Ss40-01 Necessities of Occupational Health and Safety Training in Indian Informal Sectors

Introduction Workers in the Indian informal sector are involved with different occupations. They are facing with various work-related hazards. Ultimately, they develop several health and safety related issues. For the betterment of health and safety at work, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code was passed by the Parliament in September 2020. The part of the money collected through fines imposed under the Code is allocated to a social security fund. However, the social security arrangements for the vulnerable poor in general, and informal workers in particular, have been very minimal. Moreover, these welfare schemes have a minimum effect on the prevention of health and safety hazards. Materials and Methods All the information has been collected from government records, newspapers and websites. Results Approximately 90% of Indian workers are engaged in the informal sectors. The Indian government has taken some initiatives to improve the socio-physiological needs of the informal sector workers by introducing different welfare schemes. Most of the cases in informal sectors, health and safety related issues are developed due to poor awareness of the occurrence of provable risks of work. This is highly related to the lack of training and education in informal sectors on the identification and rectification of health and safety related hazards. Conclusions Short-duration training, education and awareness programs may develop the skills among the informal workers to identify health and safety hazards, and to respond to emergencies. Interactive animations and short videos on basic safety and health issues may be helpful to improve safety and health awareness.