Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant, which pioneered an eight-hour shift for workers in the country, will switch to an extended 12-hour schedule later this month to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The company received an approval from the Jharkhand government on Monday allowing the change which requires special exemption under labour law. Tata Steel said the proposed realignment would minimise the number of people who would enter and or exit the factory at any given point of time and also restrict large congregations on the shop floor.

“In view of the situation because of the Covid-19 outbreak we had approached the Jharkhand government to allow a 12-hour shift operation (from the existing eight hours). The primary objective of the request was to reduce the footfall of employees on the shop floor and also reduce the number of days of exposure of an employee to an outside home environment. The Jharkhand government has now exempted Tata Steel from various provisions relating to weekly hours, daily hours, intervals for rest under the Factories Act 1948,” said Tata Steel’s spokesperson.

Several other states had already allowed extended hours during the lockdown, including Odisha, where Tata Steel operates two large integrated steel plants such as in Jamshedpur.

The company had then switched to 12-hour shifts at Kalinganagar and Angul plants to limit the number of people inside the facilities. These units are now largely back to the eight-hour module.

According to the Jharkhand notification, an adult worker will be allowed to work in a factory at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, for up to 12 hours in a day and 72 hours in any week, the spokesperson added.

The notification is in line under section 5 of the Factories Act, which states that during a public emergency that is threatening the security of the country or any part of it, whether by war or external aggression or internal disturbances, a state government may issue a notification to exempt any factory or class of factories from all or any provision of the Act, for a maximum of three months.

Set up in 1907, the Jamshedpur works comprise a 9.7 million tonne per annum crude steel production facility and a variety of finishing mills, employing 17,000 people on rolls and another 35,000 thorough vendors.

It was a pioneer in introducing an eight-hour shift way back in 1912, much before the Factories Act of 1948 (section 51 of the Act says- no adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in a factory for more than forty-eight hours in any week).

“We are planning shift patterns wherein we will reduce the footfall of employees on the shop floor and also reduce the number of days of exposure to not more than 48 hours in a week even with 12 hours shift, thereby also maintaining work life balance. We are in discussion with Tata Workers` Union to start a 12-hour shift as a pilot in two departments—sinter plant and new bar mill,” the spokesperson added.

President of the century old Tata Workers Union (one of the earliest trade unions of the country) R Ravi Prasad confirmed the development.

“We have got the information from the management and the 12-hour shift will roll out later this month on a pilot basis at the two departments and gradually across other departments. We are working out on the timing but initially it would be between 8 am and 8 pm and then between 8 pm and 8 am,” said Ravi Prasad.

Incidentally, the existing three-shift roster has employees working between 6 am and 2 pm, between 2 pm and 10 pm and then between 10 pm and 6 am.