Report on workplace accidents in auto hubs highlights why the problem is systemic

The Safe in India Foundation report makes a case for stronger regulation in favour of workers.

A chassis receives an engine on the assembly line at a factory in Chakan, Pune, Maharashtra. The automotive sector, with 37 million workers, is among the largest employers in the private sector. | Photo Credit: KUNI TAKAHASHI/Bloomberg

It is a common sight to see construction workers perched on precarious scaffolding with no safety gear in big urban centres and small cities. While these transgressions are out in the open, what happens on shop floors of factories is less obvious. The impunity with which accidents occur in those spaces is not as well documented as the growth statistics of the industry are.

The automobile sector is no exception to this apathy. A report published by Safe in India Foundation (SII), an NGO, is a veritable indictment of the biggest players in the sector. Titled “Crushed”, it details worker accidents in the sector, the profile of the workers involved, and the lack of safeguards and compensatory mechanisms for the workforce. The sector, with 37 million workers, is among the largest employers in the private sector and contributes significantly to both manufacturing GDP and the country’s GDP.

The SII was in touch with over 4,000 workers for the past six years in Haryana and other States that have auto hubs. The top employers in these places include Maruti Suzuki, Honda, and Hero in Haryana; Tata and Mahindra in Pune, Maharashtra; TVS, Ashok Leyland, and Tata in Chennai; Tata, Bajaj, and Mahindra in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand; Honda, Maruti Suzuki, and Hero in Neemrana, Rajasthan.

The organisation began documenting worker accidents in 2019 in Haryana after talking to workers and official sources. Its 2022 report is based on information collected between April 2021 and October 2022from Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. It also relied on secondary data from the Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), which documents worker accidents. In 2020, the latest year for which its data are available, the DGFASLI reported 3,882 injuries, of which 1,050 were fatal; Maharashtra alone reported 932 accidents, fatal and non-fatal.

Official accident numbers, says the report, are a fraction of the actual numbers. In at least Haryana and Maharashtra, the frequency of factory inspections had gone down and penalties were no longer a deterrent. Haryana alone reported 50-60 accidents a year, which, the SII says, is a gross underestimation. The national figures documented by the DGFASLI listed 2,832 non-fatal injuries for the country. The severity of injuries was more in Pune than in Haryana as per the SII. In the case of non-fatal accidents, in Pune nearly 83 per cent involved the loss of a body part as against 67 per cent in Haryana.

Training and accidents

Most of the injured were untrained helpers. Ajay Sahu lost three of his fingers while at work in a factory four months ago in Faridabad, Haryana. Speaking to Frontline, he said he was not trained for the work but was employed nevertheless. He was paid Rs.11,000 a month. He was upset that the “company” not only removed him but did not pay him compensation. Sahu arrived in the National Capital Region (NCR) from Bihar six months ago. He had been working in a factory in Mumbai before that. He came to Faridabad where he has relatives, most of whom work in industrial units. Sahu said the “company” had his injuries treated but did not reinstate him. Sahu claimed they were trying to find loopholes and evade primary responsibility. But in the absence of proper documentation, he is unsure of how to proceed. Eventually, he was not allowed entry into the factory premises.

Puran Singh, 52, lost four fingers in a power press machine. Today, he works as a security guard at a much reduced salary, putting in 12 hours of work without holidays. The SII says these workers, apart from suffering the trauma of injury, were also made to face complex bureaucratic processes with Employees’ State Insurance Corporation for compensation, if they were registered in the first place. The thekedaar, or contractor, through whom most workers were “placed” was equally indifferent.

Often employers reinstate an injured worker in order to buy his silence. Rather than be without a job and income, many agree to the employer’s terms. The SII noted that in Faridabad, workers who had lost their fingers in shopfloor accidents were in permanent jobs in a higher proportion than their compatriots in temporary jobs. This suggests that workers are made permanent to “settle” injury-related disputes.

According to the SII, the Automotive Skills Development Council has mandated that press shop assistants and operators need a minimum education of up to Class VIII and a prerequisite licence or training in basic press shop housekeeping skills and safety. The report found that helpers with little or no training were appointed. As a consequence, there are more helpers among those injured. They are also overworked and denied overtime. Nearly 51 per cent reported putting in 12-hour shifts, which also contributes to accidents.

Accidents not reported

A review of 80 accident reports showed that there was under-reporting of accidents. Thirty-one workers from the sample size of 80 stated that they suffered injuries when working 12-hour shifts. Eighty per cent of injured workers in Haryana reported the absence of safety sensors on their machines, and the power press machines they worked on had not gone through the required inspection.

A typical crush injury, according to the surveyed workers, involved the loss of two fingers, though injury to other body parts was also reported from 60-70 per cent of the injured workers. The majority of the injured received their Employees’ State Insurance e-Pehchaan (identity) card after the accident even though deductions towards ESIC were made regularly from their salaries.

Of the 4,968 injured workers the SII has been assisting since 2016, 3,968 were in the auto industry supply chain. Most of them were below the age of 30. The Occupational Health and Safety and Working Conditions Code, yet to be enacted, has recommended the increase of “spread overtime” from 10.5 hours to 12 hours. Trade unions have objected to this on the grounds that it forces workers to put in extra hours by law.

At a car factory in Greater Noida, UP, an employee works on the body of a vehicle. There is a gross under-reporting of accidents in the industry. | Photo Credit: PRASHANTH VISHWANATHAN/Bloomberg

In the auto sector supply chains, it is not uncommon to find workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh working in Haryana. In short, the Bimaru belt is overrepresented in the labour force. Workers have little access to trade unions, says the SII. This could be partly true, given the backlash that assertive workers face from employers and State governments. Yet, in several auto hubs, workers have staged prolonged protests on wage issues, bonus, and other working conditions.

Unions have been able to secure compensation for injuries or fatalities among workers through protracted struggles against an industry and a State imbued with the “ease of doing business” mindset. Soni, a 25-year-old woman from Bihar, lost four fingers while making brake parts for a leading car company.

In her testimony to the SII, she said that the company installed production meters to monitor production but no safety guards to prevent accidents. Pramod Kumar, 26, from Uttar Pradesh lost four fingers while making aluminium washers in an automotive supply chain.

In Haryana, more than 65 per cent of workers surveyed were found earning less than Rs.10,000 a month for an eight-hour shift. They were, however, invariably made to do overtime without being paid double wages for every extra hour done as per the Indian Factories Act, 1948.

Pune conditions

The experience in the Pune auto hubs was slightly different. There was higher contractualisation compared with Haryana (a larger proportion of the workforce was on contract, employed through a thekedaar, rather than permanent workers). There were fewer inter-State migrants. There were more intra-State migrants from districts like Sholapur, Nagpur, and Nashik. The bulk, 88 per cent, being non-permanent, fell outside safety nets and laws.

More than 65 per cent of workers suffered injuries that ranged from loss of body parts to nerve damage, or suffered electric shock or chemical burns. A large number of workers did not get ESIC cards on the day of joining, the legal requirement. The ESIC card enables them and their dependents to access primary, secondary, and tertiary health services.

In Gurugram, close to 70 per cent of the injured workers that the SII surveryed between 2020 and 2022 received ESIC cards after an accident. The ESIC headquarters seems to be aware of this phenomenon and described it as “post-accident registration”. They are also aware that the premiums deducted were not deposited with the ESIC. The majority of injured workers in such cases are taken to private hospitals. Better working conditions were observed in factories that were ESIC compliant.

Recommendations

The SII report lists a series of recommendations for both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and for the government. Recommendations to the former involve improving safety, preventing accidents, and increasing productivity in the auto sector. The SII says the Central government has to roll back the increased threshold of workers required for coverage under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. Under the Factories Act, 1948, the threshold was 10, meaning any unit employing up to 10 workers was covered under the Act, including protective provisions relating to safety and other working conditions.

Under the new OSH code, this threshold has been increased to 20. The SII report recalled that all central trade unions, including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, had opposed the change.

The Centre also needs to commission safety studies in the top five auto hubs of Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Gujarat. There is a need, the SII says, to bring in all unlisted multinationals, especially in the automobile business, under the aegis of Business Responsibility Reporting. Today, only the listed businesses are required to do so. The report captures effectively the systemic nature of the problem, if not the scale. It makes a case for stronger regulation in favour of workers and points to the iniquity in the nature of production itself.

On the one hand, there is a thriving automobile industry, and on the other, scores of workers who work at subpar wages and at high risk to themselves.

Highlights

• A report published by Safe in India Foundation (SII), an NGO, is a veritable indictment of the biggest players in the auto sector.
• It details worker accidents in the sector, the profile of the workers involved, and the lack of safeguards and compensatory mechanisms for the workforce.
• The report is based on information collected between April 2021 and October 2022from Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.
• Official accident numbers, says the report, are a fraction of the actual numbers.
• There was under-reporting of accidents and most of the injured were untrained helpers.
• Often employers reinstate an injured worker in order to buy his silence.