We are nothing after our death. Let us donate our body organs for the poor.

Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work The moment you fear, you are nobody - Swamy Vivekananda

If you think safety is expensive, try an accident... - O.P.Kharbanda

Preventable accidents, if they are not prevented due to our negligence, it is nothing short of a murder - Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishna, 2nd President of India

Zero accidents through zero unsafe behaviors. Do not be complacent that there are no accidents. There may be near miss accidents (NMAs). With luck/chance, somebody escaped knowingly or unknown to the person. But, we can't be safe, if we depend upon the luck.

Safety culture is how the organization behaves when no one is watching.

We make No compromise with respect to Morality, Ethics, or Safety. If a design or work practice is perceived to be unsafe, we do not proceed until the issue is resolved. - Mission statement by S&B Engineers & Consultants Ltd. http://www.sbec.com/safety/

Human meat gets least priority - A doctor's comment on accidents

CSB video excerpts from Dr.Trevor Kletz, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQn5fL62KL8

Showing posts with label Seveso. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seveso. Show all posts

Jun 20, 2010

Compensation for victims of industrial accidents

There is discussion on deciding the quantum of compensation for victims of industrial accidents. The compensation amount should be fixed for every person injured / died in an accident instead of fixing the liability to the company for an accident.

In cases like Chernobyl, Bhopal and Seveso, the impact was immediate and is still continuing. In such cases, we can't decide compensation and cleanup costs immediately. The company has to pay for all victims. If the total compensation is limited to some amount, then in the cases like above, the amount received by the individual victims may become peanuts, whereas companies whose sole aim is to make profits will simply escape. When a company is in the business to make profits, then we can't allow them to make those profits at the cost of human lives, environment and property damages by following unsafe practices and procedures.
In fact, the certifying auditing agencies for quality, environment and safety practices of companies should be made accountable like financial auditors so that certificate can't issued / renewed without compliance with norms.

Now-a-days, the victims of road / rail accidents get Rs 2-10 lakhs from various agencies of the government. Sometimes, jobs are also offered for the next kin of the victims. Similar amount should be paid to the victims of industrial accidents apart from health treatment costs.

When the compensation will be decided for each victim instead of lumpsum per accident, then I am sure, companies will follow international safety practices everywhere and ensure safety of employees and public.

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