In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “Act” means the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 [Central Act No. 27 of 1996];
(b) “access” or “egress” means passage-ways, corridors, stairs, platforms, ladders or any other means, to be used by a building worker for normally entering or leaving the work place or for escaping in case of any danger;
Section 40 Section 2 [Extract from the Punjab Govt. Gaz. (Extra.), dated the 1st October, 2008] 2
(c) “approved” means approved in writing by the Chief Inspector or the State Government, as the case may be;
(d) “base plate” means a plate for distributing the load from a standard in the case of metal scaffolds;
(e) “bay” in relation to scaffolds, means that portion of the scaffold which exists between horizontal or vertical supports whether standards or supports from which the portion is suspended, which are adjacent longitudinally;
(f) “brace” means a member, incorporated diagonally in a scaffold for stability;
(g) “bulkhead” means an airtight structure, separating the working chamber from free air or from another chamber under a lower pressure than the working pressure;
(h) “caisson” means an air and water tight chamber in which it is possible for men to work under air pressure greater than atmospheric pressure at sea level to excavate material below water level;
(i) “cofferdam” means a structure, constructed entirely or in part below water level or below the level of the water table in the ground and intended to provide a place for work, that is free of water;
(j) “competent person” means a person or an institution recognized as such and so approved by the Chief Inspector, who belongs to a testing establishment in India, possessing adequate qualification, experience and skill for the purpose of testing, examination or annealing and certification of lifting appliances, lifting gears, wire ropes or pressure plant or equipment;
(k) “compressed air” means air mechanically raised to a pressure higher than the atmospheric pressure at sea level;
(l) “construction site” means any site at which any of the processes or operations, related to a building or other construction work, are carried on;
(m) “contribution” means the sum of money payable to the fund by the beneficiary;
(n) “conveyor” means a mechanical device used in building or other construction work for transport of the building material, articles, or packages or solid bulk from one point to another point;
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(o) “danger” means danger of an accident or of injury or to health;
(p) “decanting” means the rapid decompression of persons in a man-lock to atmospheric pressure at sea level followed promptly by their recompression in a decant lock, where they are then decompressed according to the appropriate decompression table in accordance with approved decompression procedures;
(q) “demolition work” means the work incidental to or connected with the total or partial dismantling or razing of a building or any other structure and shall include removal of muck to a place, ordered by the officer in-charge of the work of a principal employer;
(r) “excavation” means the removal of earth, rock or other material in connection with the construction or demolition work;
(s) “falseworks” means the structural supports and bracing for form-works or forms;
(t) “family” means the husband or wife, minor sons (including major sons who are insane or physically handicapped and unable to earn), unmarried daughters and the parents of the building worker, who are solely dependant on him;
(u) “flashpoint” means the minimum liquid temperature at which a spark or flame causes an instantaneous flash in the vapour space above the liquid;
(v) “form” means a form, approved to these rules;
(w) “frame or modular scaffold” means a scaffold, manufactured in such a way that the geometry of the scaffold is pre-determined, and the relative spacings of the principal members are fixed;
(x) “guardrail” means a horizontal rail, secured to uprights and erected along the exposed sides of scaffold, floor openings, runways and gangways to prevent persons from falling;
(y) “hazard” means danger or potential danger;
(z) “hazardous substance” means any substance, which due to its explosiveness, inflammability, radio-activity, toxic or corrosive properties, or other similar characteristics, may—
(i) cause injury; or 4
(ii) affect adversely the human system; or
(iii) cause loss of life or damage to property on workenvironment, while handling, transporting or storing and classified as such under the national standards or in case such national standards do not exist, to the generally accepted international standards or accepted by the Chief Inspector;
(za) “high pressure air” means air, used to supply power to pneumatic tools and devices above atmospheric pressure at sea level;
(zb) “independent tied scaffold” means a scaffold, the working platform of which is supported from the base by two or more rows of standards and which apart from the necessary ties, stands completely free of the building;
(zc) “ledger” means a member spanning horizontally and tying scaffolding, longitudinally and which acts as a support for putlogs or transoms;
(zd) “lifting appliance” means a crane, hoist, derrick, winch, gin pole, sheer legs, jack, pulley block, lift or other equipment, used for lifting materials, objects or, building workers;
(ze) “lifting gear” means ropes, chains, hooks, slings and other accessories of a lifting appliance;
(zf) “lock attendant” means a person incharge of a man-lock or medical-lock and who is immediately responsible for controlling the compression, recompression or decompression of the persons in such locks;
(zg) “low pressure air” means air, supplied to pressure the working chambers, man-locks or medical-locks;
(zh) “magazine” means a place in which explosives are stored or kept whether above or below ground;
(zi) “man-lock” means any lock, other than a medical-lock, used for the compression or decompression of a person entering or leaving a working chamber;
(zj) “material hoist” means a power or manually operated and suspended platform or bucket operating in guide rails and used for raising or lowering material exclusively, and operated and controlled from a point, outside the conveyance;
(zk) “material-lock” means a chamber through which materials and 5 equipments pass from one air pressure environment into another;
(zl) “medical-lock” means a double compartment lock, used for the therapeutic recompression and decompression of the persons suffering from the ill effects of decompression;
(zm) “national standards” means standards as issued by Bureau of Indian Standards and in the absence of such standards, the standards approved by the Central Government or the State Government or the International Standards adopted by the principal employer, for a specific purpose;
(zn) “outrigger” means a structure projecting beyond the façade of a building with the inner end being anchored, and includes a cantilever or other support;
(zo) “plant or equipment” includes any plant, equipment, gear, machinery, apparatus or appliance, or any part thereof;
(zp) “pressure” means air pressure in bars above the atmospheric pressure;
(zq) “pressure plant” means the pressure vessel along with its piping and other fittings operated at a pressure, greater than the atmospheric pressure;
(zr) “principal employer” means the owner of a building or other construction work, and who engages any agency or contractor to carry out the work of the said building or other construction work directly or indirectly;
(zs) “putlog” means a horizontal member on which the board, plank or decking of a working platform are laid;
(zt) “responsible person” means a person, appointed by the employer to be responsible for the performance of specific duty or duties, who has sufficient knowledge, experience and the requisite authority for the proper performance of such duty or duties;
(zu) “reveal tie” means the assembly of a tie tube and a fitting, used for tightening a tube between two opposite surfaces;
(zv) “right angle coupler” means a coupler other than a swivel or putlog coupler, used for connecting tubes at right angles;
(zw) “rock bolt” means a mechanical expansion bolt or a bolt used with cementitious or resin anchoring system, which is set in drilled hole in the arch or wall of a tunnel to improve rock competency;
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(zx) “roofing bracket” means a bracket used in sloped roof construction and having sharp points or other means for fastening to prevent slipping;
(zy) “safety screen” means an air and water tight diaphragm placed across the upper part of a compressed air tunnel between the face and bulkhead, in order to prevent flooding the crown of the tunnel between the safety screen and the bulkhead to provide a safe means of refuge and exit from a flooding or flooded tunnel;
(zz) “safe working load” in relation to an article of lifting gear or lifting appliance, means the load which is the maximum load that may be imposed on such article or appliance with safety in the normal working conditions as assessed and certified by a competent person;
(zza) “scaffold” means any temporarily provided structure on or from which building workers perform work in connection with building or other construction work to which these rules apply, and any temporarily provided structure, which enables building workers to obtain access to or which enables materials to be taken to any place at which such work is performed, and includes any working platform, gangway, runway, ladder or step-ladder (other than a ladder or step-ladder which does not form part of such structure) together with any guardrail, toe board or other safeguards and all fixings, but does not include lifting appliance or a lifting machine or a structure, used merely to support such an appliance or such a machine or to support other plant or equipment;
(zzb) “Schedule” means a schedule appended to these rules;
(zzc) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Board;
(zzd) “segment” includes a cast iron or precast concrete segmented structure formed to the curvature of the tunnel cross-section and used to support the ground, surrounding the tunnel;
(zze) “service shaft” means a shaft for the passage of building workers or materials to or from a tunnel under construction;
(zzf) “shaft” means an excavation having a longitudinal axis at an angle greater than forty-five degree from the horizontal—
(i) for the passage of building workers or materials to or from a tunnel; or
(ii) leading to an existing tunnel;
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(zzg) “shield” means a movable frame which supports the working face of a tunnel and the ground immediately behind it and includes equipment designed to excavate and support the excavated areas in a tunnel;
(zzh) “sole plate” means a member used to distribute the load from the base plate or the standard of wooden scaffolds to the supporting surface;
(zzi) “sound or good construction” means construction conforming to the relevant national standards or in case such national standards do not exist, to other generally accepted international engineering standards or code of practices;
(zzj) “sound or good material” means material of a quality, conforming to the relevant national standards or in case such national standards do not exist, to other generally accepted international engineering standards or code of practices;
(zzk) “standard” means a member used as a vertical support or column in the construction of scaffolds, which transmits a load to the ground or to the solid construction;
(zzl) “standard safe operating practice” means the practice followed in building and other construction activities for the safety and health of building workers and safe operation of machinery and equipment used in such activities and such practices conforming to all or any of the following, namely :—
(i) relevant standards approved by Bureau of Indian Standards;
(ii) national building code;
(iii) manufacturer’s instructions on safe use of equipment and machinery and;
(iv) code of practices on safety and health in construction industry, published by International Labour Organisation as amended from time to time, or any other appropriate authority;
(zzm) “State Government” means the Government of the State of Punjab in the Department of Labour;
(zzn) “steel rib” includes all steel beams and other structural members shaped to conform to the requirements of a particular tunnel cross section, used for the purpose of supporting and stabilising the excavated areas;
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(zzo) “suspended scaffold” means a scaffold suspended by means of ropes or chains and capable of being raised or lowered, but does not include a boatman’s chair or similar appliance;
(zzp) “testing establishment” means an establishment with testing and examination facilities, as approved by the Central Government or the State Government, for carrying out testing, examination, annealing or similar other test or certification of lifting appliances or lifting gear or wire rope as required under these rules;
(zzq) “tie” means an assembly, used to connect a scaffold to a rigid anchorage;
(zzr) “toe board” means a member, fastened above a working platform, access landing, access way, wheelbarrow run, ramp or other platform to prevent building workers and materials falling therefrom;
(zzs) “transom” means a member placed horizontally and used to tie transversely one ledger to another, or one standard to another in an independent tie scaffold;
(zzt) “trestle scaffold” includes a scaffold in which the supports for the platform are any of the following, which are self supporting, namely:—
(i) split heads;
(ii) folding;
(iii) step-ladder;
(iv) tripods; or
(v) movable contrivances similar to any of the foregoing;
(zzu) “tubular scaffold” means a scaffold, constructed from tubes and couplers;
(zzv) “tunnel” means a subterranean passage made by excavating beneath the over-burden, into which a building worker enters or is required to enter to work;
(zzw) “underground” means any space within the confines of a shaft, tunnel, caisson or cofferdam;
(zzx) “vehicle” means a vehicle propelled or driven by mechanical or electrical power and includes a trailer, traction engine, tractor, road-building machine and transport equipment;
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(zzy) “working chamber” means the part of the construction site where work in a compressed air environment is carried out, but does not include a man-lock or a medical-lock;
(zzz) “working platform” means a platform, which is used to support building workers or materials and includes a working stage;
(zzza) “working pressure” means pressure in a working chamber, to which a building worker is exposed;
(zzzb) “workplace” means a place where building workers are required to be present or to go for work and which is under the control of an employer; and (zzzc) “year” means a financial year.