Wednesday’s explosion at a pharma company in a special economic zone at Atchutapuram near Visakhapatnam is another wake-up call for governments and factories for implementing long-pending worker safety measures to cut down on industrial disasters. The death toll stood at 18 people, and 36 hurt. Fortunately, many employees were not present at the explosion slot as it was lunch time. Had it occurred at any other time, the death toll would have been higher.
Though the official version attributes the accident to the reactor, the office of deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan tweeted blaming the leakage of solvent oil for the blast. If it is true, the real cause of the current accident would be employer negligence and employee’s ignorance.
According to the directorate general, Factory Advice Service and Labour Institute, three people die every day in industrial accidents in India. On average, 1,109 deaths and more than 4,000 injuries were reported in registered factories each year.
While India has one of the highly regulated labour markets in the world, with 15 laws aiming to cover various facets of worker’s welfare, the lack of a unified approach for the chemical industry leaves loopholes in the enforcement of safety measures.
According to International Labour Organisation, lax investment in occupational safety and health is the key cause of occupational accidents. Most companies do not have a comprehensive chemical risk database, which creates a knowledge gap, hinders assessment of hazard and safety protocol. Most inherently risky jobs are done by untrained contractual workers, who lack a proper understanding of the risks, leading to accidents that impose huge human, environmental and capital costs on the society.
It is high time that the government enacts a comprehensive industrial safety code, which makes hiring of trained workers mandatory for factories dealing in hazardous materials.
