WORKPLACE SAFETY IN HAZARDOUS INDUSTRIES

In this project, we analyse the current legal structure regarding safety at work in risky economies in India after central labour laws were unified into four labour codes which became effective from November 21, 2025. We investigate the history of laws about hazardous industries starting from the Factories Act of 1948 and relevant sectoral legislation and following constitutional and theoretical developments after the Bhopal disaster, ending up with the Occupational Safety and Health Code and the Social Security Code of 2020. The analysis discusses substantial regulations these codes provide including universal ESI coverage for hazardous jobs, increased limits for safe work committees and an obligation to refuse. At the same time the analysis concerns the issues of raised bar of factory size, reduced sanctions for hazardous activities, broadened power of exemptions and uneven speed of implementing the regulations. As a result, this research shows that although the consolidation of labour laws has broadened the formal guarantee, several changes are far from consistent with the legal principles derived from court cases of Bandhua Mukti Morcha v Union of India and MC Mehta v Union of India.