Frequently Asked Questions

What is the definition of 'worker' as per Factories Act 1948?

What is a 'Factory' as per Factories Act 1948?

What documents are required to be submitted for getting a new licence or applying for renewal of
licence?

What is the procedure for getting a site and machinery layout plan approval under Factories Act 1948?

How the licence is obtained?

What are the conditions to be fulfilled to obtain a licence under Factories Act 1948?

How the licence under Factories act can be renewed?

For what reasons, the licence under factories act needs to be get amended?

Which returns, an occupier of a factory is required to submit under Factories Act?

What are the registers / documents a manager of factory has to maintain under Factories Act 1948?

What are the provisions under Factories Act regarding the register of workers and working hours?

What are the criteria’s to avail annual leave with wages under Factories Act?

Whether Factory Act is applicable to Government Factories also?

Accident :
How the management of a factory is supposed to inform any accident under provisions of factories Act
1948?

Fire Fighting System :

What type of fire fighting system should be available with the factory?

What type of preventive measure shall be taken to prevent incident of fire?

As per Factories Act, when the Safety officers are required to be appointed in factories?

Under Factories Act what are the welfare provisions for workers?

About Complaints :

Which type of complaints will be enquired by the office of Industrial Safety & Health?

Occupational Diseases :

Which is the schedules formulated under Factories Act depending upon the dangerous operations that
are carried out in a factory?

What is the function of competent person under Factories Act?

As per Factories Act who is called a "competent person”?

Female Workers :

Under Factories Act what are the provisions mentioned about female workers?
Which are the processes in which female workers are prohibited?

 FAQ of Employees Compensation Act, 1923 (00 KB)

What is the definition of 'worker' as per Factories Act 1948?

Worker means a person employed ( directly or by or through any agency including a contractor ), with or
without the knowledge of the principal employer, whether for remuneration or not in any manufacturing
process or in cleaning any part of the machinery or premises used for a manufacturing process or in any
other kind of work incidental to or connected with the manufacturing process or the subject of the
manufacturing process ( but does not include any member of the armed forces of the Union )

What is a 'Factory' as per Factories Act 1948?

Factory means any premises where in 10 or more workers are working to carry out a manufacturing
process with the aid of powers OR whereon 20 or more workers are working to carry out a manufacturing
process without the aid of power.

Also Government has made this act applicable to power looms, saw mills, certain industries which use
hazardous chemicals, and certain processes carried out using flammable solvents by publishing a
notification, even if the number of workers are less than 10.

Occupier is not allowed to use any premises as a 'factory' unless he has obtained a valid factory Act
licence.

What documents are required to be submitted for getting a new licence or

applying for renewal of licence?

Following documents are required to be submitted for getting a new licence or applying for renewal of
licence

 Form No. 2 ( Affix Court Fee Stamp र 10)

 To support the appointment of any director or partner as occupier in Form No. 2

Following documents shall be submitted to support his appointment.

o In case of partnership firm a copy of registered partnership deed and a declaration letter
from all the partners for appointing a specific partner as occupier And a acceptance letter
from this partner for accepting his appointment has occupier
o In case of company , list of directors and the copy of resolution mentioning the
appointment of one of the director as occupier
 Receipt of the fees paid / challan copy as per the no of workers and HP (electricity) used
  Land purchase deed, leave and licence copy, rent receipt, 7/12 receipt, form 8(a), M I D C
allotment letter or any other document to prove the ownership or rent agreement.
 Electricity Bill

What is the procedure for getting a site and machinery layout plan approval
under Factories Act 1948?

The site plan, building layout plan and plant & machinery layout plan along with sectional elevation in
duplicate shall be submitted to the Directorate of industrial Safety & Health office along with form No 1&
questionnaire ( 10 र court fee stamp duly affixed ). Following documents shall be attached with the
application.

 Raw material list with maximum storage capacity and mode of storage.
 Process flow chart.
 Finished product list, intermediate product list.
 MPCB consent (optional).
 Allotment letter from MIDC / NOC from local authority.
 NOC for PESO.
 Site approval from Director of DISH in case of solvent Extraction plant.
 Brief Manufacturing process.

After receiving the plans for approval from the management of the Factory, serial no, date is put on the
plan. The last due date for approval of the plan as per the provision of act is marked on the plan in red
ink .Before this due date the plans are approved and a copy is sent to the management . If the plans are
rejected it is informed to the management mentioning the relevant reasons.

If some clarifications required from the management regarding the plans submitted, this additional
clarification is sought from the management and necessary corrections are made in the plan. Additional
information is taken if required. Plans are approval along with some conditions considering the safety
and welfare provisions related to the workers in that factory. The Management has to comply these
conditions.

How the licence is obtained?

After submitting the form no.2 duly filled with all respect and with necessary fees paid and if the factory
plans are approved, the officers of directorate visit the factory & if he finds that construction of the factory
and machinery layout is as per the approved plan and if the conditions of plan approval are complied ,
then he recommends to Director Industrial Safety & Health for issuance of licence through his superiors
and after getting the approval from the Director, licence is issued.

Licence renewal can be done by Additional director or Joint director.

What are the conditions to be fulfilled to obtain a licence under Factories Act
1948?

To register the factory and to get licence under Factories Act, and application has to be submitted to the
office of Industrial Safety & Health, along with following documents

 Factory Building plan along with machinery layout and questionnaire in Form No. 1 duly filled
shall be submitted.
 To register the Factory, the occupier or management of the factory has to submit Form No. 2 in
triplicate.
 Court fee stamp of र 10 shall be affixed on Form No. 2.
 As mentioned in the annexure, the required licence fee shall be paid in the name of " Director ,
Industrial Safety & Health ” by cross cheque / cross postal order .Factories outside Mumbai
region shall pay the fees in Treasury branch and submit the receipt of this payment along with the
application.
 To support the appointment of any director or partner as occupier in Form No. 2.

Following documents shall be submitted to support his appointment.

o In case of partnership firm a copy of registered partnership deed and a declaration letter
for all the partners for appointing a specific partner as occupier And a acceptance letter
from this partner for accepting his appointment has occupier.
o In case of company , list of directors and the copy of resolution mentioning the
appointment of one of the director as occupier.
 Receipt of the fees paid / challan copy as per the no of workers and HP (electricity)used.
 Land purchase deed, leave and licence copy, rent receipt, 7/12 receipt, form 8(a), M I D C
allotment letter or any other document to prove the ownership or rent agreement.
 Electricity Bill.

How the licence under Factories act can be renewed?

Licence renewal form no.2 has to be duly filled and submitted to the office of Industrial safety & health
along with details of necessary fees paid and all other necessary documents. A 10 र Court fees stamp must
be affixed on this application. The last date for submission of this form is 31st October every year. If the application
is made after this date, additional 5% fees has to be paid for every month of delay (maximum up to 25%)
Licence can be renewed maximum up to 10 years at any single time.

For what reasons, the licence under factories act needs to be get amended?

 If there is change in name of the factory.

 If there is change in number of workers, or change in Horse power, then application for
amendment in licence has to be made in form no. 2 with 10 Rs court fee stamp duly affixed.
Difference of fees is required to be paid if the fee structure is changed due to this amendment.
Necessary documents like Partnership deed, Board of Directors Resolution etc are required to be
submitted for evidence. Form no. 5 is required to be submitted if there is change in Manager.
Which returns, an occupier of a factory is required to submit under Factories
Act?

An occupier of a factory is required to submit Annual Return in Form no. 27 on or before 1st Feb every
year for the past calendar year.

What are the registers / documents a manager of factory has to maintain

under Factories Act 1948?

Each factory has to maintain following registers.

Sr. No. Subject Form No.

1 Register of adult workers in form 17

2 Muster Roll in form 29

3 accidents and dangerous occurrences register in form 30

4 Leave with wages register in form 20

5 Record of lime washing, painting etc. in form 8

6 Register of workers attending to machinery in form 10

7 Inspection Book in form 31

In addition to this factory has to maintain health register in form 7.

Notice of period of work for adult workers in form 16 has to be displayed on the notice board and two
copies are required to be sent to factories Inspector office.

Any register in different form if it contains the relevant information required under Factories Act 1948 is
acceptable.
What are the provisions under Factories Act regarding the register of workers
and working hours?

Following are some provisions under Factories Act 1948 regarding this :

 No worker shall be allowed or required to work in a factory unless his/her name is entered in the
register of adult workers.
 Workers shall be allowed/required to work as per the notice of period of work.
 No child shall be allowed to work in a factory unless he has completed 14 years.
 No child shall be employed or permitted to work, in any factory :
o for more than four and a half hours in any day
o During the night.
 An adolescent (15 to 18 years of age) who has been granted a certificate of fitness by a certifying
surgeon to work in a factory as an adult under clause (b) of sub- section (2) of section 69 and
who while at work in a factory carries a token giving reference to the certificate, shall be deemed
to be and adult.
 No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in a factory for more than forty-eight hours in
any week unless any exemption is obtained from Industrial Safety & Health.
 The periods of work of adult workers in a factory each day shall be so fixed that no period shall
exceed five hours and that no worker shall work for more than five hours before he has had an
interval for rest of at least half an hour.
 The periods of work of an adult worker in a factory shall be so arranged that inclusive of his
intervals for rest, they shall not spread over more than ten and a half hours in any day.
 Female workers shall not be allowed or required to work between 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.
 No overtime shall be allowed or required to be carried out unless exemption is obtained under
Rule 102 of The Maharashtra Factories Rules 1963
 Workers shall be paid double of their normal wages for the period worked as overtime.

What are the criterias? to avail annual leave with wages under Factories Act?

Every worker who has worked for a period of 240 days or more in a factory during the calendar year shall
be allowed during the subsequent calendar year, leave with wages for a number of days calculated at the
rate of :

 if an adult, one day for every twenty days of work performed by him during the previous calendar
year
 if a child , one day for every fifteen days of work performed by him during the previous calendar
year

Explanation 1 – For the purpose of this sub section :

 Any days of lay-off by agreement or contract or as permissible under the standing orders ;
 In the case of a female worker, maternity leave for any number of days not exceeding twelve
weeks ; and
 The leave earned in the year prior to that in which the leave is enjoyed;
Shall be deemed to be days on which the worker has worked in a factory for the purpose of computation
of the period of 240 days or more, but he shall not earn leave for these days.

Explanation 2 – The leave admissible under this sub-section shall be exclusive of all holidays whether
occurring during or at either end of the period of leave.

A worker whose service commences otherwise than on the first day of January shall be entitled to leave
with wages at the rate laid down in clause(i)or, as the case may be , clause(ii) of sub-section(1) if he has
worked for two-thirds of the total number of days in the remainder of the calendar year.

If a worker is discharged or dismissed from service or quits his employment or is superannuated or dies
while in service or quits his employment or is superannuated or dies while in service, during the course of
the calendar year, he or his heir or nominee, as the case may be, shall be entitled to wages in lieu or the
quantum of leave to which he was entitled immediately before his discharge, dismissal, quitting of
employment, superannuation or death calculated at the rates specified in sub-section (1), even if he had
not worked for the entire period specified in sub section (1) or sub section (2) making him eligible to avail
of such leave , and such payment shall be made

 where the worker is discharged or dismissed or quits employment before the expiry of the second
working day from the date of such discharge, dismissal or quitting; and
 where the worker is superannuated or dies while in service , before the expiry of two months from
the date of such superannuation or death.

Management of the Factory has to maintain all the details about annual leave with wages in the leave
register in Form No. 20 and has to issue leave cards in Form No. 20 to the eligible workers before 28th
February.

Whether Factory Act is applicable to Government Factories also?

Factories Act is applicable to all the Factories which are under control of Central Government, State
Government, Defence and P. W. D.

Accident
How the management of a factory is supposed to inform any accident under
provisions of factories Act 1948?

Any accident which is fatal or any serious accident causing loss of part of body, if worker becomes
unconscious or gets severe burn injuries or incident of any dangerous occurrence has to be informed to
the Directorate of industrial Safety & Health office within 4 hours by telephone or by a special messenger.
And a written report in form 24 is required to be submitted within 12 hours to the Directorate of industrial
Safety & Health office.

If accident takes place, which will prevent or will probably prevent the person injured from working for a
period of 48 hours, the information of such accident has to be given within next 24 hours.
Fire Fighting System
What type of fire fighting system should be available with the factory?

 Two fire buckets of not less than 9 Litres capacity for every 100 square meters of floor area
subject to a minimum of four buckers on each floor.
 One portable fire extinguisher for every 500 Sq.m. areas.
 If the water requirement is more than 550 Litters per minute as per the formula given in Rule 71
(b) (2) of Maharashtra Factories Rules 1963, a trailer pump shall be provided.

What type of preventive measure shall be taken to prevent incident of fire?

 All processes, storages, equipments, plants etc. involving serious explosing and flash fire hazard
shall be located in segregated buildings.
 Areas where highly inflammable, or explosive materials are used shall not have any electrical
fittings, if required to be provided, it shall be of standard flameproof type, so that no sparks are
generated.
 Effective measures shall be adopted for prevention of static charges to a dangerous extent.
 If flammable material is required to be used in large quantities, it shall be stored in a separate
store and only the minimum required quantity ( maximum upto 20 Litres ) shall be stored in the
workplace.
 Precautions shall be taken to prevent initiatives of ignition from all other possible sources such
as open flames, frictional sparks, overheated surfaces of machinery or plant, chemical or
physical, chemical reaction and radiant heat.
 Smoking, lighting or carrying of matches, lighters shall be prohibited.

As per Factories Act, when the Safety officers are required to be appointed in
factories?

Safety officers are required to be appointed in every factory.

 Wherein 1000 or more workers are ordinarily employed OR

 Where in, in the opinion of the State Govt., any manufacturing process or operation is carried on,
which process or operation involves risk of bodily injury poisoning or disease, or any other hazard
to health, to the persons employed, Govt may make this provision applicable to factories having
less than 1000 workers by special notification.

Under Factories Act what are the welfare provisions for workers?

The management of the factory has to provide following facilities depending on the no of workers.

Sr. No. No of Workers Provisions

1 150 Rest room, Lunch

 room

2 More than 250 Canteen

3 500 or more than 500 Welfare officer,

Ambulance

4 30 or more than 30 female workers Crèche facility

5 1000 Safety Officer

About Complaints
Which type of complaints will be enquired by the office of Industrial Safety &
Health?

If any complaint is received regarding any establishment which is under the purview of provisions of
Factories Act, immediate enquiry and action is taken. Any complaint received from union, any anonymous
person or on Telephone, is enquired and suitable action is taken if it is related to Directorate. The
complainant is informed about the enquiry and action taken by the Department by means of a letter. The
name of the complainant is kept secret while carrying out the enquiry.

Occupational Diseases
Which is the schedules formulated under Factories Act depending upon the
dangerous operations that are carried out in a factory?

There are twenty seven schedules under Rule 114 of The Maharashtra Factories Rules 1963 this
schedules mainly covered electroplating , lead industries, glass manufacturing, shot blasting , leather
tanning industries, chromic acid industries, insecticides , asbestos , manganese, benzene, paint
industries, processes generating high noise levels etc. Various occupational diseases like cancer, ear
deafness, lung diseases, poisoning, etc.

What is the function of competent person under Factories Act?

Under the provisions of Factories Act cranes, chain fully blocks, lifting tackles and all the pressure plants
which are used in the factories are required to be tested from the competent person within stipulated
time and the test certificate in form no. 12 & 13 is required to be maintained.

Also the solvent extraction plant is required to be tested from competent person before starting the
production and necessary certificate is required to the submitted.

As per Factories Act who is called a "competent person”?

Director, Industrial Safety & Health appoints certain persons or institute as competent person having
requisite qualifications and experience as per the criteria decided by the department. These persons or
institutes are called competent persons.

Female Workers
Under Factories Act what are the provisions mentioned about female
workers?

Female workers are not allowed or required to work in a factory between 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. For certain
processes they can work upto 10 p.m. only if government publishes notifications.

Which are the processes in which female workers are prohibited?

Following are the industries in which female workers and young persons are prohibited.

Lead battery, Glass, lead manufacturing, shot blasting, leather tanning, chromic acid, nitro amino
compounds, dangerous insecticides, manganese, benzene, paint industries which is uses carcinogenic
compounds etc.