A mid-sized packaged-food plant in Tamil Nadu had an unannounced inspection that found four gaps in the records for its contract crew. None involved an accident, so the Inspector-cum-Facilitator gave the site thirty days to comply before any prosecution, as section 110 of the OSH Code 2020 requires for a first lapse. The site asked us to take over the crew and close the gaps inside the window. This is a representative composite; no single client is described.
The situation
The plant cooked, packed and dispatched snack foods, with a small direct workforce in quality and maintenance and a contract crew of about 120 on the lines and in the warehouse [VERIFY: composite]. Nothing had gone wrong. There had been no accident, no complaint and no dispute. The inspection arrived the way the Code now allows it to: section 34(3) lets the appropriate government run a web-based inspection scheme with "randomised selection of establishment and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator for inspection" [VERIFY: whether this visit came through the State's scheme is part of the composite].
The inspector asked for what section 35(1)(vi) allows: "any register or any other document relating to the workplace or work activity". The site's own records were in order. The contract crew's were not on the premises, and the ones the incumbent contractor produced later that day had gaps.
What the notice found
| Gap recorded [VERIFY: composite] | What the rules require |
|---|---|
| The contract crew's attendance register-cum-muster roll was kept at the contractor's office, not produced at the site on the day | Registers produced on demand before the Inspector-cum-Facilitator (OSH (Central) Rules 2026, r.72(1)(vi)); the inspector can require any document relating to the workplace (s.35(1)(vi)) |
| Wage register entries in English only | Entries in English or Hindi and in the local language (r.72(1)(v)) |
| About a third of the crew had never received a wage slip; slips were printed only on request | Wage slips issued electronically on or before the day of payment (r.72(2), Form XVI) |
| No notice of periods of work displayed for the evening shift | Notice displayed at conspicuous places and a copy sent to the inspector (r.71, Form XII) |
None of the four meant that anyone had been paid short. The wages themselves reconciled. But three of the four were about records existing, being produced and being readable, which is where the penalties are heaviest: section 99 sets a penalty of ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh for failing to make or furnish a required register, record or notice, twice the general penalty of ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh in section 97.
What we did inside the thirty days
- Days 1 to 3: took over the crew's records. The incumbent contractor was leaving. We rebuilt the employee register, muster roll and wage register for the crew from its payroll and the site's gate records, and reconciled headcount before anything else.
- Days 3 to 8: put the registers into Tamil as well as English. Rule 72(1)(v) requires the local language. The registers were moved to a bilingual electronic format, with names and entries in both.
- Days 5 to 12: issued wage slips to every worker, electronically, and walked the crew through them. Slips for the current wage period went to each worker's phone, and supervisors showed each worker how to open and read one. From the next pay run, slips went out on or before pay day as rule 72(2) requires.
- Day 6: displayed the notice of periods of work for both shifts, in the canteen and at each shift entry, and sent a copy to the inspector.
- Days 12 to 19: built the on-site evidence pack and walked it with the site's HR head before reporting compliance.
The site reported compliance to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator on the nineteenth day, with the pack attached [VERIFY: composite]. Whether a particular compliance report closes a particular notice is the inspector's call and, if contested, a question for the site's counsel; section 114 separately lets many penalties be compounded, at half the maximum penalty, if a matter does go further. Here it did not need to [VERIFY: composite outcome].
What the site now keeps on hand
The durable change was a monthly evidence pack for the contract crew, held at the site, updated on a fixed day, and checked by the site's HR rather than assumed from the contractor. The registers stay the contractor's to keep, because section 2(u) counts the contractor as an employer and rule 72 places the duty on every employer; the pack exists so that the site can produce them at the gate.
| In the pack | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Employee register, muster roll and wage register for the crew | At the contractor's office | Current copy on site, bilingual [VERIFY: composite] |
| Wage slips | Printed on request | Issued electronically on or before pay day; sample checked monthly |
| Notice of periods of work | Day shift only | Both shifts, and copied to the inspector |
| PF and ESI challans and the contractor's licence | Filed at head office | Latest copies in the pack |
| Muster roll reconciled against the gate register | Never | Monthly, signed off by the site's HR [VERIFY: composite] |
The point carries to any site with a contract crew. An inspection is mostly a test of whether records exist, can be produced on the spot and can be read by the people they describe. A site that holds its contractor's records only by reference fails the first question before anything is examined. Which gaps a particular site must fix, and how responsibility is shared with a contractor, are for that site's counsel and contract. This composite describes a method, not an outcome.
How Velura Services helps
When an inspection finds gaps in a contract crew's records, Velura works through the findings with your site, rebuilds what is missing from source records and closes each item inside the window. After that, the monthly evidence pack keeps the same records ready for the next visit.
Sources
- Figures are a representative composite drawn from our own deployments; no single client is described. Founder to confirm or replace before publish.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI — s.2(u) (employer, including contractor), s.34(3) (web-based, randomised inspection scheme), s.35(1)(vi) (production of registers and documents), s.97 and s.99 (penalties), s.110(1) (thirty-day opportunity to comply; exceptions for accidents and repeats within three years), s.114 (compounding). Opened and read.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E) dated 8 May 2026 — r.71 (notice of periods of work, Form XII), r.72 (registers in Forms XIII to XV, local language, production on demand, wage slips in Form XVI on or before pay day). Opened and read from a mirrored copy of the Gazette [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original; a Tamil Nadu establishment follows the State's forms once its rules are final].