BOCW ACT

BOCW ACT
• It extends to the whole of India.
• It shall be deemed to have come into force on the
1st day of March, 1996.
• It applies to every establishment which employs, or
had employed on any day of the preceding twelve
months, ten or more building workers in any
building or other construction work
 Construction work
Construction, alteration, repairs, maintenance or
demolition, of or, in relation to, buildings, streets, roads,
railways, tramways, airfields, irrigation, drainage,
embankment and navigation works, flood control works
(including storm water drainage works), generation,
transmission and distribution of power, water works
(including channels for distribution of water), oil and gas
installations, electric lines, wireless, radio, television,
telephone, telegraph and overseas communications, dams,
canals, reservoirs, watercourses, tunnels, bridges, viaducts,
aqueducts, pipelines, towers, cooling towers, transmission
towers
 Drinking water

Legibly marked ―Drinking Water

No such point shall be situated within six metres of any
washing place, urinal or latrine
Lifting and carrying of excessive weight:-An employer
shall ensure at a construction site of a building or other
construction work that— (a) no building worker lifts by
hand or carries overhead or over his back or shoulders any
material, article, tool or appliances exceeding in weight
the maximum limits set out in the following table:
Maximum Weight Load
Adult man 55 kg
Adult woman 30 kg
Adolescent male 30 kg
Adolescent female 20 kg
 Accommodation

The employer shall provide, free of charges and within

the work site or as near to it as may be possible,
temporary living accommodation to all building workers
Creches
 Creches

• more than fifty female building workers are

ordinarily employed, there shall be provided and
maintained a suitable room or rooms for the use of
children under the age of six years of such female
workers.
• Under control of a woman
 Provision of canteen and FIRST AID

First aid:-Every employer shall provide in all the places

where building or other construction work is carried on
such first-aid facilities as prescribed

Canteens, etc.:- to provide and maintain in every place

wherein more than two hundred and fifty building
workers are ordinarily employed, a canteen for the use
of the workers;
 Notice of accidents

• Notice of certain accidents- Where in any establishment

an accident occurs which causes death or which causes
any bodily injury by reason of which the person injured is
prevented from working for a period of forty-eight hours
or more immediately following the accident, or which is
of such a nature as may be prescribed, the employer shall
give notice thereof to such authority, in such form and
within such time as may be prescribed
 Excessive noise, vibration,

• Noise level in no case exceeds the limits laid down in

Schedule VI
• No exposure in excess of 115 dBA is to be permitted.
 Emergency action plans-
Employer shall ensure at a construction site that in case
more than five hundred building workers are employed,
site emergency action plan shall be established to handle
the potential emergencies.
 Fire and explosion;
 Collapse of lifting appliances and transport equipment;
collapse of building, sheds or structures, etc.;
 Gas leakage or spillage of dangerous goods or
chemicals;
Drowning of building workers sinking of vessels; and
Land slides getting building worker buried, floods,
storms and other natural calamities,
 Number of safety officers

• Up to 1000 building workers—one Safety Officer.

• Up to 2000 building workers—two Safety Officers.
• Up to 5000 building workers—three Safety Officers.
• Up to 10,000 building workers—four Safety Officers.
 PPE for all

• Use of safety helmets and shoes- The employer shall

ensure that all persons who are performing any work
or services at construction work, wear safety shoes
and helmets conforming to the national standards
 Safety Committee

Safety committee Establishments, wherein 500 or more

building workers are ordinarily employed, safety
committee shall be constituted by employer
1. represented by equal number of representative of
employer and building worker
2. Safety committee shall meet least once in a month
3. Chaired by person having overall control over affairs
of site
 CATCH PLATFORM

•
 Catch PLATFORM

(a) catch platform is not used for storage of material or

as a working platform;
(b) catch platform is at least two meters wide and is
inclined so that the position of outer edge of such
platform is fifteen hundred millimeters higher than the
inner edge;
(c) the open end of catch platform is properly fenced
to the height more than one metre.
 Fire Protection
Fire protection - Employer shall ensure at a construction site
that, -
1. Sufficient fire extinguishing equipment,
2. Adequate water supply at ample pressure as per national
standards;
3. Number of trained persons required to operate the fire
extinguishing equipment
4. Fire extinguishers shall be properly maintained and inspected
at regular intervals of not more than one year
5. adequate number of portable fire extinguishing equipment
of suitable type shall be provided for transport of building
workers and the cabin of every lifting appliance including
mobile crane,
 Fencing of motors-- etc
• All motors, cogwheels, chains and friction gearing,
flywheels, shafting, dangerous and moving parts of
machinery (whether or not driven by mechanical power)
and steam pipes are securely fenced or lagged
• No part of any machinery which is in motion and which
is not securely fenced is examined, lubricated, adjusted
or repaired except by a person skilled for such
examination, lubrication, adjustment or repairs;
Dangerous Environment

• Only after getting certified by the responsible person to be

safe and fit for the entry, building worker is allowed to
enter any confined space or tank or trench or excavation

• When an internal combustion engine exhausts into a

confined space or excavation ,sufficient measures either
artificial or natural ventilation to be given to bring down
CO level below 50 ppm.
 Slipping, tripping, cutting, drowning and falling
hazards
• Avoid sharp projections or protruding nails
• All passageways, platforms should be free from
accumulations of dust, debris
• Every open side or opening into work shall be covered or
guarded (Example : Lift shaft, septic tank manhole,
Windows opening, Balcony)
• safety net is provided to avoid fall of person
• Dust, gases, fumes within permissible
concentration
• Eye Protection:-Suitable personal protective
equipment for the protection of eyes shall be
provided by an employer for welding, cutting,
chipping, grinding
• Vehicular Traffic:
comply with the requirements of the Motor Vehicles Act
• Numbering and marking of floors:
• Stacking of materials not on edge of floor
• Disposal of debris:
 Electrical hazards
• All temporary electrical installations are provided
with earth-leakage circuit breakers (ELCB)
• Earthed properly
• Made of sound material
• Double insulated wires to be used with ISI marks
Construction and maintenance of lifting appliances
• sound material, and of adequate strength
• The flange of drum project twice the rope diameter
beyond the last layer of rope
• Automatic brakes are provided when the load exceeds
Permissible load
• automatically come to the neutral position in case of
power failure.
• situated that the driver of such appliance at his stand or
seat has ample room for operating and has an unrestricted
view of building or other construction work
• three dead turns of such rope remain on such drum in
every operating position of such lifting appliance;
 Test and periodical examination of lifting
appliances:
• Examined by a competent person before being
taken into use for the first time
• After it has undergone any alterations or repairs
• Competent person once at least in every twelve
months
• Once at least in every five years, in the manner
specified in Schedule I
• a chain in use is thoroughly examined once at
least every month by a responsible person for its
use;
 Automatic safe load indicators FOR CRANES
• Every crane is attached with a automatic indicator of safe
working loads which gives a warning to the operator
wherever the load exceeds the safe working load;
• Cut-out is provided which automatically arrests the
movements of the lifting parts of every crane if the load
exceeds the safe working load,
• Where it is not possible to install a automatic safe load
indicator, in which case, provision of a table showing the
safe working loads at the corresponding inclinations or radii
of the jib on the crane shall be considered sufficient.
 Operator’s cab or cabin
made of fire resistant material;
has a suitable seat, a footrest and protection from
vibration;
 Affords the operator an adequate view of the area of
operation;
 Affords the necessary access to working parts in cab;
 Affords the operator adequate protection against the
weather;
 Adequately ventilated; and
 Provided with a suitable fire extinguisher
 Operation of lifting appliances
• no person under eighteen years of age is to give signals to
the operator;
• lifting operator possess adequate skill and training
• Not loaded beyond the safe working load
• operator does not leave lifting appliance unattended while
power is on or load is suspended
• long objects like planks or girders are provided with a tag
line to prevent any possibility of danger while raising or
lowering such objects
 Test and periodical examination of wire Ropes
• Inspected by a responsible person for such use, once at
least in every three months
• Provided that after any such wire is broken in such rope,
it shall thereafter be inspected once at least in every
month by the responsible person;
 Hoists carrying persons:
• Fitted with efficient interlocking such that Gate cannot
be opened except when such cage is at a landing place
and that such cage cannot be moved away from any such
place until such gate is closed.
• Efficient automatic devices to ensure that the cage of such
hoist comes to rest at a point above the lowest point to
which such cage may travel.
 Tower Crane
• The ground on which a tower crane stands has adequate
bearing capacity;
• Cranes are erected at a reasonably safe distance from
excavations
• tower cranes are sited in a way that the loads on such
cranes are not handled over any occupied premises,
public, thoroughfares, railways or near power cables,
other than construction works for which such cranes are
used;
Qualification of operator of lifting winches and of
signaler-

1 is above eighteen years of age;

2 is sufficiently competent and reliable;
3 possesses the knowledge of the inherent risks
involved in the operation; and
4 is medically examined periodically as specified in
Schedule VII
 Bulldozers:-
Operator of a bulldozer before leaving bulldozer should
• Applies the brakes;
• Lowers the blade and sipper; and
• Puts the shift lever into neutral;
• Bulldozer is left on level ground at the close of the work
for which such bulldozer is used
• The blade of a bulldozer is kept low when such bulldozer
is moving uphill;
• The bulldozer blades are not used as brakes except in an
emergency.
 Road rollers

(a) before a road roller is used on the ground,

such ground is examined for its bearing
capacity and general safety, especially at the
edges of slopes such as embankments on
such grounds;
(b) A roller is not moved downhill with the
engine out of gear.
 General safety:-

• every vehicle or earth moving equipment is equipped

with— (i) silencers; (ii) tail lights; (iii) power and
hand brakes; (iv) reversing alarm; and (v) search light
for forward and backward movement
• at least one metre from the adjacent face of a ground
being excavated;
• when a crane or shovel are travelling, the boom of
such crane or shovel is in the direction of such travel
• shovel is raised and without load, except when such
travelling is downhill.
 Why to calculate fire load
• 1. To calculate water requirement
• 2. To claim insurance
• 3. To access potential and need for preventive
steps