The Awards cell operates the Prime Minister's Shram Award, Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP), and National Safety Awards (NSA) of the Ministry of Labour & Employment.

Prime Minister's Shram Award (P.M.S.A)

The Prime Minister's Shram Award was instituted in the year 1985. The objective of the Prime Minister's Shram Award is to recognize the outstanding contributions made by workmen as defined in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 in organisations both in public and private sector who have distinguished record of performance, devotion to duty of a high order, specific contributions in the field of productivity, proven innovative abilities, presence of mind and exceptional courage and also to workmen who have made supreme sacrifice of laying down their lives in the conscientious discharge of their duties.

There are 33 Awards under the scheme. The awards in order of importance are : Shram Ratna (1 no.) , Shram Bhushan (4 nos.), Shram Vir/Veerangana (12 nos.) and Shram Shri/Devi (16 nos.). The recognition consists of a Sanad and Cash award. The awards are shared between private and public sector industries, except the top award of Shram Ratna which is common to both the sectors.

Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (V.R.P)

The Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar was instituted in the year 1965 (earlier named as Shram Vir National Award). The objective of the Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP) is to recognize the outstanding contributions made by a worker or a group of workers in an organisation throughhis/her/their contributions to improve productivity, occupational safety & health, environment and working conditions as well as quality & safety of products. The scheme is applicable for workers employed in the factories and docks. There are 28 awards under the scheme as given below:

• CLASS “A” OR PRATHAM SHRENI - (5) five cash awards of Rs. 75,000/- each
• CLASS “B” OR DWITIYA SHRENI - (8) eight cash awards of Rs. 50,000/- each
• CLASS “C” OR TRITIYA SHRENI - (15) fifteen cash awards of Rs.25,000/- each

National Safety Awards (N.S.A.)

The National Safety Awards (N.S.A) was instituted in the year 1965, NSA is meant to give recognition to good safety performance on the part of Industrial Establishments and to stimulate and maintain the interest of both the managements and the workers in accident prevention and safety promotion programmes.

The awards are given based on Frequency Rate of accidents and accident - free period. The Schemes I to X are applicable to the factories registered under the Factories Act, 1948,Construction sites under the Building & Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996,Installations under Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). The Schemes XI & XII are applicable to Stevedores, Port Authorities and other employers of all the major ports. Under each schemes, the Winner and Runner up will be presented a Shield and a Certificate of Merit. A total of 248 awards are given under different schemes for Industries and Major Ports, as mentioned below:

• 124 Winners in Awards Schemes I to XII
• 124 Runner-ups in Awards Schemes I to XII