The law in one paragraph

Sri Lanka's reporting rules sit in the Factories Ordinance No. 45 of 1942. Factory Inspecting Engineers of the Department of Labour enforce it. Section 61 covers accidents. Section 62 lets the Minister add dangerous occurrences, which the 1965 regulations do. Section 63 covers some industrial diseases.

The rules are not only for factories. Section 84 applies them to building and engineering construction works run as a trade or business. The person undertaking the works counts as the occupier. On most sites that means the contractor.

What counts as reportable

Section 61(1) covers an accident that does any of these to a person employed there:

  • kills them;
  • disables them for more than three days from earning full wages at their usual work;
  • makes them unconscious from heat, exhaustion, electric shock, or breathing in poisonous fumes or gases.
Dangerous occurrences

Some events must be reported even if nobody is hurt. The 1965 regulations list them. Examples are a bursting grinding wheel, a crane or hoist collapse, a crane overturning, a boiler explosion, and the collapse of a floor, wall or building. Some fires, explosions and electrical failures count too, depending on how long work stops.

Who reports, and to whom

The occupier or manager sends the notice. On an estate factory, the superintendent does. Reports go to the District Factory Inspecting Engineer for your district. Find your district office's address before you need it, and post it with the abstract of the Ordinance at the site entrance (s.90).

Contractor workers are a common gap. If the injured person works for someone else, the occupier must get a written notice from the actual employer. The occupier then sends it on forthwith (s.61(3)). Put this duty in every subcontract.

How fast

  • Accident: written notice "forthwith". The law sets no grace period, so send it the same day if you can.
  • Later death: if a worker you reported as disabled then dies, send written notice as soon as you learn of it (s.61(2)).
  • Dangerous occurrence: within three days of the event (1965 Regulations, reg. 3).
  • Lead, phosphorus, arsenic or mercury poisoning, or anthrax: the occupier sends written notice forthwith to the District Factory Inspecting Engineer and the authorised factory doctor. The treating doctor also reports to the Chief Factory Inspecting Engineer (s.63). Regulations can add more diseases to this list.

Which form

Accident notices follow Form 10 in the First Schedule to the Factories (No. 1) Regulations. It asks how the accident happened and its cause. It asks whether a machine was involved and whether it was moving. It records the injury and whether the worker lost more than three days' full wages. The occupier signs and seals it.

Dangerous occurrences go on Form 12. It asks where and how the event happened, and whether you entered it in the general register. Both forms are in the Department of Labour's published regulations. Keep printed copies on site.

Leave the scene alone

After an accident that kills a worker, nobody may touch or disturb the machinery or articles involved. That rule stands until a Factory Inspecting Engineer gives permission (s.61(4)). The only exception is to free or attend to the people involved.

Treat every serious accident the same way, even if the law does not require it. Cordon the area, take photos and save any CCTV.

What to keep

Every factory keeps a general register. Enter details of every accident and industrial disease you had to notify (s.92). For construction works, you may keep the register at the office of the person undertaking the works.

Keep the register and other records available for inspection for at least two years after the last entry (s.93). Keep a copy of every Form 10 and Form 12 with the date you sent it. If an inspector asks for register extracts, send them.

Penalties

Section 61 sets no express penalty, so the general fines in section 109 apply. A first offence carries a fine of at least Rs 5,000. A second offence brings Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,500. A third or later offence brings more than Rs 12,500, up to Rs 25,000. A continuing breach after conviction can add up to Rs 500 a day.

If a breach of the Ordinance causes a death or injury, the occupier can be fined up to Rs 100,000 more (s.111). The court may pay some or all of it to the injured person or their family. Directors and managers can be prosecuted too, where the offence involved their consent, connivance or neglect (s.108(5)).

The first hour

  • Make the area safe. Stop machines, isolate power and keep people back.
  • Give first aid and call an ambulance if needed.
  • If someone has died, touch nothing involved until an inspector says so, except to rescue or treat people.
  • Cordon off the scene, take photos and list witness names.
  • If the injured worker is a contractor's, ask their employer for written notice now.
  • Fill in Form 10 and send it to the District Factory Inspecting Engineer the same day.
  • Enter the accident in the general register.

Sources

  1. Factories Ordinance No. 45 of 1942 (Labour Code, Chapter 4, English), Department of Labour, Sri Lanka.
  2. Regulations and forms under the Factories Ordinance, including the Factories (Dangerous Occurrences Notification) Regulations 1965, Department of Labour, Sri Lanka.

This is practical guidance, not legal advice. Laws and codes of practice change; always check the current official text and your site's own procedures.