Factories Ordinance trumps Shop and Office Act on safety

The Shop and Office act is yet to mandate to the same extent health and safety regulation as the factory’s ordinance. Eng. (Dr.) B K U A Wickramasinghe noted the failure to mandate regulations on par with the Factories Ordinance while also maintaining appropriate measures for the varying nature of work poses a threat to social equity.

These issues were discussed in a recent lecture on health, safety, environmental, and quality management, Eng. (Dr.) B K U A Wickramasinghe at the IESL highlighting the significant evolution of Sri Lanka’s industrial safety legislation. Addressing an audience at the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission, Dr. Wickramasinghe delved into the legislative milestones that shaped workplace safety in the country.

“The first steps toward safeguarding workers in factories were taken in 1942 with the introduction of the Factories Ordinance,” Dr. Wickramasinghe explained. This law, he noted, was a critical advancement in protecting the health and safety of employees, primarily aimed at workers in the industrial sector. The ordinance marked a new era in the protection of factory workers, setting the foundation for future regulations.

Many buildings earmarked for office space across the country have been actively retrofitted with air conditioning and due to poor managerial practices, these are not actively serviced.

Dr. Wickramasinghe traced the evolution of the ordinance through multiple revisions, highlighting its adaptability to changing industrial demands. “The Factories Ordinance was first revised in 1948, with Ordinance No. 45 issued by the Department of Labor,” he said. This early revision, just a few years after its inception, reflected the growing need to refine safety standards in response to the expanding industrial landscape of post-colonial Sri Lanka.

The legislation saw further updates with the Factories Amendment Act No. 54 of 1961 and the Factories Amendment Law No. 12 of 1976. These revisions aimed to address the gaps in worker safety protocols, providing clearer guidelines for employers and strengthening the regulatory framework for ensuring health and safety in the workplace.

Despite these advancements, Dr. Wickramasinghe noted a key limitation of the Factories Ordinance—its exclusive focus on factory workers, excluding employees in other sectors like shops and offices. “Shops and offices are covered under a different law, the Shop and Office Employees Act. This, unfortunately, manifests as an injustice to non-factory workers since safety and health are as vital to them,” he remarked.

While the Factories Ordinance was groundbreaking for its time, the exclusion of non-industrial workers created a gap in protections that persisted for decades. Dr. Wickramasinghe pointed out that in many other countries, this gap has been addressed by extending workplace safety regulations to cover all employees, except domestic servants.

“Injustice has been rectified in many other countries by extending the coverage to all employees,” he added, suggesting that Sri Lanka could benefit from similar reforms.

Due to lacuna’s in the law company’s for instance involved in industrial printing may have employees registered under the Shop and Office Act precluding them from safety measures linked to the operation of chemically intensive manufacture on the same premises.

“Safety and health are fundamental rights for all workers,” Dr. Wickramasinghe concluded. “We must strive to ensure these rights are upheld in every workplace, not just in factories.” (TP)

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