<p>India in 2025 is increasingly industrialised, with a substantial amount of employment being generated in the unorganised and organised sectors. The introduction of artificial intelligence, data analytics, and system-driven processes is significantly transforming the nature of work. This evolution brings both risks and rewards, underscoring the importance of human safety, the need for trained occupational health physicians, and the allocation of resources to health infrastructure in shared workspaces.</p>.<p>Workplace transformation needs mainstreaming not only in the organised sector but also in the unorganised sector, which employs a much larger workforce. Over the decades, the nature of work has changed considerably, calling for a better system to protect workers, safeguard all kinds of employees, and ensure fairness for employers. The Occupational Health Act must balance the employer–employee relationship so neither side feels unduly burdened. It must also extend safety nets beyond the existing provisions of the Factories Act and the Mines Act.</p>.<p>New service sectors – such as Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), IT, and food and goods delivery platforms--have created avenues for employment but also led to issues such as cheap labour, poor health safeguards, stakeholder apathy, multiplicity of statutory controls, and infrastructure challenges.</p>.<p>Given the limited number of trained occupational health physicians and rising concerns around mental health and work-related stressors, there is an urgent need to train more occupational health physicians capable of handling technology-driven systems. This would promote equitable access and social justice. This also paves the way to factor in all types of work and integrate the line department of the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare since the Ministry of Public Health does not yet exist in India.</p>.<p>A comprehensive Occupational Health Act would also warrant increased spending on occupational health, which must improve as well. There remains a large burden of undiagnosed and unreported occupational health-related diseases, which often snowball into larger health issues. Budgetary constraints for employers, coupled with changing socio-economic conditions, pose fresh challenges – but also opportunities to strengthen the employer-employee relationship.</p>.<p>The Factories Act (1948), the Mines Act (1952), the Contract Labour Act (1970), and the Building and Other Construction Workers Act (1996) should be consolidated into a single, robust Occupational Health Act 2025 protecting workers and providing support to employers. Further, the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, should be replaced by an Employer Employee Social Protection Act, 2025, to better reflect present-day realities.</p>.<p><strong>Focus on preventive health</strong></p>.<p>Years of neglect and disconnect between occupational health and work-related consequences have resulted in grossly poor public attention to preventive health. Many citizens, including the workforce, ignore health concerns until they become complicated and severe. Unhealthy dietary habits, preference for fast food, consumption of oil and fried items, and sedentary lifestyles have disrupted metabolism and led to critical health conditions. The proposed Occupational Health Act should emphasise preventive health and family medicine, laying the foundation for a health-conscious workforce.</p>.<p>The Government of India must support all employers, organisations, and non-profits with a scheme for annual health check-ups by bearing the cost for such initiatives. This will lead to social protection besides also building the consciousness for preventive health in India. Institutes of Public Health must be tasked to work with line ministries to strengthen implementation gaps, create capacity-building initiatives, undertake research and policy programmes and provide supportive hand-holding to industries. Consultants in preventive health and family medicine can be tapped to increase the access and coverage of occupational health issues in the country, and they can support employers and employees in making risk-informed policy and planning. Institutes of public health can further indulge in creating protocols of workplace risk assessment, monitoring of workplace hazards, effective health surveillance and creation of safety nets.</p>.<p>Restructuring the medical curriculum for preventive and family medicine both at the MBBS level and the MD level will serve to orient a new cadre of workforce. Post-MD Preventive Medicine, a six-month fellowship in occupational medicine, will also support addressing the shortage that exists, and it would provide for the creation of a pool of talents available for providing service in the occupational medicine space. As it stands today, the preventive medicine curriculum lacks depth and emphasis, besides also lacking exposure to address the occupational health needs. For a vast and diverse population base like India, nurturing MD preventive health physicians into occupational medicine will leapfrog policy gaps in the labour space and also support the creation of a healthy nation.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is honorary director, Edward & Cynthia Institute of Public Health, Mangaluru.)</em> </p>
<p>India in 2025 is increasingly industrialised, with a substantial amount of employment being generated in the unorganised and organised sectors. The introduction of artificial intelligence, data analytics, and system-driven processes is significantly transforming the nature of work. This evolution brings both risks and rewards, underscoring the importance of human safety, the need for trained occupational health physicians, and the allocation of resources to health infrastructure in shared workspaces.</p>.<p>Workplace transformation needs mainstreaming not only in the organised sector but also in the unorganised sector, which employs a much larger workforce. Over the decades, the nature of work has changed considerably, calling for a better system to protect workers, safeguard all kinds of employees, and ensure fairness for employers. The Occupational Health Act must balance the employer–employee relationship so neither side feels unduly burdened. It must also extend safety nets beyond the existing provisions of the Factories Act and the Mines Act.</p>.<p>New service sectors – such as Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), IT, and food and goods delivery platforms--have created avenues for employment but also led to issues such as cheap labour, poor health safeguards, stakeholder apathy, multiplicity of statutory controls, and infrastructure challenges.</p>.<p>Given the limited number of trained occupational health physicians and rising concerns around mental health and work-related stressors, there is an urgent need to train more occupational health physicians capable of handling technology-driven systems. This would promote equitable access and social justice. This also paves the way to factor in all types of work and integrate the line department of the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare since the Ministry of Public Health does not yet exist in India.</p>.<p>A comprehensive Occupational Health Act would also warrant increased spending on occupational health, which must improve as well. There remains a large burden of undiagnosed and unreported occupational health-related diseases, which often snowball into larger health issues. Budgetary constraints for employers, coupled with changing socio-economic conditions, pose fresh challenges – but also opportunities to strengthen the employer-employee relationship.</p>.<p>The Factories Act (1948), the Mines Act (1952), the Contract Labour Act (1970), and the Building and Other Construction Workers Act (1996) should be consolidated into a single, robust Occupational Health Act 2025 protecting workers and providing support to employers. Further, the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, should be replaced by an Employer Employee Social Protection Act, 2025, to better reflect present-day realities.</p>.<p><strong>Focus on preventive health</strong></p>.<p>Years of neglect and disconnect between occupational health and work-related consequences have resulted in grossly poor public attention to preventive health. Many citizens, including the workforce, ignore health concerns until they become complicated and severe. Unhealthy dietary habits, preference for fast food, consumption of oil and fried items, and sedentary lifestyles have disrupted metabolism and led to critical health conditions. The proposed Occupational Health Act should emphasise preventive health and family medicine, laying the foundation for a health-conscious workforce.</p>.<p>The Government of India must support all employers, organisations, and non-profits with a scheme for annual health check-ups by bearing the cost for such initiatives. This will lead to social protection besides also building the consciousness for preventive health in India. Institutes of Public Health must be tasked to work with line ministries to strengthen implementation gaps, create capacity-building initiatives, undertake research and policy programmes and provide supportive hand-holding to industries. Consultants in preventive health and family medicine can be tapped to increase the access and coverage of occupational health issues in the country, and they can support employers and employees in making risk-informed policy and planning. Institutes of public health can further indulge in creating protocols of workplace risk assessment, monitoring of workplace hazards, effective health surveillance and creation of safety nets.</p>.<p>Restructuring the medical curriculum for preventive and family medicine both at the MBBS level and the MD level will serve to orient a new cadre of workforce. Post-MD Preventive Medicine, a six-month fellowship in occupational medicine, will also support addressing the shortage that exists, and it would provide for the creation of a pool of talents available for providing service in the occupational medicine space. As it stands today, the preventive medicine curriculum lacks depth and emphasis, besides also lacking exposure to address the occupational health needs. For a vast and diverse population base like India, nurturing MD preventive health physicians into occupational medicine will leapfrog policy gaps in the labour space and also support the creation of a healthy nation.</p>.<p><em>(The writer is honorary director, Edward & Cynthia Institute of Public Health, Mangaluru.)</em> </p>
