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REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99
The Gazette of India
EXTRAORDINARY
PART II—Section 3—Sub-section (i)
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
No. 103] NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2026/MAGHA 15, 1947
CG-DL-E-11022026-270040
815 GI/2026 (1)
MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 4th February, 2026
G.S.R. 109(E).—The following regulations, which the Central Government proposes to make in exercise of powers conferred by Sections 136 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (37 of 2020) are hereby notified as required by sub-section (1) of Section 134, for information of all persons likely to be affected thereby and notice is hereby given that the said draft notification will be taken into consideration after the expiry of a period of 45 days from the date on which the copies of the Official Gazette in which this notification is published are made available to the public; Objections and suggestions, if any, may be addressed to Shri Ravishankar Nirala, Under Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Room No: 17, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi or by email (ravis.nirala@nic.in and cmcdgms1@gmail.com). The objections and suggestions should be sent in a proforma containing columns (i) specifying the name and address of the persons and organizations and column (ii) specifying the rule or sub-rule which is proposed to be modified and column (iii) specifying the revised rule or sub rule proposed to be submitted and the reasons therefore; Objections and suggestions, which may be received from any person or organization with respect to the said draft notification before expiry of a period of 45 days, specified above, will be considered by the Central Government.
Draft Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Metalliferous Mines) Regulations, 2026 prescribed under section 136 of the OSH&WC Code, 2020 for Mines Workers.
CHAPTER - I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, commencement, application and extent. – (1) These regulations may be called the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Metalliferous Mines) Regulations, 2026.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
(3) They shall apply to every mine other than a coal or an oil mine.
(4) They extend to the whole of India.
2. Definitions. – (1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) “abandoned working” means such working as have been abandoned with no intention of working in future;
(b) “adit” means a horizontal or near-horizontal entrance to an underground mine for the purposes of access and egress, mineral extraction, ventilation and drainage of water;
(c) “approved safety lamp” and “approved electric torch” mean respectively, a safety lamp or an electric torch of such type as the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator may, from time to time, specify by a general or special order;
(d) “assistant manager” means a person possessing a Manager’s Certificate appointed in writing by the owner, agent or manager to assist the manager in the management, control, supervision and direction of the mine or part thereof, and who holds the rank immediately below the manager and superior to a mining supervisor and an assistant mining supervisor;
(e) “assistant mining supervisor” means a person possessing a Manager’s or Mining Supervisor’s or Assistant Mining Supervisor’s Certificate, appointed by the manager in writing, under any designation whatsoever, to perform the duties of assistant mining supervisor under these regulations;
(f) “auxiliary fan” means a forcing fan or an exhausting fan used belowground wholly or mainly for ventilating one or more faces forming part of a ventilating district;
(g) “average employment” of any mine, means the average number of persons employed per day in the mine or part of the mine during the preceding calendar year, from first day of January to thirty first day of December (obtained by dividing the number of man days worked by the number of working days excluding the rest days and other non-working days);
(h) “average output” of any mine, means the average output per month during the preceding calendar year of the total output from all workings within the specified mine boundaries;
(i) “bellman” means a person appointed to superintend the raising and lowering of persons, tools, materials and to transmit signals at any inset, landing or shaft bottom;
(j) “blaster” means a person possessing a Manager’s, Mining Supervisor’s, Assistant Mining Supervisor’s or Blaster’s Certificate and appointed by the manager in writing to perform the duties of a blaster under these regulations;
(k) “booster fan” means a mechanical ventilator used belowground for boosting the whole current of air passing along the intake or return airway of a mine or ventilating district;
(l) “Box cut” means an initial or first rectangular open cut made to provide secure and safe entrance as access to develop a mineral deposit;
(m) “calendar year” means a year from first day of January to the thirty first day of December;
(n) “Code” means the Occupational, Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020;
(o) “consultant” means a firm or a person or persons who provide(s) expert or strategic advice services involving specific, intellectual and procedural processes using established technologies, and methodologies and the outcomes are primarily of a non-physical nature.
(p) “decline” means a passage from surface to belowground or from one part of belowground working to another part other than shaft generally used for person and/or machinery movement;
(q) “deep-hole drilling and blasting” means drill holes made more than three meters in depth and used for blasting in an opencast mining operation;
(r) “designer” means an individual, association of individuals, company or institution who designs a metalliferous mining system, method of metalliferous mining, machinery, plant, equipment, appliance or substances for use in metalliferous mines;
(s) “development heading” in relation to an underground mine, means any box cut, drive, cross-cut, tunnel, adit, incline, decline, drift, ramp, raise, winze, or shaft which is driven to provide access and services to underground workings;
(t) “diesel particulate matter” means a component of diesel exhaust that includes tiny (soot) particles with absorbed organic compound made up primarily of carbon, ash, metallic abrasion particles, sulphates, nitrates and silicates;
(u) “discontinued working” means such working in a mine as have been discontinued for any reason and are inaccessible or rendered inaccessible but are likely to be worked again;
(v) “disused working” means such working in a mine where work has been temporarily stopped, but which are accessible and include unused working;
(w) “electrical supervisor” means a person possessing qualification and experience as defined in these regulations, appointed by the manager in writing, under the designation whatsoever, to perform the duties of supervision or control of erection, commissioning, repair, maintenance, decommissioning and safe working of electrical installation placed under his or her charge, who shall be subordinate to an engineer;
(x) “electrician” means a person duly licensed or permitted under regulation 31 of the Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023, and appointed and authorised in writing by the owner, agent or manager of a mine under regulation 117 thereof, to carry out electrical work in a mine under the supervision of an electrical supervisor holding a valid Certificate of Competency;
(y) “explosive” shall have the same meaning as is assigned to it in the Indian Explosives Act, 1884 (4 of 1884);
(z) “Exposure Action Value (EAV)” means a level of quantum of daily exposure to vibration which when crosses certain value, employers are required to take action to control the vibration level and is expressed in meters per second squared (m/s2), on eight hourly average basis i.e. A (8).
Explanation: A (8) means average (A) exposure over an eight (8)-hour in a day.
(za) “Exposure Limit Value (ELV)” means the maximum quantum of vibrational exposure that a workman is exposed to, in a day for eight hours, on an average and is expressed in meter per square second, on eight hourly average basis i.e. A (8).
(zb) “face” means the moving front of any working place or the inbye end of any drive, level, crosscut, raise or winze, etc.,;
(zc) “fire hydrant system” means a system of pipe network connected directly to the water supply main to instantly provide water to deal with fire;
(zd) “flame proof enclosure” shall have the same meaning as defined under the Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023;
(ze) “Form” means a form as may be specified by an order or instruction by the Chief Inspector-cum Facilitator under these regulations;
(zf) “gas” includes fume or vapour;
(zg) “general body of air” means the general atmosphere in the working belowground and includes the atmosphere in the roof cavities, but does not include general atmosphere in the sealed off area or in any borehole drilled in the ore or waste rock;
(zh) “haulage attendant” means a trained and authorized person employed in connection with haulage operations in a mine, who assists in the safe movement of tubs, mine cars, or other conveyances, and performs duties related to coupling, uncoupling, signaling, track switchover operation and supervision of the haulage roadway, in accordance with the provisions of the Code, regulations and orders made thereunder;
(zi) “haulage engine operator” means a competent and authorized person who is responsible for the safe operation, control, and supervision of a haulage engine used for hauling tubs, wagons, mine cars, or other loads in a mine, whether on the surface or underground, in accordance with the provisions of the Code, regulations and orders made thereunder;
(zj) “haul road” means any passage or road, which is maintained and used in connection with the working of opencast mines for plying of machinery within the precincts of a mine;
(zk) “Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM)” means machinery used in opencast mines for digging, drilling (excluding hand held drills and drill machines capable of drilling hole of a diameter up to fifty milli meters), compacting, dredging, cutting, hydraulicking, ripping, dozing, grading, excavating, mobile water sprinkler, loading or transporting material;
(zl) “inset” means a landing or platform in a shaft, and includes an excavation therefrom between the top and the bottom of the shaft;
(zm) “intrinsically safe” shall have the same meaning as defined under the Central Electricity Authority (Measures relating to Safety and Electric Supply) Regulations, 2023 as amended from time to time;
(zn) “landing” means any floor or platform in a shaft, or winze, which is authorized by mines manager as stopping place of the cage or other means of conveyance;
(zo) “locomotive” means a rail mounted self-propelled machinery used for hauling tub or train of tubs for transportation of material in mine;
(zp) “locomotive operator” means a person who is authorized by the mine manager in accordance with the provisions of this regulations, and is competent to drive and control a locomotive, including its braking, signalling and safety systems, used in a mine;
(zq) “manager” means a manager appointed under Section 67 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020;
(zr) “manufacturer” means an