Govt appoints L&T's Subrahmanyan to help frame factory safety rules

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday appointed SN Subrahmanyan, chief executive and managing director of engineering major Larsen&Toubro (L&T) as the chairman of National Safety Council (NSC) to help the labour ministry formulate occupational safety guidelines for factories.

"Subrahmanyan’s experience will guide the National Safety Council which has a major role to play to ensure safety in workplaces under new Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. The NSC will assist Directorate General, Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) in re-writing the regulations governing OSH in the country, which have not been updated for over 50 years,” the labour ministry said in a statement.

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Subrahmanyan will be heading NSC for three years.

The DGFASLI functions under the ministry of labour and employment and assists it in formulating national policies on occupational safety and health in factories and docks. It also advises factories on safety, health, efficiency and wellbeing of employees at workplace.

“The NSC will also be involved in framing the scheme for third party audit and certification under the OSH Code,” the ministry said, adding that NSC is already working on the safety rating of establishments based on their OSH readiness and performance, which can be extended across the country and linked to the inspection system.

In addition to heading L&T Ltd, Subrahmanyan, an eminent civil engineer, is also the vice chairman on the boards of L&T Technology Services, chairman of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd, and vice chairman of the recently acquired IT and outsourcing company, Mindtree.