There has been a slight uptick in reporting of injuries suffered by employees at the workplace among the top 1,000 listed companies in the past two years, following the issuance of guidelines by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in 2021, but not all companies are reporting all such incidents, said experts.
Besides, injury reporting is more robust regarding white-collar employees than the blue-collar workforce, they said.
According to recent data from Prime Database, shared exclusively with ET, 268 companies reported 5,244 work-related injuries to white-collar employees in 2022-23, compared to 392 companies reporting 9,867 injuries to blue-collar workers during the financial year.
The figures marked an increase from 234 companies reporting 4,908 injuries to white-collar employees in 2021-22 and 367 companies reporting 9,212 injuries to blue-collar workers during the fiscal, the data showed.
“Most Indian companies are evolving in their practices for health, safety and well-being. However, a significant challenge remains the mass underreporting of incidents among blue-collar workers,” said Kartik Narayan, CEO-staffing at Teamlease Services. “This underreporting is starkly contrasted with better incident reporting rates among white-collar employees, who are generally more aware of safety protocols.”
Pranav Haldea, managing director, Prime Database, said, “Data is presently available only for the last two years which shows an uptick in the number of companies (and incidents) reporting both work-related injuries and fatalities.”
Ankita Ray, partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, said the guidelines lack clarity. “Unlike certain legislations that clearly define the various categories of injuries/disablement and prescribe certain corresponding implications, there is no such clarity in the BRSR (Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting) guidelines. This ambiguity may lead to inconsistent implementation.”
The Employee’s Compensation Act broadly classifies work related injuries as partial (where capacity to work is reduced) and total disablement (where employee is incapacitated to work), said Ray.
Companies across sectors are scaling up safety measures for white-collar and blue-collar employees, according to industry executives.
InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo), which is among the companies reporting injuries at the workplace, said in response to ET’s queries, “Steps have been taken to maintain the highest standards of safety. IndiGo tracks and reports all workplace safety incidents.”
Of 726 cases reported by the company for 2022-23, about 95% involved minor incidents or required only first aid, the company said.
