TN govt issues show cause notice to Wipro Enterprises; finds factory not following COVID SOPs, labour laws

Tamil Nadu's Industrial Safety and Health Department has issued show cause notice to hydraulic cylinder maker Wipro Enterprises Pvt Ltd for violating Factories Act and allied labour laws at its plant near here.

The Department officials inspected the plant last week and also found it was not following COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for safety.

The government officials found several discrepancies against the COVID-19 safety SOPs:

-Some workers were not wearing masks during work and transportation;

-Social distancing not followed in canteen, toilets, workplace and transportation;

-Lack of handwashing facilities at the gate with sufficient running water and liquid soap;

-Absence of sanitisation facilities in many parts of the factory;

-Shop floor, canteen, toilets and other places are not disinfected regularly;

-Non-provision of pedal operated water dispensers and use and throw water cups;

-Full time medical officer not available as per the worker strength;

-Only three workers above the age of 45 have been vaccinated out of the eligible 41 workers.

The Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health said that it cannot take action against the factory under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005 and the report has been forwarded to the District Collector, Kancheepuram.

The workers' union United Labour Federation (ULF) has approached the Madras High Court against the company and the Tamil Nadu government's order allowing certain units to function during the COVID-19 lockdown.