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THE DOCK LABOURERS ACT, 1934
CONTENTS
1. Short title, extent, commencement and application
2. Definitions
3. Inspectors
4. Powers of Inspector
5. Power to Federal Government to make regulations
6. Power to Federal Government to make rules
7. General provisions relating to regulations and rules
8. Abstracts of Acts and regulations to be conspicuously posted
9. Penalties
10. Provisions relating to jurisdiction
11. Power to exempt
12. Protection to persons acting under this Act
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THE DOCK LABOURERS ACT, 1934
ACT No. XIX OF 1934
[19th August, 1934]
An Act to give effect in 1[Pakistan] to the Convention concerning the protection against accidents of
workers employed in loading and unloading ships.
WHEREAS a Revised Draft Convention concerning the protection against accidents of
workers employed in loading or unloading ships was adopted at Geneva on the twenty-seventh day
of April, nineteen hundred and thirty-two ;
AND WHEREAS it is expedient to give effect in 1[Pakistan] to the said Convention;
It is hereby enacted as follows:—
1. Short title, extent, commencement and application.—(1) This Act may be called the
2
[*] Dock Labourers Act, 1934.
1
[(2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan.]
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the 3[Federal Government] may, by notification in
4
the [official Gazette], appoint.
(4) It shall not apply to any ship of war of any nationality.
2. Definitions. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,—
(a) “the processes” includes all work which is required for or is incidental to the
loading or unloading of cargo or fuel into or from a ship and is done on board
the ship or alongside it ; and
(b) “worker” means any person employed in the processes.
3. Inspectors.—(1) The 6[Federal Government] may, by notification in the 4[official
Gazette], appoint such persons as it thinks fit to be Inspectors for the purposes of this Act within
such local limits as it may assign to them respectively.
(2) All Principal Officers of the Mercantile Marine Department shall be Inspectors under this
Act, ex-officio, within the limits of their charges.
(3) Every Inspector shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Pakistan
Penal Code (XLV of 1860), and shall be officially subordinate to such authority as the 3[Federal
Government] may direct.
1
Subs. by the Central Laws (Statute Reform) Ordinance, 1960 (XXI of 1960), s. 3 and 2nd Sch.
2
Omitted by the Federal Laws (Revision and Declaration) Act, 1951 (XXVI of 1951), s. 3 and 2nd Sch.
3
Subs. by Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (President’s Order No. 4 of 1975), Art. 2 and Table.
4
Subs, by Adaptation Order, 1937.
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4. Powers of Inspector. Subject to any rules made in this behalf under section 6, an Inspector
may, within the local limits for which he is appointed,—
(a) enter, with such assistants (if any) as he thinks fit, any premises or ship where
the processes are carried on ;
(b) make such examination of the premises or ship and the machinery and gear,
fixed or loose, used for the processes, and of any prescribed registers and
notices, and take on the spot or otherwise such evidence of any person as he
may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act ; and
(c) exercise any other powers which may be conferred upon him by the
regulations made under section 5.
5. Power to Federal Government to make regulations.__ (1) The 1[Federal Government]
may make regulations—
(a) providing for the safety of working places on shore and of any regular
approaches over a dock, wharf, quay or similar premises which workers have
to use for going to or from a working place at which the processes are carried
on, and for the lighting and fencing of such places and approaches ;
(b) prescribing the nature of the means of access which shall be provided for the
use of workers proceeding to or from a ship which is lying alongside a quay,
hulk or other vessel;
(c) prescribing the measures to be taken to ensure the safe transport of workers
proceeding to or from a ship by water and the conditions to be complied with
by the vessels used for the purpose ;
(d) prescribing the nature of the means of access to be provided for the use of the
workers from the deck of a ship to a hold in which the processes are carried
on;
(e) prescribing the measures to be taken to protect hatchways accessible to the
workers and other openings in a deck which might be dangerous to them ;
(f) providing for the efficient lighting of the means of access to ships on which
the processes are carried on and of all places on board at which the workers
are employed or to which they may be required to proceed ;
(g) providing for the safety of the workers engaged in removing or replacing hatch
coverings and beams used for hatch coverings ;
(h) prescribing the measures to be taken to ensure that no hoisting machine, or
gear, whether fixed or loose, used in connection therewith, is employed in the
processes on shore or on board ship unless it is in a safe working condition ;
(i) providing for the fencing of machinery, live electric conductors and steam
pipes ;
1
Subs. by Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (President’s Order No. 4 of 1975), Art.2 and Table.
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(j) regulating the provision of safety appliances on derricks, cranes and winches ;
(k) prescribing the precautions to be observed in regard to exhaust and live steam;
(l) requiring the employment of competent and reliable persons to operate lifting
or transporting machinery used in the processes, or to give signals to a driver
of such machinery, or to attend to cargo falls on winch ends or winch drums,
and providing for the employment of a signaller where this is necessary for the
safety of the workers;
(m) prescribing the measures to be taken in order to prevent dangerous methods of
working in the stacking, unstacking, stowing and unstowing of cargo, or
handling in connection therewith ;
(n) prescribing the precautions to be taken to facilitate the escape of the workers
when employed in a hold or between decks in dealing with coal or other bulk
cargo ;
(o) prescribing the precautions to be observed in the use of stages and trucks ;
(p) prescribing the precautions to be observed when the workers have to work
where dangerous or noxious goods are, or have been, stowed or have to deal
with or work in proximity to such goods ;
(q) providing for the rendering of first-aid to injured workers and removal to the
nearest place of treatment ;
(r) prescribing the provision to be made for the rescue of immersed workers from
drowning ;
(s) prescribing the abstracts of this Act and of the regulations required by section
8;
(t) providing for the submission of notices of accidents and dangerous
occurrences and prescribing the forms of such notices, the persons and
authorities to whom they are to be furnished, the particulars to be contained in
them and the time within which they are to be submitted ;
(u) specifying the persons and authorities who shall be responsible for compliance
with regulations made under this Act ;
(v) defining the circumstances in which and conditions subject to which
exemptions from any of the regulations made under this section may be given,
specifying the authorities who may grant such exemptions and regulating their
procedure ;
(w) defining the additional powers which Inspectors may exercise under clause (c)
of section 4 ; and
(x) providing generally for the safety of workers.
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(2) Regulations made under this section may make special provision to meet the special
requirements of any particular port or ports.
(3) In making a regulation under this section, the 1[Federal Government] may direct that a
breach of it shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, and when the
breach is a continuing breach, with a further fine which may extend to twenty rupees for every day
after the first during which the breach continues.
6. Power to Federal Government to make rules. 2[* * *], the 1[Federal Government] may
make rules regulating—
(a) the inspection of premises or ships where the processes are carried on ; and
(b) the manner in which Inspectors are to exercise the powers conferred on them
by this Act.
7. General provisions relating to regulations and rules.—(1) The power to make
regulations and rules conferred by sections 5 and 6 is subject to the condition of the regulations and
rules being made after previous publication.
(2) Regulations and rules shall be published in 2[the official Gazette].
8. Abstracts of Acts and regulations to be conspicuously posted. There shall be affixed in
some conspicuous place near the main entrance of every dock, wharf, quay or similar premises
where the processes are carried on, in English and in the language of the majority of the workers, the
abstracts of this Act and of the regulations made thereunder which may be prescribed by the
regulations.
9. Penalties. Any person who__
(a) wilfully obstructs an Inspector in the exercise of any power under section 4, or
fails to produce on demand by an Inspector any registers or other documents
kept in pursuance of the regulations made under this Act, or any gear, fixed or
loose, used for the processes, or conceals or prevents or attempts to prevent
any person from appearing before, or being examined by, an Inspector, or
(b) unless duly authorised, or in case of necessity, removes any fencing, gangway,
gear, ladder, life-saving means or appliance, light, mark, stage or other thing
required to be provided by or under the regulations made under this Act, or
(c) having in case of necessity removed any such fencing, gangway, gear, ladder,
life-saving means or appliance, light, mark, stage or other thing, omits to
restore it at the end of the period for which its removal was necessary,
Shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
1
Subs, by Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (President’s Order No. 4 of 1975), Art. 2 and Table.
2
Rep. and subs. by Adaptation Order, 1937.
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10. Provisions relating to jurisdiction.—(1) No Court inferior to that of 1[* * *] a
Magistrate of the first class shall try any offence under this Act or the regulations made thereunder.
(2) No prosecution for any offence under this Act or the regulations made thereunder shall be
instituted except by or with the previous sanction of an Inspector.
(3) No Court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act or the regulations made
thereunder, unless complaint thereof is made within six months of the date on which the offence is
alleged to have been committed.
11. Power to exempt. The 2[Federal Government] may, by notification in the 3[official
Gazette], exempt from all or any of the provisions of this Act and of the regulations made
thereunder, on such conditions, if any, as 3[it] thinks fit,-
(a) any port or place, dock, wharf, quay or similar premises at which the processes
are only occasionally carried on or the traffic is small and confined to small
ships, or
(b) any specified ship or class of ship.
12. Protection to persons acting under this Act. No suit, prosecution or other legal
proceeding shall lie against any person for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be
done under this Act.
___________
61559 Date: 08-01-2025
1
Omitted by Adaptation Order, 1949.
2
Subs. by Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (President’s Order No. 4 of 1975), Art 2 and Table.
3
Subs. by Adaptation Order, 1937.
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Source: Pakistan Code, Ministry of Law and Justice (pakistancode.gov.pk). Text on this page is reproduced verbatim from the official PDF and is provided for reference only. For the authoritative version, always consult the source document or a current reported edition.
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