Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020

Overview of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020

The OSH Code, 2020 is India’s consolidation of 13 separate central labour laws, the Factories Act among them, into one statute covering workplace safety, health, and working conditions. Parliament passed it in September 2020, and it came into force on November 21, 2025, the same date the other three labour codes did.
The idea behind consolidating 13 laws into one is straightforward: before this, an employer running a factory that also used contract labour and hired inter-state migrant workers had to track three or four separate compliance regimes with overlapping but not identical rules. The Code puts registration, employer duties, welfare facilities, and penalties under one framework, with sector-specific carve-outs where they’re genuinely needed (mines, docks, plantations) rather than entirely separate Acts.
Two practical changes follow from that consolidation. Establishments that used to register separately under two or three of the old Acts now go through a single registration process, and terms that used to vary slightly from one Act to the next, “worker,” “occupier,” “establishment,” now carry one common definition across the board. The Ministry of Labour and Employment administers the Code centrally, but day-to-day enforcement sits with state governments, which is why the actual experience of complying with it still depends heavily on which state an establishment operates in.

Laws Consolidated Under the OSH Code

The Code repeals and absorbs 13 laws:

• Factories Act, 1948
• Mines Act, 1952
• Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986
• Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996
• Plantations Labour Act, 1951
• Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970
• Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979
• Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees Act, 1955
• Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Act, 1958
• Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961
• Sales Promotion Employees Act, 1976
• Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966
• Cine-Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers Act, 1981

Each law’s core provisions carry over in substance, renumbered and, in places, updated (thresholds, penalty amounts). For the Factories Act specifically, see our dedicated page for what changed there in detail.
What ties these 13 together is the kind of thing they regulated. Each one covered safety, health, or welfare for a specific class of workers. Think factory workers, miners, dock workers, migrant workers, journalists, or sales staff. None of them centered on a compliance topic like wages or industrial disputes. That’s also why they sit under this Code and not one of the other three. The Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, and the Code on Social Security each absorbed a different set of the old laws, and none of those sets overlap.

Applicability and Coverage

• General establishments: 10 or more workers.
• Factories specifically: 20 or more workers with power, or 40 or more without, higher than the general threshold because factories carry their own risk profile.
• Contract labour licensing: 50 or more contract workers, up from 20 under the old Contract Labour Act.
• Inter-state migrant workers: coverage applies once an establishment engages such workers; no separate headcount minimum applies.
• Mines, docks, and plantations: covered regardless of headcount, no minimum applies.

Government establishments are generally exempt, except where they engage contract labour, in which case that portion of the Code still applies.
For example, a 60-person IT company, a two-shift factory running power-driven machinery with 35 workers, and a construction site staffed through a contractor with a dozen workers would all fall within the Code’s scope, just under different provisions of the same statute. Before this consolidation, each of those three would likely have tracked a different Act entirely to figure out which rules applied.

Major Sections

The table below lists the Code’s key sections and what each one covers, from registration through penalties for serious violations.

Section 6’s employer duties go further than a general safety mandate. Employers must provide a workplace free of hazards to the extent reasonably practicable, share information with employees about the health and safety risks specific to their role, and arrange a free annual health examination for anyone working in a notified hazardous process, a requirement that didn’t exist in this exact form under the old Factories Act.
The Inspector-cum-Facilitator title itself signals a shift: inspectors under the old Acts were purely inspectorial, while this Code adds an advisory function alongside enforcement, encouraging voluntary compliance before punitive action.
Together, these sections replace obligations that used to sit scattered across several of the 13 old Acts, so a compliance calendar built around the Factories Act’s old section numbers needs a full refresh, not just a renumbering exercise.

Special Provisions for Women, Contract Labour, and Migrant Workers

Women

Night shifts (7 PM to 6 AM) are permitted under Sections 43 and 44, but only with the worker’s written consent and safeguards in place: safe transport, a supervisor on shift, and a grievance mechanism. This is a real change from a default prohibition to a default permission, not just a renumbering.

Contract Labour

Contractors need a license once they supply 50 or more workers, and the principal employer is on the hook for welfare facilities if the contractor doesn’t provide them. Equal treatment provisions require contract workers get comparable conditions to direct employees doing similar work. This matters most for staffing-heavy sectors like manufacturing and logistics, where headcounts fluctuate through the year and crossing or falling below the 50-worker mark can determine whether a license is required at all.

Inter-State Migrant Workers

Coverage includes a displacement allowance, journey allowance, and self-registration through Aadhaar, plus access to public distribution system benefits in the state where they’re working, not just their home state. Employers with a multi-state footprint should note the self-registration point specifically, workers register themselves rather than the employer filing on their behalf, which means HR can’t rely on payroll records alone to confirm who’s actually covered.

Rules of this Code

The OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified on May 8, 2026, alongside the Central Rules under the other three labour codes, and set the national baseline. Day-to-day enforcement is state-led, and states have been notifying their own rules unevenly:
The Central Rules fill in procedural detail the Code leaves to delegated legislation: form formats, registration fees, and medical examination protocols. States retain their own procedural specifics within that central framework, which is why what actually applies on the ground still depends on which state an establishment operates in.

Forms and Returns

Registration runs on Form I (application) and Form III (certificate), filed electronically through the Shram Suvidha Portal. Other standardized forms cover appointment letters, accident and occupational-disease reporting, contractor licensing, and the annual return. Filing is digital by default under the Code, physical filing isn’t an option most employers can fall back on anymore.
The annual return consolidates what used to be separate filings under several of the 13 predecessor laws into a single submission, due by whatever deadline the relevant state government notifies. Appointment letters are mandatory for the first time in this uniform format, and must specify designation, wage rate, and skill category. Accident reporting has its own timeline: employers must notify the Inspector-cum-Facilitator of any accident causing death or serious injury within the period the rules prescribe, rather than the informal reporting that was common under some older Acts.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Penalties scale with severity, and repeat offences cost more each time:

Where a fine is imposed under Section 103, the court may direct that at least 50% of it goes to the victim, or to the victim’s legal heirs in the case of death.
Some offences are compoundable, meaning an employer can settle by paying a reduced fine, typically 50 to 75 percent of the maximum, within a specified window, rather than facing prosecution.
Where a company commits an offence, liability generally extends to the individuals in charge of and responsible for its conduct at the time, not just the corporate entity itself, a structure carried over from the older Acts.

Recent Updates

• September 2020: the Code passed Parliament.
• November 21, 2025: the Code, along with the other 3 labour codes, came into force, repealing the 13 laws it consolidates.
• May 8, 2026: the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified, setting the national procedural baseline.
• Since then: state-level OSH Rules have been notifying unevenly, tracked in the Rules of this Code section above.
• Ongoing: several states still have OSH-specific rules in draft as of this writing, meaning day-to-day enforcement in those states currently runs on a mix of the Code’s central provisions and transitional arrangements. Worth checking the table above against the current status before advising employees in any specific state.