(1) Where, by any law for the time being in force, notice is required to be given to any authority, by or on behalf of an employer, of any accident occurring in his premises which results in death or serious bodily injury, the person required to give the notice shall, within seven days of the death or serious bodily injury, send a report to the competent authority giving the circumstances attending the death or serious bodily injury:
Provided that where the State Government has so specified, the person required to give the notice may instead of sending such report to the competent authority send it to the authority to whom he is required to give the notice.
Explanation.---For the purposes of this sub-section, "serious bodily injury" means an injury which involves, or in all probability will involve the permanent loss of the use of, or permanent injury to, any limb, or the permanent loss of or injury to the sight or hearing, or the fracture of any limb, or the enforced absence of the injured person from work for a period exceeding twenty days.
(2) The State Government may, by notification, extend the provisions of sub-section (1) to any class of premises other than those coming within the scope of that sub-section, and may, by such notification, specify the persons who shall send the report to the competent authority.
(3) Nothing in this section shall apply to establishments to which Chapter IV, relating to Employees' State Insurance Corporation, applies.