Given the prevailing hue and cry over the fire accident at the Blast Furnace-II of Bhushan Steel limited’s (BSl) factory at Meramundali in Dhenkanal, it could easily be said that the incident is a man-made calamity. Such things can’t be hushed up by saying that accident is an accident and it may happen anywhere.
The accident that occurred at BSl cannot be termed as an ‘accident’. It did not happen suddenly. Accidents are common in the BSl plant. Since its commercial production, as many as 66 deaths have been reported to have occurred in the Bhushan. The issue has been debated in the Odisha legislative Assembly several times.
Despite the debates, neither the State Government nor the company took any corrective measures to rectify their mistakes. The fault of the State Government is that they ignored the previous accidents and never bothered to review the endemic situation in the BSl. Senior executives who run the BSl plant have developed an attitude that accident was not unnatural.
This attitude of the BSl bosses, in fact, encouraged the executives and managers who gave importance to early execution of the factory than the lives of poor workers. It is a fact that BSl is sincere in setting up its industry in Odisha, but the company has proved that it has no concern for the people who raise its factory.
It is not that only workers are dying in BSl; many more accidents are occurring in various other industries, where precious lives of the workers are being lost.
According to official statistics, at least 56 workers died in 122 accidents in major industries during 2011-12 followed by 32 deaths till August 2012 in the year 2012-13. labour Minister Bijayshree Routray, who appeared serious over the recent accident in BSl’s plant cannot escape responsibility.
In case of BSl, at least 70 cases have been filed against the company under different laws being implemented by Directorate of Factories and Boilers. The State Pollution Control Board has also filed cases against BSl. However, no steps to withdraw the licence of BSl were taken. The Minister who assured the Assembly to take action, completely failed in going by his own words. Faced with criticism, the Government shifted the responsibility to his department’s Secretary CTM Suguna.
Is Suguna responsible for the accidentIJ Why didn’t the Minister review activities of BSlIJ What prevented him from taking action against the companyIJ
The Minister also assured the House that the Government would identify unregistered factories and ensure safety of the workers. Had the Government taken any such steps to ensure safety of the workers engaged in the 70 plus major industries in the State, disasters such as Bhushan’s could have been avoided.
Avoiding industrial accidents is not an art. A little bit of caution accompanied by awareness can easily keep deaths away. A “Zero Casualty” mission in industries can yield success in reducing and checking accidents in the State. lack of awareness is the main culprit, said a former Chief Inspector, Factories & Boilers.
In Odisha, the Government, the companies, the people in general and workers in particular are ignorant about the safety norms. The labour contractors engage the workers in industries, which are good at agricultural field. The workers themselves do not know what the industrial safety is. And the owners of the industries take advantage of this ignorance and prefer not to take adequate precautions to avoid accident.
The trade unions, which have been shouting at top of their voices after the BSl accident too don’t know about ABC of industrial safety and security. As Odisha is in industrial spree and about 100 plus major industries are coming up in different sectors, Government officials, trade union leaders, workers and local people must know about industrial safety. State’s industrial safety is now confined to putting a yellow helmet on the heads of workers.
The industries must be told not to take short-cuts while setting up their units in the State. Taking a quick reach approach causes accidents as the owners are in hurry to complete work and go for commercial production within no time. In the process, accidents take place killing workers.
Safety in transit is another factor that helps reduce accidents. It is seen that most people die in industries due to defects in machines and vehicles. The Government needs to ensure that all the machines and vehicles are inspected every month and necessary repair and maintenance made as soon as possible.
The promoters of the major industries should be asked in person by the State Government that he/she would be responsible for the death of any worker in their industries. The owners must be told that the Government would not tolerate any such accidents and they could not shift the responsibilities. If the owner is put behind the bars, then it would send a clear signal to rest of the industries that the Government would not hesitate to put them behind bars.
The Government needs to set up an Ombudsman for industries exclusively to look after such issues as a regulatory mechanism is absent in the industries sector.
While Odisha is poised for massive industrial growth, the Government must rise to the occasion and take steps as it did during Phailin. As Odisha is new to major industrial activities, it must learn lessons from industrially developed States and even countries to check accidents.
Unless instant action is taken, Odisha’s dream of emerging as an industrially developed State would be shattered for the carelessness of a bunch of unscrupulous industries owners, feel industrial safety experts.