Determination of the persons responsible for the offence in certain cases .-If the person committing an offence made punishable by this Act or the regulations or any abetment thereof is a firm or other association of individuals or a company or a local authority, all or any of the partners or members or directors thereof as well as the firm, association of individuals, company or local authority shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence or abetment and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:

Power of appropriate Government to direct inquiry into cases of accidents or diseases .-(1) The appropriate Government may, if it considers it expedient to do so, appoint a competent person to inquire into the causes of any accident occurring in connection with any dock work or into any cases where a disease specified by regulations as a disease connected with dock work has been or is suspected to have been contracted by dock workers and may also appoint one or more persons possessing legal or special knowledge to act as assessors in such inquiry

Short title, extent, commencement and application .-(1) This Act may be called The Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act, 1986

Inspectors .-(1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such person as it thinks fit to be the Chief Inspector of Dock Safety and such persons as it thinks fit to be Inspectors subordinate to the Chief Inspector for the purposes of this Act, at such ports as may be specified in the notification

Powers of Inspectors where employment of dock workers are dangerous .-(1) If it appears to an Inspector that any place at which any dock work is being carried on is in such a condition that it is dangerous to life, safety or health, of dock workers, he may, in writing, serve on the owner or on the person in charge of such place an order prohibiting any dock work in such place until measures have been taken to remove the cause of the danger to his satisfaction