Dock Labourers Act, 1934

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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 Dra ft Convention concerning the pro tection 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 
the 4[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 Depart ment 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. 
 
 
 
 
 
1Subs. by the Central Laws (Statute Reform) Ordinance, 1960 (XXI of 1960), s. 3 and 2nd Sch. 
2Omitted by the Federal Laws (Revision and Declaration) Act, 1951 (XXVI of 1951), s. 3 and 2nd Sch. 
3Subs. by Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (President’s Order No. 4 of 1975), Art. 2 and Table. 
4Subs, 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 th e 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 process es 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 ; 
 
1Subs. 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 danger ous 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 deali ng 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 re gulations 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 con tained 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 m ay 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 t hereunder 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 su ch 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. 
 
1Subs, by Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (President’s Order No. 4 of 1975), Art. 2 and Table. 
2Rep. 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 Cou rt 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 Governmen t] 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 
1Omitted by Adaptation Order, 1949. 
2Subs. by Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (President’s Order No. 4 of 1975), Art 2 and Table. 
3Subs. by Adaptation Order, 1937.