Poor safety management - cause for blasts in chemical factory leading to 23 deaths

The chemical factory stores vinyl chloride (chloroethene, chloroethylene) in three tanks. Two tanks were full with the chemical at the time of the incident. Due to leak, pressure in the tank dropped. Instead of finding the cause for pressure drop, operators pumped more chemical into the tank. This lead to bursting of tank and release of chemical. Ignition source from outside the plant caused explosion of the leaked chemical, burning the trucks and cars outside the plant. 23 persons died and 22 were injured in the incident.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2018-11-30/detail-ifzahqkf0371003.shtml
http://www.ecns.cn/news/2018-11-29/detail-ifzahqkf0369490.shtml) 
http://www.ecns.cn/news/society/2018-12-10/detail-ifzanuxq9377375.shtml

Under construction bridge / flyover collapse in Varanasi on 15.05.2018 - reasons

As per reports, the bridge / flyover collapse leading to 18 deaths was due to issues involving design, quality, barrication, supervision. Proper records and checklist were not maintained making it difficult to ascertain the material used for concreting.  Pour card filling is to be done so that all details like area of work, ratio of cement, sand, water used, status of shuttering etc will be noted and signed by all concerned.

https://www.firstpost.com/india/varanasi-flyover-collapse-initial-probe-identifies-6-lapses-in-construction-advises-strict-action-against-high-ranking-officials-4474481.html

Statistics on toxic gas inhalation deaths in India

Chemical accidents:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/bhopal/mp-ranks-highest-in-industrial-toxic-gas-deaths/story-MdcQKYG9mApn73wJ53K9TP.html

Construction scaffolding collapses, killing 74 at Chinese power plant - World Socialist Web Site

Construction scaffolding collapses, killing 74 at Chinese power plant - World Socialist Web Site

It is reported that during construction work in a power plant, a tower crane collapsed. This caused a 70 m high scaffolding collapse leading to more than 74 deaths and injuries to others. Reports say 90% of the workers at site died in the accident. The accident occurred during shift changeover at about 0730 hr, resulting in more deaths.

Speeding up of the work, possibly with bypassing of safety procedures to cut costs appears to be the cause, as per the reports.

One has to know that safety is not cost addition, but a cost saving measure. Any work completed without accidents by safety procedure violations, is only by luck. And, one can't depend on luck for ever. Companies will face the consequences leading to closures with this type of attitude.

One can sacrifice productivity, but not safety of persons.

It is stated that in the year 2015, about 66000 persons died in the country during industrial accidents at 181 per day (appears exaggerated, but reports say so).

13 persons were arrested in connection of with this accident as per the report.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/chinese-officials-detain-13-construction-accident-kills-74-article-1.2887359

Photos of the scene can be seen in the link above.

Deaths of job aspirants during run test

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Youth-dies-during-police-recruitment/articleshow/10835495.cms
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-01/allahabad/28148565_1_police-recruitment-drive-youth-awadesh-kumar-vijeta
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/youth-dies-during-police-constable-recruitment-test_603133.html
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/youth-dies-during-police-recruitment/748524.html
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/youth-dies-during-police-recruitmenthingoli_620934.html
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/youth-dies-during-police-recruitment-test-in/562428/

The above are some of the several news reports about the death of job aspirants while taking part in the physical endurance test (marathon/running). Though many of these unfortunate are weak and not maintaining good health, out of personal compulsions to get job to feed their families, they took part in the test and died due to heart attack, physical exertion, strain, etc. It is reported that in one state, the authorities changed the test timings from day time to morning 0500 hr so as to complete the test by 0830 hr.
The team of doctors available at the test centre can do little in case of persons already having medical problems suffer from exertion, chest pain, etc during the run test.
The purpose of the test can't be questioned as it is expected that only physically fit persons can withstand the tough requirements of police job. To avoid such deaths, all job aspirants should undergo true medical examination and are certified for the run. It requires both self assessment and medical examination as if we do not tell the doctor about our health problems, a realistic assessment can't be done unless a thorough medical checkup is done which costs a lot.
Apart from the above, today there is a news report (see the link below), wherein a person died after workout in the gym. It is reported that the person might have died because of chemical reaction of the tablet he took as pain killer for backache after the gym workout.
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/hyderabad/techie-dies-after-workout/336064.html

All above incidents point to straining oneself for different reasons and one should participate in test runs or have workout in gym or in such similar activities only after getting medical fitness examination and based on the advise of the physician.

Emergency escape routes - not available during emergency

Recently, a fire incident was reported in the basement  of an office building in which three persons lost their lives. The reason for the death is not due to burns but because of asphyxiation. It is also reported that the fire fighters were unable to carryout rescue operations due to blocking of access and ventilation systems. About 10 years ago, a restaurant in Delhi airport also caught fire which started from the kitchen and people were unable to switchoff the exhaust (that spread the fire) as the switch was located at height and was not accessible.
Emergency accessories like manual call point, fire extinguishers, outward opening doors (emergency doors), stairs are those which we do not use day-to-day and it is seen in most of the establishments particularly in office buildings that these are blocked with junk items. The space under stairs is normally used as junkyard to keep mostly discarded chairs, tables, files, etc which are combustible. In basement areas, any fire involving these materials spreads fast due to natural draft and the same stairs which are required for fire fighting can't be used due to smoke coming up and due to poor visibility.
If fire fighters are equipped with fire resistant suits, self contained breathing apparatus and infra red cameras, only then they can approach the source to extinguish the fire. Else, they can become mute spectators. But, the building owners  and others find it easy to blame the fire fighters for not doing anything, though the reason is because of greediness and shortsightedness of the building owners to ensure free access, maintain the areas free from combustibles and keeping constant vigil in these areas.
Some establishments provide fire extinguishers only to satisfy municipal authorities but they can be found behind some tables, or they are used to hold personal belongings like shirts, bags, etc and make them invisible. Sand buckets are generally used by employees as spittoons. If any construction or minor civil works are to be done, then these sand buckets are used for taking water, concrete, etc. The valve of the fire hydrant in the building (if provided) will be normally blocked with chairs. Or, the hydrant may not be in charged condition. Or, there is no water in the sump meant for this fire hydrant system.
In some buildings, the doors to emergency stairs are locked and this defeats the basic purpose of providing alternate stairs for use during emergency.
Many times the reason for fire is attributed to short circuit. A factory inspector in Tamilnadu based on his personal experience said that actually this is not at all the reason and if people can't find the reason, then they say short circuit as the reason. If short circuit is the reason, then all electrical wiring should be checked every year for their healthiness as we check earth pit resistance and electrical continuity between the switch and the earth pit. It should be made mandatory and checking should be done by only by approved third parties. Insurance companies should insist on these checks before providing the insurance cover. All basement areas and important rooms should be provided with CCTV cameras for surveillance. All corridors should have fluorescent (radiant) markings in the direction of nearest exit so that even in case of power failure one can see the glowing signs and escape. Emergency lights should be provided in the corridors and along the escape routes to provide minimum illumination. These lights should be capable of functioning atleast 30 minutes so that rescue operations also can be conducted. For high rise buildings, these lights should function for more duration as assessed by the fire services or similar agency.

Some pictures are shown below where fire fighting accessories are blocked/misused.Such conditions can be avoided and fire safety awareness can be increased among all employees including those in administration and similar services to ensure availability and misuse. These photos were collected from various online safety resources and their effort to create safety awareness and ensure safe workplace is acknowledged.

Fire extinguishers as door stopper

FE in safe custody?

Unsafe storage of chemicals

Bocked emegency door

Emergency exit?

Electrocutions - A Story that repeats

Of late, there were many news paper reports almost on every alternate day about the death of the persons and sometimes animals (mostly) and injuries due to contact of the living being with some cable or wire carrying electricity. The job in hand at the time of the incident involving victim were mostly, repair of a domestic water pump in the sump / repair of connections on the street light pole / touching an electric street light pole / moving near loosely hanging cables or wire / drawing electricity by illegal connection by a greedy person / etc.

For genuine repairs, it is the minimum requirement to cut off power supply and also ensure line clearance from respective agenices and display CAUTION BOARD for not switching ON power supply. It is best to use locking arrangement and keep the key with the person carrying out the work. A supervisor is a must and hazards in the job should be assessed and safety measures for identified hazards should be in place before start of work. This is applicable for jobs executed by agencies.

For repair works at home, it is common practice for the resident to do him self and get shock. All this to save few rupees at the cost of risking life and thus endangering the livelihood of his dependents also. It is best to call experts in the field for repairs even if it appears a small and known job.

Reports say most of the time line clearance is not obtained and the person mostly engaged on the job will be a casual worker. He may be skilled in his work but the responsibility of ensuring isolation of power supply lies with the department person and as it appears from so many deaths, this supervisor simply washes off his responsibility by allocating the job and it is doubtful whether the job is supervised even for some time.

When we learn from these costly deaths, not in terms of money, but that of making the dependents of the deceased to struggle for their livelihood apart from mental agony and pain of losing their dear ones.

Enforcing strict penalties by settingup special fast track courts only to handle the cases of violations of industry related legislations like Factores Act, Environment Protection Act, Indian Electricty Act, Explosives Act, etc and Rules framed under these Acts will bring a sense of responsibility when responsible persons become aware of punishments. It is mostly the lack of application of stick that is making persons irresponsible and fail to ensure safety in their areas of control.

Though we say stick is useful only to some extent, the incidents recurring at regular frequency shows that still we have not yet developed out of this DANDOPAYAM.

My next topics

Open borewells - fall of kids
Deaths in confined space