Understanding Factory Act Requirements: Who Can Conduct Employee Medical Tests?

I have joined the HR department, and the statutory compliances I have to fulfill. A factory inspector visited our factory and remarked to conduct a Medical Test of employees by a certified surgeon.

My query is, who is a certified surgeon, as every registered surgeon is a certified surgeon? So, under the factory act, can any certified surgeon conduct a medical test for occupational diseases, or is a particular surgeon appointed by the authority/Industrial health and safety department?

Dear Jadhav,

I believe any certified surgeon is authorized to conduct a medical test, and you can forward the test reports to the Factory Inspection Office.

Hi Brijesh,

There is a Medical Officer appointed in the Inspectorate department. If you contact the Safety Cell at your Inspector of Factories office, you will come to know the Medical Officer appointed for this purpose. The Medical Officer appointed by the Factories Inspectorate department is authorized to conduct Medical Examinations. To conduct the medical examination, you need to pay the fees to the Deputy Chief Inspector/Inspector of Factories, as the case may be.

Hope this clarifies.

Chandrasekaran.V:-x

Hi Brijesh,

A CS is a doctor qualified in industrial health appointed by the State Govt for the purpose of factory medical inspection; he can also conduct Pre-employment Medicals. There are very few CSs in the state.

Also, a Factory Medical Officer qualified in industrial health can conduct medical examinations. I am a Qualified Factory Medical Officer from the Ministry of Labour, Government of India.

Hope this information helps you.

Regards,
Dr. Sanjay

Certifying surgeons are very few, but they can delegate some of their powers to factory medical officers so that the officers can sign off on health registers, etc.

Role of Certifying Surgeon and Factory Medical Officer

The certifying surgeon is appointed by the state government, and there is also a chief certifying surgeon appointed by the state government. However, every factory shall have a factory medical officer as per the number of employees working in the unit. Hence, the factory medical officer shall conduct the pre-medical and periodical medical examinations of the employees.

In the case of hazardous or dangerous operations, the medical examination and specific tests as per the Indian Factories Act need to be completed, and the records must be maintained for a specific period of time. These records are inspected by the Inspector of Factories, and failing to maintain them invites a penalty.