The Public Works Department (PWD) of the Delhi government has directed for the constitution of emergency response teams (ERTs) to deal with accidents in the aftermath of two deaths at different work sites of the agency.

The teams shall submit a preliminary report on such incidents, along with geo-tagged photographs of the sites, to the PWD Secretariat within four hours of the incidents, according to an official communication, which also said that deaths on account of any incident will invite blacklisting of the contractor.

A labourer was electrocuted while working at an under-construction building on the premises of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital here earlier this month.

In another incident reported on June 30, Ajit Sharma (51) was returning home after dropping a passenger in east Delhi’s Bhajanpura when his autorickshaw got stuck in a ditch filled with water near Waziarabad. When he got out of the vehicle to push it, he fell into the ditch and drowned.

“To effectively deal with emergency situations and accidents, Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) shall be constituted immediately in each of the civil and electrical divisions engaged in construction and maintenance of buildings, roads and flyovers etc.,” a circular issued by PWD Special Secretary Shashanka Ala read.

The ERTs will comprise three members -- the executive engineer, the assistant engineer and the junior engineer concerned.

According to the circular, the first priority of the teams would be to undertake restoration and rehabilitation measures in coordination with other agencies or departments to avoid further damage.

The PWD Secretariat and SE (Works) will be informed over the phone following any such incident.”They shall immediately reach the spot of incident (within two hours of report of the incident) and coordinate with other agencies like Delhi Police, Disaster Management, Delhi Fire Services etc. For rehabilitation measures. ERT shall submit a preliminary report along with geo-tagged photographs of the incident to the PWD Secretariat within four hours of the incident,” the circular read.

A detailed inquiry is to be conducted by the teams headed by the superintending engineers concerned with other members within 24 hours of such incidents. The inquiry reports have to be submitted to the PWD Secretariat.