Everything a factory manager, HR or EHS head needs to know about the statutory worker health form in India — what it is, which form number your state prescribes, what it records, who signs it, how often it is updated, and how Nodal Healthcare completes it for you on site.
"Industrial health worker form", "industrial worker health form" and "factory worker health form" all refer to the same statutory record: the medical documentation a factory must maintain for workers under the Factories Act, 1948 and the Factories Rules of its state. In law it is not one form but two linked documents:
Together they are the document a Factory Inspector, DISH or Factories & Boilers official asks to see first on a compliance visit. They are also the evidence base for your workforce's occupational-health trend statistics.
The Factories Act is central, but the forms are state-prescribed. The table lists the Health Register and Certificate of Fitness forms we have verified against official state sources, with a link to the detailed guide for each.
| State / UT | Factories Rules | Health Register form | Certificate of Fitness form | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | Andhra Pradesh Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 29 | Form 28 | Form 29 Health Register (Andhra Pradesh) guide → |
| Assam | Assam Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 17 | Form 33 | Form 17 Health Register (Assam) guide → |
| Bihar | Bihar Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 16 | Form 33 | Form 16 Health Register (Bihar) guide → |
| Chhattisgarh | Chhattisgarh Factories Rules, 1962 | Form 21 | Form 32 | Form 21 Health Register (Chhattisgarh) guide → |
| Delhi (NCT) | Delhi Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 17 | Certificate of Fitness under the dangerous-operation schedules | Form 17 Health Register (Delhi) guide → |
| Goa | Goa Factories Rules, 1985 | Form 7 | Form 29 | Form 7 Health Register (Goa) guide → |
| Gujarat | Gujarat Factories Rules, 1963 | Form 20 | Form 5 | Form 20 Health Register guide → |
| Haryana | Punjab Factory Rules, 1952 | Form 17 | Form 32 | Form 17 Health Register (Haryana) guide → |
| Himachal Pradesh | Himachal Pradesh Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 17 | Form 27 / Form 5 certificates under the dangerous-operation schedules | Form 17 Health Register (Himachal Pradesh) guide → |
| Jharkhand | Jharkhand Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 16 | Form 33 | Form 16 Health Register (Jharkhand) guide → |
| Karnataka | Karnataka Factories Rules, 1969 | Form 26 | Form 4 | Form 26 Health Register guide → |
| Kerala | Kerala Factories Rules, 1957 | Form 17 | Form 27 | Form 17 Health Register guide → |
| Madhya Pradesh | Madhya Pradesh Factories Rules, 1962 | Form 21 | Form 32 | Form 21 Health Register guide → |
| Maharashtra | Maharashtra Factories Rules, 1963 | Form 7 | Form 6 | Form 7 Health Register guide → |
| Odisha | Odisha Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 31 | Form 30 | Form 31 Health Register guide → |
| Punjab | Punjab Factory Rules, 1952 | Form 17 | Form 32 | Form 17 Health Register (Punjab) guide → |
| Rajasthan | Rajasthan Factories Rules, 1951 | Form 19 | Certificate of Fitness under the dangerous-operation schedules | Form 19 Health Register guide → |
| Tamil Nadu | Tamil Nadu Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 17 | Certificate of Fitness form | Form 17 Health Register guide → |
| Telangana | Telangana Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 29 | Form 28 | Form 29 Health Register (Telangana) guide → |
| Uttar Pradesh | Uttar Pradesh Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 27 | Form 26 | Form 27 Health Register guide → |
| Uttarakhand | Uttarakhand Factories Rules, 1950 | Form 27 | Form 26 | Form 27 Health Register (Uttarakhand) guide → |
| West Bengal | West Bengal Factories Rules, 1958 | Form 17 | Form 25 | Form 17 Health Register (West Bengal) guide → |
Other States and Union Territories: the prescribed form numbers are under primary-source verification and are published on the state pages as soon as they are confirmed. Where a form has more than one variant (hazardous process vs. dangerous operations, young persons), the state guide lists all of them.
Column headings vary slightly by state, but every Health Register captures the same core information about each worker and each examination.
| Field | Detail recorded |
|---|---|
| Worker identification | Serial number, name, sex, age / date of birth, token or employee number |
| Employment details | Date of employment, department, nature of job, and the process, raw material or hazardous operation the worker is engaged in |
| Examination history | Date of each pre-employment and periodic medical examination, and the date the next one falls due |
| Clinical findings | Results of the examination and the process-specific tests (audiometry, spirometry, blood lead, liver function, vision, chest X-ray and others as applicable) |
| Signs and symptoms | Any signs of ill-health or occupational disease noticed, with the doctor's remarks |
| Fitness decision | Certified fit / unfit / fit with restrictions for the process; suspension from the process and the date of re-certification where applicable |
| Certificate of Fitness | Certificate number and date issued, renewal date |
| Signatures | Signature of the Factory Medical Officer / Certifying Surgeon with date, and the factory manager's countersignature where the state form requires it |
The occupier or factory manager is legally responsible for keeping the Health Register and Certificates of Fitness on the premises and producing them on inspection.
Medical entries are made and signed by a doctor: the Factory Medical Officer (AFIH- or DIH-qualified in most states) for hazardous-process examinations, and the State-appointed Certifying Surgeon for notified dangerous operations and fitness certification. AFIH doctors and Certifying Surgeons are distinct roles — see our Certifying Surgeon support page.
Before first employment in the process, then periodically: every six months for hazardous processes in most states, and at the interval fixed by the relevant schedule (commonly 12 months, shorter for lead, chrome and some chemicals) for dangerous operations. Each examination is one dated line in the register.
Workers engaged in hazardous processes (First Schedule, Factories Act) and in operations notified as dangerous under Section 87 — typically noise, dust and fumes, solvents, lead, chrome, pesticides, benzene, electroplating, welding, high heat and similar exposures. Many factories also extend the same examination to all workers as good practice.
One on-site programme produces the completed statutory form for your state, the Certificates of Fitness, and the management statistics — Pan-India, from our Mumbai headquarters.
We take your process list, headcount and state, and map each worker group to the applicable rule, schedule, tests and interval.
Our mobile team examines workers at the factory gate — clinical examination, audiometry, PFT, vision, ECG, X-ray and pathology as the exposure requires. See periodic and pre-employment examinations.
AFIH-qualified doctors make the Health Register entries; Certifying Surgeon examinations are coordinated where the state rules require them.
We deliver the completed Health Register in your state's form, Certificates of Fitness, a digital archive, a recall calendar for the next due date, and de-identified statistics for management.
Form 7 Health Register (Maharashtra) · Form 26 (Karnataka) · Form 20 (Gujarat) · Form 17 (Tamil Nadu) · Form 27 (Uttar Pradesh) · all States & UTs · state-wise FAQ
Search terms such as "industrial health worker form", "worker health card" or "factory medical form" are informal. The legally correct names are the Health Register and the Certificate of Fitness prescribed by your State Factories Rules; always quote the state form number in correspondence with the inspectorate.
It is the everyday name for the statutory medical record a factory must keep for its workers under the Factories Act, 1948 and the State Factories Rules. In law it is two documents: the Health Register (kept by the occupier/manager, filled in by the Factory Medical Officer or Certifying Surgeon after each examination) and the Certificate of Fitness issued to the individual worker. Maharashtra prescribes the Health Register as Form 7; other states use their own form numbers.
No. The Factories Act, 1948 is a central law, but the forms are prescribed by each state's Factories Rules. The Health Register is Form 7 in Maharashtra and Goa, Form 17 in Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Assam and Himachal Pradesh, Form 20 in Gujarat, Form 26 in Karnataka, Form 27 in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Form 21 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and so on. Use the state table on this page to find yours.
The occupier or factory manager must maintain the register, but the medical entries are made and signed by a doctor: the Factory Medical Officer (typically AFIH-qualified) for hazardous-process examinations, and the state-appointed Certifying Surgeon for notified dangerous operations and for certifying fitness. Nodal Healthcare supplies AFIH-qualified doctors and coordinates Certifying Surgeon examinations where the state rules require them.
A worker in a hazardous process is examined before first employment and then periodically — every six months in most states (for example Rule 73-V, Maharashtra Factories Rules, 1963). Workers in notified dangerous operations are examined at the interval fixed in the relevant schedule, commonly every 12 months, with shorter intervals for lead, chrome and some chemical processes. Each examination becomes a dated entry in the Health Register.
The form records the examination results, not a fixed test list. Tests are chosen from the worker's exposure and the applicable schedule — for example audiometry for noise, spirometry / PFT and chest X-ray for dust, blood lead for lead work, liver function for solvents, vision testing for precision work, plus general clinical examination, blood pressure, BMI and routine haematology. Not every test is mandatory for every worker.
Most State Factories Rules prescribe the format but not the medium; a digitally generated register in the prescribed form, signed by the examining doctor and produced on demand during inspection, is the practical standard. Nodal Healthcare generates the state-prescribed register from the examination dataset and provides a signed printable copy for the factory file, alongside a secure digital archive.
We do both: we run the on-site medical examination batch, our doctors make the entries, and we deliver the completed Health Register in your state's prescribed form together with Certificates of Fitness and a due-date recall calendar. Blank statutory forms are published by each state's Labour / DISH / Factories & Boilers department and linked from our state pages.
A missing, outdated or unsigned Health Register is one of the most common findings in a factory inspection and can lead to notices and penalties under the Factories Act, 1948 — beyond the underlying risk of an undetected occupational illness. Keeping examinations on schedule and the register current is the simplest protection.
Tell us the state, the processes and the headcount. We will confirm the prescribed form, plan the examination batch and deliver the completed register and certificates.
Nodal Healthcare provides occupational-health services through qualified medical professionals. AFIH-qualified doctors and Factory Medical Officers are not, by virtue of that qualification, Certifying Surgeons; Certifying Surgeons are appointed or authorised by the State Government under Section 10 of the Factories Act, 1948. Where a statutory provision requires a Certifying Surgeon or other authority-approved practitioner, we coordinate compliant services through appropriately qualified, authorised or empanelled professionals, subject to the applicable state rules and appointment requirements. Content on this page is a general guide and not legal advice; always confirm current requirements with the competent state authority.
