187

THE DOCK LABOURERS ACT.i

[India Act XIX. 1934 ]

Whereas a Revised Draft Convention concerning the protection against Preamble.
accidents of workers employed in loading or unloading ships was adopted at
Geneva on the twenty-seventh day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty-two;
And whereas it is expedient to give effect in the Union of Burma to the
said Convention ;
It is hereby enacted as follows :—
1. This Act shall come into force on such date as the President of the Commence­
ment and
Union may. by notification, appoint. It shall not apply to any ship of war application.
of any nationality.
2- In this Act. unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or Definitions.
context.—
(a) “the processes” includes all work which is required for or is
incidental to the loading or unloading of cargo or fuel into
or from a ship and is done on board the ship or alongside
it ; and
(b) “worker” means any person employed in the processes.
3. (/) The President of the Union may, by notification in the Gazette, Inspector*.
appoint such persons as he thinks fit to be Inspectors for the purposes of
this Act within such local limits as he may assign to them respectively.
(2) All Principal Officers of the Mercantile Marine Department shall
be Inspectors under this Act, ex officio, within the limits of their charges.
(J) Every Inspector shall be deemed to be a public servant within the
meaning of the Penal Code, and shall be officially subordinate to such authority
as the President of the Union may direct.
4. Subject to any rules made in this behalf under section 6, an Power» of
Inspeetoi ».
Inspector may, within the local limits for which he is appointed,—
(a) enter, with such assistants (if any) as he thinks fit, any premises
or ship where the processes are carried on ;
(b) make such examination of the premises or ship and the
machinery and gear, fixed or loose, used for the processes,
and of any prescribed registers and notices, and take on the
spot or otherwise such evidence of any person as he may
deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act ;
anil . ..
(c) exercise any other powers which may be conferred upon him
by the regulations made under section 5.
5. (/) The President of the Union may make regulations—
(a) providing for the safety of working places on shore and of any Power to
President
regular approaches over a dock, wharf, quay or similar to make
regulations.
l This Act has not yet been brought into force.
 Dock Labourers.

premises which workers have to use for going to or from a

working place at which the processes are carried on, and
for the lighting and fencing of such places and approaches ;
(b) prescribing the nature of the means of access which shall be
provided for the use of workers proceeding to or from a ship
which is lying alongside a quay, hulk or other vessel :
(c) prescribing the measures to be taken to ensure the safe transport
of workers proceeding to or from a ship by water and the
conditions to be complied with by the vessels used for the
purpose ;
(d) prescribing the nature of the means of access to be provided for
the use of the workers from the deck of a ship to a hold in
which the processes are carried on ;
{e) prescribing the measures to be taken to protect hatchways
accessible to the workers and other ORenings in a deck which
might be dangerous to them ;
(/) providing for the efficient lighting of the means of access to
ships on which the processes are carried on and of all places
on board at which the workers are employed or to which
they may be required to proceed ;
(g) providing for the safety of the workers engaged in removing or
replacing hatch coverings and beams used for hatch
coverings ;
(h) prescribing the measures to be taken to ensure that no hoisting
machine or gear, whether fixed or loose, used in connection
therewith, is employed in the processes on shore or on board
ship unless it is in a safe working condition ;
(/) providing for the fencing of machinery, live electric conductors
and steam pipes ; .
(/) regulating the provision of safety appliances on derricks, cranes
and winches ;
(k) prescribing the precautions to be observed in regard to exhaust
and live steam ;
(/) requiring the employment of competent and reliable persons to
operate lifting or transporting machinery used in the processes,
or to give signals to a driver of such machinery, or to attend
to cargo falls on winch ends or winch drums, and providing
for the employment of a signaller where this is necessary for
the safety of the workers ;
(m) prescribing the measures to be taken in order to prevent
dangerous methods of working in the stacking, unstacking,
stowing and unstowing of cargo, or handling in connection
therewith ;
(m) prescribing the precautions to be taken to facilitate the escape
of the workers when employed in a hold or between decks in
dealing with coal or other bulk cargo ;
 Dock Labourers• 189

(o) prescribing the precautions to be observed in the use of stages

and trucks ;
(p) prescribing the precautions to be observed when the workers
have to work where dangerous or noxious goods are, or have
been, stowed or have to deal with or work in proximity to
such goods ;
(q) providing for the rendering of first-aid to injured workers and
removal to the nearest place of treatment ; .
(r) prescribing the provision to be made for the rescue of immersed
workers from drowning ;
(s) prescribing the abstracts of this Act and of the regulations
required by section 8 ;
(/) providing for the submission of notices of accidents and dangerous
occurrences and prescribing the forms of such notices, the
persons and authorities to whom they are to be furnished, the
particulars to be contained in them and the time within
which they are to be submitted;
(w) specifying the persons and authorities who shall be responsible
for compliance with regulations made under this Act;
(v) defining the circumstances in which and conditions subject to
which exemptions from any of the regulations made under
this section may be given, specifying the authorities who
may grant such exemptions and regulating their procedure ;
(tv) defining the additional powers which Inspectors may exercise
under clause (c) of section 4 ; and
(jc) providing generally for the safety of workers.

(2) Regulations made under this section may make special provision
to meet the special requirements of any particular port or ports.
(3) In making a regulation under this section, the President of the
Union may direct that a breach of it shall be punishable with fine which
may extend to five hundred rupees, and when the breach is a continuing
breach, with a further fine which may extend to twenty rupees for every day
after the first during which the breach continues.

6. The President of the Union may make rules regulating — Power to

make rules.
(a) the inspection of premises or ships where the processes are
carried on ; and
(f>) the manner in which Inspectors are to exercise the powers
conferred on them by this Act.

7. (l) The power to make regulations and rules conferred by sections General
provision*
5 and 6 is subject to the condition of the regulations and rules being made relating to
after previous publication. regulation*
and rule*.
(2) Regulations and rules shall be published in the Gazette-
 190 Dock Labourers■

Abstracts of 8 There shall be affixed in some conspicuous place near the main
.

Act and entrance of every dock, wharf, quay or similar premises where the processes
regulations
to be con­ are carried on, in English and in the language of the majority of the workers,
spicuously the abstracts of this Act and of the regulations made thereunder which may
posted.
be prescribed by the regulations.

Penalties 9. Any person who—

(a) wilfully obstructs an Inspector in the exercise of any power under
section 4, or fails to produce on demand by an Inspector any
registers or other documents kept in pursuance of the
regulations made under this Act, or any gear, fixed or loose,
used for the processes, or conceals or prevents or attempts
to prevent any person from appearing before, or being
examined by. an Inspector, or
(b) unless duly authorized, or in case of necessity, removes any
fencing, gangway, gear, ladder- life-saving means or appliance,
light, mark, stage or other thing required to be provided by
or under the regulations made under this Act. or
(c) having in case of necessity removed any such fencing, gangway,
gear, ladder, life-saving means or appliance, light, mark, stage
or other thing, omits to restore it at the end of the period
for which its removal was necessary,
shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.

Provisions 10- (/) No Court inferior to that of a Magistrate of the first class shall
relation to try any offence under this Act or the regulations made thereunder.
jurisdiction.
(2) No prosecution for any offence under this Act or the regulations
made thereunder shall be instituted except by or with the previous sanction
of an Inspector.
(J) No Court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act or
the regulations made thereunder, unless complaint thereof is made within
six months of the date on which the offence is alleged to have been
committed-
Power to 11. The President of the Union may. by notification in the Gazette,
exempt.
exempt from all or any of the provisions of this Act and of the regulations
made thereunder, on such conditions, if any. as he thinks fit.—
(«) any port or place, dock, wharf, quay or similar premises at
which the processes are only occasionally carried on or the
traffic is small and confined to small ships, or
(ft) any specified ship or class of ship.12

Protection 12- No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against
to persons any person for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done
acting under
this Act. underjthis Act.