The Chief Inspector of Factories, Government of West Bengal (“Authority”) has issued a procedure for inspection of all factories in the state of West Bengal for the purpose of efficient and fruitful Inspection of factories for enforcing the provisions of Factories Act, 1948 & The West Bengal Factories Rule, 1958 , The Payment of Wages Act,1936.
Key Highlights:
Procedure for inspection of Factories-
- Inspection visits can broadly be classified in two categories:
- Routine Inspection
- Special visits to address specific issues like investigation into complaints, investigation of accidents/dangerous occurrences etc.
- The frequency of inspection of factories is determined on the basis of risk/hazards associated with the manufacturing process carried on in the factory. On the basis of the said criteria of hazards, factories are classified into 3 categories such as
- Major Accident Hazard Factory (MAH) identified by the parameters laid down under MSIHC Rules 1989
- Hazardous Factory identified by the parameters laid down in schedule 1, under Section 2(cb) of the Factories Act, 1948.
- Non-Hazardous Factory
- Factories are selected for inspection on the basis of computerized risk assessment.
- In the course of routine inspection visit to the working areas of a factory the inspector must be accompanied by the Occupier, Manager or other responsible person so that his observation and corrective actions needed can be communicated to someone with sufficient authority to take action in the matter.
- Compliance of the various sections and rules will be checked during inspection as per the Checklist.
- The Occupier, Manager or other responsible person shall be informed of the inspection findings for corrective actions.
- No inspector will visit the same factory twice consecutively for the purpose of inspection.
- In case of accident enquiry, the time limit obviously must be in consonance with rule 98 of the West Bengal factories Rules, 1958.
Source: Chief Inspector of Factories, Government of West Bengal
