LIFTING APPLIANCE AND GEAR UNDER BOCW ACT, 1996

There are more than 28 million skillful and amateur workers involved in the construction sector in India. The area is labor-intensive, and most of the laborers are amateur, disorganized, and tend to work under inhuman and pathetic circumstances. To address before-mentioned working conditions and inadequate health and security standards in the real estate enterprise, the Government of India passed the Building and Other Constructions Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 (later on referred to as the "BOCW Act"). The BOCW Act is social welfare legislation that aims to serve workers involved in building and constructing activities over the country.

The Government has addressed the BOCW Act and ratified in parliament in 1996, essentially taking care of the workers engaged in construction activities. The contractors may not concentrate on the safety aspect of the lifting appliances. That's why the Act requires the contractors to ensure that all the lifting devices are required to be investigated by the authorized Third Party duly recognized/authorized by the appropriate Government. Whenever there is a variation in the configuration of Lifting appliances, and if there is no difference that took place then, every year, the lifting appliances must be investigated by a third party, and a certificate to that effect must be collected and maintained by the contractors.

The following material has been produced from the BOCW Rules. The following rules may differ from state to state.

The construction and maintenance of lifting appliances.

Every employer shall assure at a construction site that-

(a). All lifting appliances, including their parts and functioning gear, whether fixed or adjustable and any plant or gear used in anchoring, authoring or adjustment of such appliances, are-

(i). of stable construction, reliable material, and satisfactory strength to sub serve the objective for which these are to be used and all such appliances shall be free from patent errors; and

(ii). kept in good repair and working state;

(b). (i). Every pulley around which the rope of any lifting appliance is carried is of adequate diameter and reliable construction concerning such rope;

(ii). any rope which ends at the turning drum of a lifting appliance is securely attached to such drum and, at least 3,  dead turns of such rope remain on such drum in every working state of such lifting appliance;

(iii). the rim of a drum protrudes twice the rope diameter beyond the outermost layer of such rope and, if such projection is not accessible, shall provide other measures like anti-slackness guards to restrict such rope from coming off such drum;

(c). every lifting appliance is outfitted with adequate and effective brakes, which –

(i). are capable of preventing the collapse of a suspended load (including any test load) and of adequately controlling such load while it is being lowered;

(ii). work without shock;

(iii). have shoes that can be removed for running; and

(iv). are provided with manageable and easily accessible means of adjustment.

(d) Controls of each lifting appliance,-

(i). are so located that the driver of such appliance at his stand or seat has adequate room for operating and has a free view of construction work as far as possible and that he remains clear of the load and ropes and that no-load passes over him;

(ii). are placed with due regard to ergonometric factors for proper handling of such appliance;

(iii). are so positioned that the driver remains above the height of the heel block during the whole process of such device;

(iv). have upon them or, next to them clear tagging to indicate their purposes and way of operations;

(v). are provided, where a proper locking device to prevent accidental movement or displacement is required;

(vi). move, as far as possible, in the direction of the resultant load movement; and

(vii). wherever automatic brakes are applied, it automatically comes to the neutral state in case of power breakdown.

Test and periodical inspection of lifting appliances.

The employer shall ensure at the construction place that-

(a). all lifting apparatuses are experimented with and examined by a qualified person before taking into use for the first time or after it has undergone any modifications or repairs likely to influence its strength or stability or after erection on a construction site, in the manner specified in Schedule - I;

(b). all lifting appliances are thoroughly inspected by a qualified person once at least every 12 months.

Self-starting safe load indicators.

(a). Every employer shall ensure at a construction area of a building or other construction work that,-

(i). every crane, if so constructed that may alter the safe functioning load by elevating or dropping of the jib or contrarily, is connected with an automatic indicator of secure working loads which gives a warning to the operator wherever the load surpasses the safe working load;

(ii). a cut-out is provided which automatically captures the movements of the lifting parts of each crane if the load surpasses the safe working load, wheresoever practicable;

(b). the provisions of sub-clause (i) of sub-rule (1) apply, 

Except where it is not feasible to establish an automatic safe load indicator, in which case, terms of a table showing the safe working loads at the corresponding inclinations or radius of the jib on the crane shall be considered satisfactory.

These are just some provisions of the BOCW act which provide rules and regulations about lifting appliances and gear. There is a long list which deals with them.