INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS

NEWS: Recent Explosion at Fireworks Unit in Tamil Nadu Claimed Many Lives

CONTEXT

Large-scale chemical manufacturingà amplified the nature and scale of Industrial Accidents in India as evident in:

• 1984à Bhopal Gas Tragedy (leakage of methyl isocyanate)
• 1985 àOleum gas leak in Delhi
• 2017 àNTPC Unchahar (Uttar Pradesh) power plant boiler explosion
• Vizag gas leak (2020)

Key Causes

• Despite presence of framework of laws in Indiaà effective implementation is often lacking.
• Certain safety+ environmental regulations are “diluted” through executive orders to promote ease of doing business.
• Human errors, Engineering design flaws, Poor maintenance, or Protocol violations on factory floor
• Industries dealing with toxic gases (chlorine, ammonia, etc.)à often operate on narrow margins of safety.
• Environmental Factorsàg., Earthquakes can damage industrial installations (e.g. 2001 Gujarat earthquake caused spills in some chemical warehouses).
• Cost-cutting on safety measures, inadequate investment in modern safety systems, etc.

Key Mitigation Measures

• Environment (Protection) Act, 1986à Enacted in direct response to Bhopal (1984), Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991; Disaster Management Act, 2005, etc.
• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) including State and District Level institutions.
• Dedicated hazardous materials (HAZMAT) response units+ National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) with units trained in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) emergency response.
• Advanced Process Safety Management (PSM) systems, etc.
• Involvement of local public; Local crisis groups for information dissemination, etc.