Factories Act, 1948 · Chapter V: Welfare
Section 45: First-aid appliances
The Factories Act, 1948 was repealed and replaced by the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 from 21 November 2025. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.
(1) There shall in every factory be provided and maintained so as to be readily accessible during all working hours first-aid boxes or cupboards equipped with the prescribed contents, and the number of such boxes or cupboards to be provided and maintained shall not be less than one for every one hundred and fifty workers ordinarily employed [at any one time] in the factory. [(2) Nothing except the prescribed contents shall be kept in a first-aid box or cupboard.
(3) Each first-aid box or cupboard shall be kept in the charge of a separate responsible person [who holds a certificate in first-aid treatment recognised by the State Government] and who shall always be readily available during the working hours of the factory.] [(4)] In every factory wherein more than five hundred workers are [ordinarily employed] there shall be provided and maintained an ambulance room of the prescribed size, containing the prescribed equipment and in the charge of such medical and nursing staff as may be prescribed [and those facilities shall always be made readily available during the working hours of the factory].
Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.