Home  /  OSH Code, 2020  /  Section 11

Section 11: Duty not to interfere with or misuse things provided for health or safety

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act No. 37 of 2020) • Official Statutory Text & Plain English Practice Guide

Statutory Mandate
Chapter III: Duties of Employer and Employees
Competent Labour Forum
Act No. 37 of 2020
Section 10 All 143 Sections of OSH Code, 2020 Section 12

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 11

Section 11 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 obligates employers to report dangerous occurrences of a prescribed nature—including structural collapses, explosions, toxic emissions, and critical machinery failures—irrespective of whether actual bodily injury or death has been occasioned.

  • Broad Categorization of 'Dangerous Occurrences': Encompasses high-risk operational near-misses such as bursting of pressure vessels, fire or explosion in flammable storage, collapse of scaffolding or cranes, underground inundations in mines, or accidental release of toxic vapours.
  • Casualty-Independent Reporting Imperative: Statutorily mandates notice even where no worker sustained bodily injury or death, emphasizing that the legislative objective is preventative hazard mitigation and systemic safety surveillance rather than mere casualty accounting.
  • Prescribed Electronic Notice Format & Timelines: Requires transmission of full incident details, plant coordinates, and initial hazard containment measures to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator within twenty-four hours of the occurrence.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Union Carbide Corp. v. Union of India (1989) 2 SCC 540: Supreme Court highlighted that unmonitored dangerous occurrences, gas leaks, and minor equipment breaches invariably culminate in catastrophic disasters if regulatory authorities are not notified to enforce immediate engineering remedies.
  • Associated Cement Companies Ltd. v. Inspector of Factories (1971) 2 LLJ 668: Held that the obligation to report dangerous occurrences is absolute and independent of whether work was interrupted or human harm resulted.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

Every manufacturing and processing facility must institute a zero-tolerance 'near-miss' reporting protocol. Safety managers must maintain a dedicated Dangerous Occurrences Logbook. Whenever an event meeting the Second Schedule criteria occurs, submit Form IV within twenty-four hours accompanied by an interim technical root-cause analysis (RCA) to demonstrate proactive compliance.

Section 10 All 143 Sections of OSH Code, 2020 Section 12