CRUSHED2026: Worker safety and the next phase of India's manufacturing competitiveness
- Safe in India
- Jul 18
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 21
India's manufacturing ambitions are well documented, production-linked incentives, a fast-growing auto export base, a labour code regime built to ease doing business. Less discussed: how much of that ambition depends on what's actually happening inside the factories that make it possible. As the Economic Survey 24-25 itself flags, competitiveness rests on compliance basics, appointment letters, wage slips, functioning machine safety, accurate shop-floor data.
That's the backdrop for CRUSHED2026, Safe in India's eighth annual report on worker safety in the automotive supply chain, drawing on over 11,000 injured workers SII has assisted since 2016, mostly from Haryana and Maharashtra, with new evidence this year from Tamil Nadu.
As in previous editions, the intent is straightforward: to put credible, evidence-based data in front of the people best placed to act on it, government, brands, suppliers and workers alike.
The picture this year is a mix of familiar patterns and some genuine signs of movement.
Persistent injuries, and a data gap worth closing-
The headline finding has changed little: More than two-thirds of workers SII has assisted have lost a finger, most often to a power press with a worn pedal, damaged bolt, or missing sensor. This isn't a spike; it's a sustained pattern pointing to one addressable cause, inconsistent machine maintenance.
What's more revealing is how little of this appears in official numbers. A comparison of DGFASLI (industrial accident figures), ESIC (disbursement data) and SII data (injured workers assisted) shows government accident figures running consistently below both other sources, and DGFASLI's 2024 numbers are still not published in 2026.
That lag matters: inspection and policy resources get sized to whatever the official numbers say, which may be a much smaller problem than the one on the ground. Closing this gap is one of the more concrete, near-term opportunities to emerge from the report. Right solutions can only emerge from accurate data.
Where employment conditions still fall short-
Three indicators tell most of the story:
Only 5% of workers SII assisted in 2025 had received an appointment letter, now mandated in the new Labor Code Rules, in a prescribed format.
72% worked more than 60 hours a week, above the statutory limit of 48 hours a week (and 59 hours including overtime).
Around 70% of workers learned to operate a machine only on the job, with no training beforehand, though mandated in the rules
None of this needs a new legislation, the rules already exist. The gap is implementation.
Where the problem concentrates and where it's beginning to shift -
98% of injured workers SII has assisted in Haryana and Maharashtra come from the supply chain of six brands, Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Hero, Tata Motors, Mahindra and Bajaj. This year's report adds fresh case evidence from Tamil Nadu, across Ashok Leyland, Hyundai and TVS supply chains.
— and a parallel multi-state study finds safety mechanisms, working-hour compliance and audit quality are consistently stronger in the southern states, suggesting better practice already exists within Indian auto and can be transferred, not reinvented.
A new multi-state study shows better practices in South Indian auto sector-
A parallel multi-state study finds safety mechanisms, working-hour compliance and audit quality are consistently stronger in the southern states, suggesting better practice already exists within Indian auto sector and can be transferred, not reinvented.
There is also an encouraging injury-rate improvement trend-
In Haryana, where SII's advocacy started in 2019, reported Injury trend shows a reduction since the 2022 peak in Haryana; Maruti shows the most pronounced improvement, while Hero and Honda have flatlined at a lower level since 2022. A three-year run significant enough to describe as a trend rather than annual variation. However, it is difficult to establish causality as the brands have not shared all details of actions taken and lessons learnt.
In Maharashtra, where SII's advocacy began later in 2022, the trend is different. Injuries across Tata Motors and Mahindra supply chains continue to show an upward movement. There is one notable exception, Bajaj, which has recorded a reduction in reported injuries - A pattern consistent with Bajaj's top ranking, for two consecutive years in SII's other report SafetyNiti.
The share of workers holding an ESIC e-pehchaan card before an accident, rather than only obtaining one afterward, has also been improving steadily in Haryana.
So has the share receiving first treatment at an ESIC hospital, up from 46% in 2019 to 58% in 2025 in Haryana. Taken together, these indicators suggest that sustained, structured engagement between brands, government departments and civil society over several years produces measurable improvement
Every year, CRUSHED makes sure the data doesn't crowd out the people it describes. At this year's worker panel, three SII community members, Ms. Jaishri Phad, Mr. Ramsingh Parihar and Mr. Pintu Nikalje, between them with well over a decade on the shop floor, spoke about what a well-run shift looks like, and how rarely a new worker actually experiences one.
Ram Singh was direct about where accidents originate. By his estimate, at least 60% of the injuries he has witnessed trace back to a worker placed on a machine without proper training. He was equally clear on safety sensors, devices that slow a machine marginally but sharply cut the chance of a hand being caught. Disable one to save a few seconds a cycle, he noted, and the resulting accident halts the line for far longer than the sensor ever would.
Pintu, sixteen years at the same factory, described a personal practice: before letting anyone operate a machine, he confirms their ESIC registration is in place. If it isn't, they don't operate, production pressure or not.
Jaishri focused on what auditors should actually be checking: not just helmets and gloves issued for the visit, but reliable drinking water, working toilets, and whether workers understand their entitlements.
All three agreed on one thing, audits that skip direct conversations with workers miss exactly the conditions they're meant to catch.
"If the workers are safe, they will get good goods and will be healthy all the time."
- Jaishri Phad, worker in auto-sector supply chain factory
"Owners don't realize that an accident will stop the work. In their minds, they just think that if this worker has an accident, they can easily find another one."
- Pintu Nikalje, worker in auto-sector supply chain factory
“Owners make workers do anything for their own profit; they even put a helper in place of a trained operator. This is not safe. It is important that they are given proper training first, and only then allowed to run the machine."
- Ramsingh Parihar, worker in auto-sector supply chain factory
Why responsible business conduct and productivity are the same conversation
The expert panel converged on a point SII has long argued: safety, professionalism and decent working conditions are closely related to productivity.
This shows most clearly when things go wrong. Unaddressed supply chain conditions become reputational risk, one that rarely stays contained to a single factory, extending to the brand and, in aggregate, to how the country is viewed by outside investors.
Yet many fixes cost little: better ergonomics, asking workers where the real hazards are, bringing inspectors and engineers into the same conversation instead of treating inspection as adversarial. The core shift needed is moving safety from an annual audit line item to a strategic question owned by leadership, not just HR.
The pattern holds together, factories with weaker safety also show inconsistent maintenance, higher turnover, and fewer opportunities for workers to build skill, the same conditions that affect productivity and, ultimately, the quality of what reaches the vehicle a customer drives.
"One company's reputation going for a toss on an incident of safety or labor affects not just the company, it affects the country's investment as a destination."
— Vineet Kaul, HR Advisor & Mentor
“We have a very expanded definition of forced labour from the Supreme Court, even non-payment of minimum wages is equivalent to forced labour."
— Dr. Sophy K Joseph Associate Professor of Law at NLU Delhi
"There is an actual loss of 4% of global GDP due to poor occupational health and safety. Improving OSH definitely increases productivity."
— Bharti Birla, Enterprise Development Specialist, ILO
Where CRUSHED2026 points next
The recommendations emerging from the launch are not a long checklist so much as four connected commitments, each one held by a different actor, but only effective if the others move too.
Brands: As noted in Safe in India’s top policy and operational recommendations
Policy Recommendations
Automobile brands boards to take responsibility for worker safety in their deeper supply chain, and to help improve Indian Labour Productivity and MSME professionalism as recommended in the Indian Economic Survey 2024-25.
Spearhead the transformation of the MSME partners by emphasizing professionalism and aligning safety and productivity practices with global best practices, especially in similar markets.
Create/spearhead a supply chain and/or industry wide program for improving the skills, knowledge and productivity of the human capital engaged in manufacturing of automotive vehicles in the deeper supply chain.
Operational Recommendations
Create, publish, and implement a Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) that ensures compliance with NGRBC, ESIC and other rules and regulations and enforce on the Tier 1 Suppliers.
Include all non-permanent workers in their own factories, in the OSH Policy statement, at par with their own permanent workers.
Improve transparency and accountability of accident reporting in the supply chain, start weeding out habitual offenders and commercially reward the safest factories.
Set up a grievance redressal mechanism for deeper supply chain (this will also provide the brands the defaulting factory names they seek).
Government and regulators: As noted in Safe in India’s top recommendations
Clarify OSH&WC Labour Code rules to ensure consistent and fair implementation by states (ensuring both business and labour interests are taken care of).
Improve Coordination and Accountability in MoLE Agencies to ensure that the labour friendly parts of the OSH&WC Labour Code are implemented.
Design and Conduct Labour Studies with MOSPI.
Build the Business/Economic Case for OSH to help improve Indian Labour Productivity and MSME professionalism as recommended in the Indian Economic Survey 2024-25.
Use ESIC and state-level accident data to identify high-risk areas and reduce accidents, injuries, deaths, and work-related illnesses nationwide.
Industry associations and suppliers: As noted in Safe in India’s top recommendations
Convene the auto industry ecosystem to address accidents and productivity in the deeper supply chain, and to help improve Indian Labour Productivity and MSME professionalism as recommended in the Indian Economic Survey 2024-25.
Form a permanent joint safety task force (SIAM, ACMA, CII, & SII)
Develop industry safety standards for the auto sector.
Embed worker safety into core values and sustainability claims of SIAM, ACMA and CII members
Support members compliance with NGRBC and BRSR for long-term sustainability
Workers: continued training on ESIC entitlements and safety rights, building on the worker training and the three Shramik Suraksha summits held earlier this year and ongoing community outreach.
None of this asks India to choose between competitiveness and worker welfare, the report's own evidence points the other way. The Economic Survey has already made this case at a national level: better working conditions are good for business. With every edition of CRUSHED, that case becomes a little easier to act on.
Written by- Siddharth Raina
Senior Manager Research & Advocacy
Stay safe and spread the word to your automobile sector and government contacts and please send us any feedback you have to help us do our job better at team@safeinindia.org.
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