Can a contractor charge workers for safety shoes or helmets?

No. Section 6(1)(g) of the OSH Code 2020 requires every employer, which includes a contractor, to ensure no charge is levied on any employee for anything provided for safety and health at work. Under the Code on Wages, a cash payment to the employer counts as a deduction from wages, and tools required for the job are excluded from the amenities an employer may charge for.

Is the principal employer responsible for contract workers' PPE?

Partly. The contractor, as employer, owes the duty for its own workers, but section 6(1)(h) makes the employer of a factory responsible for the safety of everyone on its premises, and section 53 has the principal employer provide the health and safety facilities prescribed under section 23 to contract labour. Who buys the kit is set by contract; how far the site's duty reaches is for counsel.

Can a worker be fined for not wearing PPE?

Under section 106 of the OSH Code, an employee who contravenes a duty the Code places on employees can face a penalty of up to ₹10,000. Section 13 requires employees to comply with safety standards and not to misuse or neglect safety equipment. Reporting an unsafe situation, under section 13(d), is expressly excluded from the penalty.

Can the cost of lost PPE be recovered from a worker?

Only within the Code on Wages' limits. Section 18(2)(c) allows a deduction for goods expressly entrusted to the worker where the loss is directly attributable to the worker's neglect, and section 21 caps it at the actual loss and requires an opportunity to show cause first. Ordinary wear and replacement are the employer's cost. Whether a particular recovery is allowed is a question for counsel.

Who supplies PPE to contract workers?

The contractor as employer, with the site answerable for everyone on its premises, and the worker never pays. Section 6(1)(g) of the OSH Code 2020 requires every employer to ensure "no charge is levied on any employee" for anything provided for safety and health at work. The Code counts the contractor as an employer, and section 6(1)(h) makes a factory's employer responsible for every person on the premises.

Free of charge, whoever buys it

The worker never pays, in cash or through the payslip. Section 6(1)(g) bars any charge on an employee "in respect of anything done or provided for maintenance of safety and health at workplace", and the Central rules repeat the point wherever they call for protective gear: "free of charge". A helmet, safety shoes, gloves, goggles or a respirator issued because the work requires it fall squarely within that.

The Code on Wages closes the obvious workarounds. The Explanation to section 18(1) treats any payment an employee makes to the employer as a deduction from wages, so a cash "deposit" for a helmet is caught as surely as a line on the payslip. And the Explanation to section 18(2)(e) excludes "the supply of tools and raw materials required for the purposes of employment" from the amenities an employer may charge for. A worker who loses or damages kit through neglect is a different case: section 18(2)(c) allows a deduction for goods expressly entrusted to the worker, but section 21 caps it at the actual loss and requires a chance to show cause first. Whether a particular recovery fits is a question for counsel.

The contractor or the site

Both carry a duty, and the contract between them decides only who buys the kit. The OSH Code defines the employer to include the contractor (s.2(1)(u)), so each duty in section 6 binds the contractor for its own workers. Section 6(1)(h) then makes the employer of a factory, mine, dock, building site or plantation responsible for the safety and health of "employees, workers and other persons who are on the work premises", with or without its knowledge, which takes in a contractor's crew on the floor.

Duty	Contractor	Site (principal employer)
No charge to the worker for safety and health	Yes, as employer (s.6(1)(g))	Yes, as employer of its own staff (s.6(1)(g))
Safety of everyone on the premises	For its own work and workers	Yes, for factories, mines, docks, building work and plantations (s.6(1)(h))
Health, safety and working conditions under section 23	As employer	Provides them to contract labour under s.53
Who actually buys and issues the kit	Usually, under the contract	Sometimes, under the contract

The third row deserves attention. Section 53 says facilities "specified under section 23 and section 24 shall be provided by the principal employer" to the contract labour in the establishment. Section 23 is the Code's power to prescribe health, safety and working conditions, and several of the Central rules made for those conditions require protective equipment. On the words of section 53, then, a site cannot treat protective gear required by those rules as purely the contractor's concern. How far that reaches on a given site is for counsel; the practical answer is that the site checks the kit, whoever buys it.

What the rules require, and when

Protective gear is the last control, not the first. Rule 31 of the OSH (Central) Rules 2026, for building and construction work, lists the preventive measures in order: replace hazardous substances, then apply technical measures to the plant and process, and only where neither is possible, "appropriate personal protective equipment and protective clothing are provided free of charge". The same pattern runs through the other sector rules.

Wet or slippery floors. Rule 30 requires drainage and "suitable safety and protective gear free of charge" where floors in building work are liable to become wet.
Heat. Rule 25, for factories with artificial humidification, requires the risk assessment to take account of protective clothing, and notes that respirators are "less likely to be used in extremely hot working environments": kit that is unbearable to wear is not protection.
Hazardous processes in Tamil Nadu. The State's 2022 draft rules attach schedules for dangerous operations; the schedule for grinding and glazing of metals, for example, requires the occupier to provide breathing apparatus, gloves, shoes, helmets, goggles, earplugs and aprons to the relevant Bureau of Indian Standards specification [VERIFY: whether the final Tamil Nadu rules keep the schedule].

The worker's side of it

Use it, and don't misuse it. Section 13 of the OSH Code requires every employee to comply with the safety and health requirements in the standards, to cooperate with the employer, and not to "wilfully interfere with or misuse or neglect" any appliance or thing provided for health and safety. Section 106 makes an employee who breaches a duty under the Code liable to a penalty of up to ₹10,000, with reporting an unsafe situation under section 13(d) expressly left out. Section 14 gives the worker the right to information on health and safety and to complain about inadequate protection, to the employer and then to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator.

₹0charge to any employee for anything provided for safety and health (OSH Code s.6(1)(g))

₹10,000maximum penalty on an employee who breaches a duty under the Code (s.106)

₹50,000–₹1 lakhpenalty for contravening a provision of the Code or the rules (s.97(1))

What a site should check

The same kit as the site's own staff. A contract worker on the same task faces the same hazard. Kit specified by task, not by payroll.
An issue record. Who received what, when, and when it is due for replacement. Worn-out gloves and cracked helmets are as much a gap as missing ones.
No charges, no deposits. The contractor's wage register and payslips should show no deduction for kit, and nobody at the gate should be collecting a deposit for it.
Fit and use on the floor. Spot checks during the shift, not only at induction, and a route for the worker to say the kit does not fit or cannot be worn in the heat.

How Velura Services helps

We agree with your site who supplies each item of PPE before deployment, issue it free of charge with an issue register, and replace it when worn. Our supervisors check PPE on the floor at the start of every shift.

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Sources

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI — s.2(1)(u) (employer includes contractor), s.6(1)(g) (no charge on any employee for safety and health), s.6(1)(h) (responsibility for all persons on the premises), s.13 (duties of employees), s.14 (rights of employees), s.23 (health, safety and working conditions), s.53 (principal employer to provide s.23 and s.24 facilities to contract labour), s.97 (general penalty), s.106 (offences by employees). Opened and read.
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E) dated 8 May 2026 — r.25 (factories with artificial humidification; protective clothing in the risk assessment), r.30 (building work; protective gear free of charge on wet floors), r.31 (building work; hierarchy of controls; PPE free of charge). Opened and read from a mirrored copy of the Gazette [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Tamil Nadu) Rules, 2022 (draft), G.O. Ms. No. 38, 11 April 2022 — schedule on grinding or glazing of metals (see draft r.81), para 8 (personal protective equipment to BIS standards). Opened and read. Draft only.
The Code on Wages, 2019 (Act 29 of 2019), Gazette text hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment — s.18(1) Explanation (payment to employer is a deduction), s.18(2)(c) and (e) with Explanation (damage or loss; tools and raw materials not a chargeable service), s.21 (limits on deductions for damage or loss). Opened and read.