Form 12 was the register of adult workers kept under section 62 of the Factories Act, 1948 and the State Factories Rules (for example rule 107 of the Kerala Factories Rules; Puducherry also lists it as Form 12, while Tripura numbers it differently). It records each adult worker's name, father's name, nature of work, group, relay or shift, and the letter or token number. The Factories Act is now subsumed in the OSH Code, 2020 (from 21 November 2025). Factories under the Central Rules keep the employee register (Form XIII) and attendance register (Form XIV); others follow their State's OSH rules, and where none are final, the earlier State format is commonly continued.
Form 12 format (register of adult workers)
This is the traditional layout. If you have moved to a Code register, the same columns sit inside the employee register and the muster roll.
REGISTER OF ADULT WORKERS
(Form 12 under the State Factories Rules; section 62, Factories Act, 1948)
Name of factory: [NAME] Licence / registration No.: [NUMBER]
Department / section: [MOULDING]
Sl. Name of Father's Date of Age / Nature Letter of Relay / Token Date of Remarks
No. worker name birth fitness of work group shift No. joining (exit date)
cert. No.
1 Sunita Devi [NAME] 12/05/1994 - Machine A Shift B 214 01/06/2023
operator (14-22)
2 Ravi Kumar [NAME] 03/02/1999 - Helper B Shift A 188 01/04/2024
(09-18)
Group A: [period of work, e.g. 09:00-13:00, 13:30-17:30] Group B: [ ]
Relays: Shift A [09:00-18:00] Shift B [14:00-22:00]
Signature of manager: ________Status after the OSH Code
- The Act: the Factories Act, 1948 is one of 13 laws consolidated into the OSH Code, 2020, in force from 21 November 2025.
- Central sphere factories: the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 345(E), 8 May 2026) list an employee register (Form XIII), attendance register-cum-muster roll (Form XIV), register for wages, overtime and deductions (Form XV), wage slip (Form XVI) and register of leave with wages (Form XX).
- State factories: most factories are under the State. Check whether your State has notified final OSH rules and their form numbers; until then, keeping the Form 12 columns inside your employee and attendance registers keeps you safe for inspections.
- Paper registers: rule 72 of the OSH (Central) Rules asks that manual registers be legibly entered in ink in English or Hindi and the local language, signed, and preserved for five years.
Worked check before an inspection
A moulding unit with 42 workers in two shifts should be able to show, for any date: each worker's name and token, the shift they were in (Form 12 or Form XIV), the hours actually worked, and that nobody worked more than 48 hours in the week or more overtime than permitted. If a worker on the floor is not on the register, the old section 62(1A) and the new Code both treat that as a serious lapse.
Registers from attendance data
FundRaksha HR assigns workers to shifts, records punches against them and prints both the employee register and the shift-wise attendance register. See the employee register format, the muster roll format and HR software for factories.
Sources
- www.labour.gov.in/static/uploads/2026/02/83978455025732b99b0165def80ab171.pdf
- www.staffnews.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/The-Occupational-Safety-Health-and-Working-Con
- static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2025/nov/doc20251122702801.pdf
- fabkerala.gov.in/eng/index.php/forms
- labour.py.gov.in/forms-pub
Last reviewed: 2026-10-21. Information for Indian businesses; not legal advice.