National Safety Awards (MINES)-2015 & 2016

Occupational safety, health and welfare of persons employed in all mines – coal, metalliferous and oil – all over the country is the concern of the Central Government. Provisions for occupational safety of persons employed in mines are contained in the Mines Act, 1952, and the Rules and Regula­tions framed thereunder. The responsibility of implementation of the provisions of the Mines Act and the legislation framed thereunder lies with the mine management. The Directorate General of Mines Safety under the Ministry of Labour & Employment oversees compliance of the same through a system of periodic inspection and inquiry. Recognizing the need for involvement of the work persons in safety and health matters, the government has been promoting the concepts of “Self-Regulation” and “Participative Management” with a view to influence human behavior at work so that a real breakthrough in accident prevention could be achieved. A variety of safety educational/ promotional measures have been conceived, formulated and promoted from time to time for the cause of safety. National Safety Awards (Mines) Scheme is one such measure. To promote a competitive spirit amongst mine operators for the betterment of safety standards in mines and give due recognition to outstanding safety performance at the national level, the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, instituted the National Safety Awards (Mines) in 1983 as the contest year 1983 with 1984 as Award year.

For the purpose of the contest for National Safety Awards (Mines) all mines have been divided into 7 different groups depending upon the type of mineral and nature of workings. The indicators of safety performance for determining eligibility of these awards are:

• Longest accident free period (LAFP) in terms of man shifts workedduring three consecutive years ending with the contest year
• Lowest injury frequency rate (LIFR) during three consecutive years ending with the contest year

To scrutinize and adjudge applications from mines for awards, a tripartite National Safety Awards Committee has been constituted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Committee comprises of eight representatives from mine managements, eight representatives from trade unions and Government represented by Director General as Chairman and one officer of DGMS as its.

Member Secretary. In total 19 Winner prizes and 19 Runner-up prizes are awarded for each contest year. The award for each mine is received jointly by one management representative and one workers’ representative.

However, in the context year 2015 one nomination each in the Winner and Runner category and in the context year 2016 one nomination in the runner category, were not found eligible.  Accordingly, a total of 37 Winner prizes and 36 Runner-up prizes will be given away by the Hon’ble Vice-President of India on 16^th December, 2019 at 1630 – 1730 hours at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.