Yes. Under the OSH (Central) Rules 2026, a factory or mine with more than 50 workers needs a lunchroom or rest room where employees can eat (r.56). A canteen run to rule 53 counts instead. Lockers, bathing places and space to dry wet clothes are required where the nature of the work calls for them (r.50–51). Where a contract crew works on the site's premises, rule 86(1)(iii) makes them the principal employer's to provide.
Lunchrooms and rest rooms: the 50-worker line
A factory or mine where more than 50 workers are ordinarily employed must provide a sufficient and suitable lunchroom, with drinking water and washing facilities, where employees can eat their meals (r.56(i)). Section 24(2)(iii) of the OSH Code 2020 is the source. It allows the Centre to require separate shelters or rest rooms for male, female and transgender employees, and a lunchroom, in every factory and mine above 50 workers. Rule 56(ii) requires the facilities to be kept separate for men, women and transgender employees.
The room has a standard, not just a door. Rule 56(iii) requires it to be lit, ventilated and kept clean, with walls and roof of heat-resisting material, a roof at a suitable height, enough floor area for the people using it at any one time, and seating and tables. A canteen maintained under rule 53 counts as compliance (proviso to r.56(ii)). A site that crosses 100 workers and runs a canteen, as the Code requires at that size, usually meets both rules with one room.
Lockers, bathing places and changing space
These are required where the work makes them necessary, not at a headcount. Section 24(1)(ii) and (iii) of the OSH Code list bathing places and locker rooms, and a place to keep clothing not worn during working hours and to dry wet clothing. Rules 50 and 51 set the standard, each qualified by "as may be necessary owing to the nature of work":
| Facility | Rule | What it must be |
|---|---|---|
| Bathing places | r.50(i) | Separate for men, women, transgender employees and employees with disabilities; away from the work area; ventilated and drained; lockable from inside; signed in English or Hindi and the local language; water, soap and towels |
| Lockers | r.50(ii) | Separate, easily reached, for clothing worn during working hours and for special clothing worn at work but not taken home |
| Clothes storage and drying | r.51(i) | Separate installations for keeping clothes not worn during working hours and for drying them |
| Seating for standing work | r.52; OSH Code s.24(1)(iv) | Reasonable seating, without detriment to the work, for employees obliged to work standing |
"Necessary owing to the nature of work" is a judgement, and an inspector makes it on the floor. The clearest cases are work that changes clothes or soils them: a crew in coveralls, cleanroom gowns, food-handling whites, or anything with dust, oil, chemicals or heat. A worker who arrives in their own clothes and changes into PPE needs somewhere to leave the first set. A worker who handles chemicals should not take their work clothes home. Rule 50(ii) names that second case: "special clothing which is worn by any employee at work but is not taken home".
Who provides them for a contract crew
The site does, by name. Section 53 of the OSH Code requires the principal employer to provide the section 23 and 24 facilities to contract labour in its establishment. Rule 86(1)(iii) lists them: where a contractor's crew works on the principal employer's premises, "it shall be the responsibility of the principal employer to provide the facilities or amenities such as toilet, washroom, drinking water, bathing facilities if required, changing room, first aid box, canteen and crèche". Anything not on that list stays with the contractor under rule 86(1)(iv).
In practice the gap is space rather than intent. A site sizes its locker bank and lunchroom for its own payroll, then adds a contract shift that changes in the corridor and eats on the dock. The contract can set who pays for extra lockers or a second lunchroom shift. It cannot leave the crew without them. Whether a particular arrangement meets the rules is a question for the site's own counsel.
What to check before the next contract shift starts
- The count. Workers ordinarily employed, direct and contract, against 50 for the lunchroom, 100 for the canteen and 250 for a welfare officer.
- The sitting. Seats in the lunchroom for the largest group that eats at once, including the contract shift's break, not just the day staff's.
- The lockers. One per person on any shift that changes clothes or wears PPE it does not take home, separate by gender and with accessible units.
- The route. Lunchroom and changing space reachable from where the crew works, in the shift it works. Where women work at night, rule 83(d) asks for well-lit routes to facilities.
- The contract. A clause saying the crew uses the site's facilities, and who pays for any expansion, so access is never what gets negotiated.
How Velura Services helps
We count our crew into your welfare planning before deployment, so lunchrooms, lockers and changing space are sized for the full floor rather than the payroll alone. If a contract shift needs extra space, we raise it at the Requirement stage and agree the arrangement with you in writing.
Sources
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI. Sections cited: s.24(1)(ii)–(iv) (bathing places, locker rooms, clothing storage and drying, seating), s.24(1)(v) (canteen at 100 workers including contract labourers), s.24(2)(iii) (shelters, rest rooms and lunchroom above 50 workers in factories and mines), s.53 (principal employer provides s.23 and s.24 facilities to contract labour). Opened and read.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E) dated 8 May 2026. Rules cited: r.50 (bathing places and lockers), r.51 (clothes storage and drying), r.52 (seating), r.53 (canteen), r.56 (shelters, rest rooms and lunchrooms), r.57 (welfare officers), r.83(d) (lit routes for women at night), r.86(1)(iii)–(iv) (facilities the principal employer provides to contract labour). Opened and read from a mirrored copy of the Gazette [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].