At least four workers were killed and more than 10 injured following a gas leak on Thursday at a plant of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals ltd (GNFC) in Dahej town near in South Gujarat.
Confirming the development, police said that the casualties occurred due to leakage of phosgene gas at the Toluene Diisocynate (TDI) unit of GNFC in the wee hours of Thursday. TDI is an organic compound with the formula CH3C6H3(NCO)2 and considered as a hazardous organic chemical. Certain products based on TDI are used in making of automobile seating, furniture foam and mattresses to name a few.
GNFC is listed with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSC). Hence it has sought clarification from the GNFC management on the incident. Sources close to the development said that this was the second incident of leakage of TDI in the GNFC plant. A couple of years ago in January 2014, a phosgene gas leakage affected more than 20 workers at the same unit. At that time there were no casualties. Sources in the district administration informed that of the 13 injured in the incident, two critical injured were rushed to the Government hospital in Vadodara and others were admitted at local hospitals in Dahej and Bharuch. The leakage of gas is believed to happen as a result of mechanical failure at the TDI unit.
A team of Forensic Science laboratory (FSl) has reached the location where the leakage occurred and initiated investigation. The district administration has asked Director of Industrial Safety and Health to investigate the mishap. The management of GNFC has also appointed a technical committee to probe the matter. Despite indicated low toxicity, TDI is classified as ‘very toxic’ by the European Community. In US, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has set a permissible exposure limit, while the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has not established a recommended exposure limit, due to classification of TDI as a possible occupational carcinogen.