Labour Hub › OSHWC Code › Sections › Section 23

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 · V

Section 23: Responsibility of employer for maintaining health, safety and working conditions

Reviewed by Finin2min Editorial Desk · Last reviewed 30 August 2026

Section 23 — Governs responsibility of employer for maintaining health, safety and working conditions and the rights, duties, powers or procedure expressly stated in this section. Key operative text: (1) The employer shall be responsible to maintain in his establishment such health, safety and working conditions for the employees as may be prescribed by the Central Government.

Full official textSource checked: 20 August 202627 direct Central Rule link(s)

Current-law status

All provisions were brought into force from 21 November 2025 under S.O. 5321(E), subject to the Central/State appropriate-Government split and provision-specific appointments/notifications.

Primary sources

Provision / India Code ↗ · Official Act PDF ↗ · 2026 Central Rules ↗

Finin2min analysis — what the section actually does

Operative clauses

(1) The employer shall be responsible to maintain in his establishment such health, safety and working conditions for the employees as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred under sub-section (1), the Central Government may prescribe for providing all or any of the following matters in the establishment or class of establishments, namely:— (i) cleanliness and hygiene;
(vi) adequate standards to prevent overcrowding and to provide sufficient space to employees or other persons, as the case may be, employed therein;

Provisos, explanations & qualifications

No proviso/explanation was separately extracted from this section text.

Thresholds and timelines in the text

No explicit day/month/year/hour/percentage/rupee expression was detected in this section text.

Actors expressly appearing in the text

Employer, Employee / worker, Central Government

Full statutory text — Section 23

Official English text transcribed from the current India Code consolidation; page headers/line breaks are normalised for web reading. The Gazette/India Code PDF remains authoritative for typography, amendment footnotes and schedules.

23. Responsibility of employer for maintaining health, safety and working conditions.—(1) The
employer shall be responsible to maintain in his establishment such health, safety and working conditions
for the employees as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
   (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred under sub-section (1), the Central
Government may prescribe for providing all or any of the following matters in the establishment or class
of establishments, namely:—
      (i) cleanliness and hygiene;
      (ii) ventilation, temperature and humidity;
      (iii) environment free from dust, noxious gas, fumes and other impurities;
      (iv) adequate standard of humidification, artificially increasing the humidity of the air, ventilation
   and cooling of the air in work rooms;
      (v) potable drinking water;
      (vi) adequate standards to prevent overcrowding and to provide sufficient space to employees or
   other persons, as the case may be, employed therein;
      (vii) adequate lighting;
     (viii) sufficient arrangement for latrine and urinal accommodation to male, female and transgender
   employee separately and maintaining hygiene therein;
      (ix) effective arrangements for treatment of wastes and effluents; and
      (x) any other arrangement which the Central Government considers appropriate.
                                                    CHAPTER VI
                                             WELFARE PROVISIONS

How to apply this provision

Primary statutory test — (1) The employer shall be responsible to maintain in his establishment such health, safety and working conditions for the employees as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
Additional operative limb — (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred under sub-section (1), the Central Government may prescribe for providing all or any of the following matters in the establishment or class of establishments, namely:— (i) cleanliness and hygiene;
Central Rule mapping — 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48. Read the mapped provision together with this text rather than treating the concordance as a substitute for it.
Evidence file — retain facts and records proving the role/status of: Employer, Employee / worker, Central Government.

Why this is section-specific: the operative-clause, exception, threshold and cross-reference panels above are extracted from Section 23 itself rather than a generic “trigger/control/evidence” template.

Rules, forms and cross-references

Direct 2026 Central Rule mapping

Rule 22 Rule 23 Rule 24 Rule 25 Rule 26 Rule 27 Rule 28 Rule 29 Rule 30 Rule 31 Rule 32 Rule 33 Rule 34 Rule 35 Rule 36 Rule 37 Rule 38 Rule 39 Rule 40 Rule 41 Rule 42 Rule 43 Rule 44 Rule 45 Rule 46 Rule 47 Rule 48

Forms mapped

No prescribed form is directly mapped in the current concordance.

Other sections cited in this text

None expressly mapped in the current concordance.

Related Labour Hub resources

State overlays Forms Labour litigation

A direct concordance is not exhaustive. Central/State jurisdiction, schemes, authority appointments, saved instruments and later notifications may change the practical route without changing the section wording.

Worked example

For an establishment affected by responsibility of employer for maintaining health, safety and working conditions, the compliance owner should identify the applicable sector and authority, document the prescribed control/notice/record and retain inspection or training evidence. A text point to test is: “(1) The employer shall be responsible to maintain in his establishment such health, safety and working conditions for the employees as may be prescribed by the Central Government.” Read the mapped Central Rule(s) 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48.

Illustration only; it is not statutory text or a substitute for applying the actual facts, jurisdiction, current rule/scheme and official instrument.

Q&A — Section 23

What does Section 23 of the OSHWC Code cover?

What is the main legal requirement or power in Section 23?

The first operative clause identified from the official text is: “(1) The employer shall be responsible to maintain in his establishment such health, safety and working conditions for the employees as may be prescribed by the Central Government.” Read it with the remaining subsections and any proviso below.

Does Section 23 contain a proviso or explanation?

No standalone proviso or explanation was extracted from this section text. Check the full text below for clause-level qualifications.

What time limit, percentage or amount appears in Section 23?

No explicit day/month/year/hour/percentage/rupee expression was detected in the official section text.

Which 2026 Central Rules are linked to Section 23?

The current concordance maps Section 23 to Central Rule(s) 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48.

Is Section 23 currently operative?

All provisions were brought into force from 21 November 2025 under S.O. 5321(E), subject to the Central/State appropriate-Government split and provision-specific appointments/notifications.

Source & verification trail

Act: Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 — official India Code PDF ↗

Central Rules: Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026 — G.S.R. 345(E), 8 May 2026 ↗

Official library: Ministry of Labour & Employment — Labour Codes ↗

Source check: 20 August 2026. Individual professional interpretation should be re-reviewed when the section, rules, notification, scheme, State overlay or controlling judgment changes.

Reliance note: This page is an educational legal-reference layer. Verify the current official text, the applicable Central/State rules, notifications, schemes and judicial decisions before acting on a live matter.