions and continued worries. Workers’ sports, games, clubs, social meets and cultural items of organised, help worker's efficiency at work sites.

Accidents at the work place and loss of workers are considerably reduced by workers’ training, health check-ups, improved work-site conditions, safety cautions, proper dress and alertness, as well as by pollution-free environs. Fairly good compensation measures and reduced work hours at a stretch keep workers more efficient.