Proposal of amendments to Factories Act 1948 by Government of India

The Ministry of Labour and Employment proposes 52 amendments to The Factories Act, 1948. The proposed amendments were uploaded at http://labour.nic.in/main/dgfasli.pdf and comments/suggestions were invited at http://labour.nic.in/main/AmendmentsAct,%201948.pdf within 45 days from 06.09.2011.

A freak accident - unsafe act

It happened.

In a house, the family head tried to lit something. It did not. Then, he brought petrol in a bottle, poured a little on the material which he want to lit. After keeping the petrol bottle aside, he lit the matchstick. Immediately the fire spread from the material to the petrol bottle. In panic condition, he threw the bottle outside his house. The burning petrol bottle fell on a lady going on the road. She received burn injuries on hands and her clothing got burnt partly. She was admitted in a nearby hospital for treatment.
Mindless acts can lead to such type of accidents, endangering the persons who do not know what is going to happen to them.
Similar things can happen in industries endangering the environment and public at large due to unsafe actions by the persons inside the factory.

Gasoline fire in Nairobi, Kenya

As per reports, 61 persons died and 116 were seriously burned due to a fire today (12.09.2011) at 1000 hr local time. The fire occurred possibly due to a cigarette butt thrown on a pool of gasoline that got accumulated from a leaking pipe passing through densely populated slum area and where people gathered to collect the gasoline. As per one report, the pipeline might have been punctured deliberately to collect the fuel. Fire fighters had difficult time in controlling the fire.The leaking gasoline floated on a nearby sewer and it resembled like a burning river after the blast and resultant fire.
A report says, fire started after a fuel tankers dumped the fuel in the open sewer flowing through the slums.
If this is the reason, it is most unpardonable act and the guilty should be punished. If the reason is leak from the pipe line, then large quantity must have escaped from the line into the sewer till it is identified either by pressure drop or somebody noticed and informed the company. Both the company and the authority that cleared pipeline layout are responsible for the incident in this case. One can't lay the pipelines through populated areas. If the settlers came after piping job, then the company with the help of local police should have got it vacated. Such piping should terminate at a place far off from the habitation and should be protected. As per the reports, when a news channel asked the resident two years ago, he don't want to move from the place though he feels that there is a chance of the fire that occurred today.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/09/12/kenya.fire/
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya-fire-20110913,0,5237204.story?track=rss
http://www.africareview.com/News/Riddle+of+Nairobi+pipeline+fire+that+killed+75/-/979180/1235086/-/10hj59jz/-/
Video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14887938

The Hindu : News / International : At least 61 Kenyans dead after pipeline explosion

The Hindu : News / International : At least 61 Kenyans dead after pipeline explosion

LINK

Explosion at a nuclear waste treatment facility in France

A blast occurred at 1037 GMT today (Monday 12.09.2011) at Centraco nuclear waste treatment facility in Marcoule, France reportedly during melting of metal scrap. One person was killed, one was seriously burned and 3 others were slightly injured. As reports say, there is no leakage of radioactivity from the site.As per BBC reports, blast happened in a furnace used to burn waste, including fuels, tools and clothing which had been used in nuclear energy production but had only very low levels of radiation. The ingots formed after melting will be stored safely at a designated place. This is an accepted procedure.
Authorities informed that there are no nuclear power reactors at the site. The explosion also is not from waste storage tanks where radiolytic hydrogen formed can lead to explosion if not diluted. It is also not of any explosion that may arise during concentration of waste by evaporation.
Any non-nuclear incident in a nuclear facility can be misunderstood as nuclear explosion. This accident is to be treated as industrial explosion and not as nuclear explosion. If the explosion occurred during melting, one reason can be water reaction with molten metal. But, as per BBC report and other reports, explosion occurred after fire. It is not known the reason for fire which can be due to flammable solvents or due to friction of fine turnings of iron,zircaloy, aluminium, etc in the metal scrap. It is a known fact that dust explosions are possible with fine dust of these metals.
As there is no radioactivity, we have to assume the explosion is non-nuclear of one of the above types.
http://hanlonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2011/09/marcoule-explosion-is-the-tide-of-anti-nuclear-irrationality-on-the-turn-.html
1)  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44483925/ns/world_news-europe/?GT1=43001
2)  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-nuclear-safety-body-says-an-explosion-has-rocked-a-nuclear-plant-in-countrys-south/2011/09/12/gIQAJUkcMK_story.html
3) http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/09/12/explosion-kills-one-at-french-nuke-plant.html?obref=obnetwork
4) http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?30252-Breaking-Nuke-explosion-in-France

Power failure due to snake in a feeder box

A snake entered a feeder box from which power is supplied to an industrial area. The snake died of electric shock and at the same time, power supply to the industrial area also got cut off. Concerned officers of electricity board could not find the reason for power failure for more than 10 hours. After search, they found 1.5 m long dead snake in the feeder box. They claim that they did not see such a problem earlier. Production loss for 10 hours, environment pollution due to DG (diesel generator) sets operated during the period, revenue loss for the power supplier and the inconvenience caused to public will add to large amount, though the cost of preventing such incident i.e ensuring no openings, is minuscule. Many times, we see open fuse boxes, partly opened doors of power distribution boards, etc which can lead to entry of reptiles and causing such damages and this has become an accepted norm for such industries.

The following link give some extra information about similar incidents.
http://www.fort.usgs.gov/resources/education/bts/impacts/electrical.asp

About Leadership - excerpts from the book by Robin Sharma

Excerpts from, “The Leader Who had NO TITLE” by Robin Sharma, which I liked the most. I read this book sometime back and made the notes which I reproduced below. After reading, I felt that by following the tips, we can improve our personal life and have peace of mind with satisfaction. This is true for improving safety also at work place which will give satisfaction of saving lives, avoiding property damage and protecting the environment.

The website link is here: http://www.robinsharma.com/

1. Learning is the daughter of repetition. Repetition is a powerful teaching tactic. Through repetition, a new idea can quickly become integrated as a new belief.
2. Success is easy for anyone, if they do right things consistently. And these little things and behavior buildup over time lead to reaching the impossible, which appeared in the beginning. Seeds do not give fruits overnight. They have to be planted, watered, weeded and fertilized before we get fruits.
3. Small insignificant daily acts of excellence buildup success. Neglect of small daily acts over a period of time lead to no point of return and failure.
4. Success is achieved only when we practice and experience. Listening or speaking alone will not help. When we practice the idea that we listened, it becomes a truth and we experience it. Unless the idea gets into us and we practice, listening/reading fails to crate lasting results.
5. There is nothing impossible in this world. Only it is a matter of time, after we put our sincere efforts.

Why people do not want to learn from incidents?

Everyday goes in our life without some incident that would have caused rise in heart beat. If it is during the driving on the road, either we shout or get earful hearing from the other side. Here, always the bigger vehicle driver is at the receiving end. If it is at some other place, like at home, work place, bus, train, or market place, both sides will be vocal in airing the views.

Every time after the incident, consciously or unconsciously we try to analyze what happened and who is responsible. Most of the times, we conclude that we are not wrong and that the incident happened because of the other person. After ascertaining this again and again in our thoughts, we feel satisfied that we did nothing wrong. If we were the affected during the incident but were at the receiving end, we think that we can’t do under the circumstances as we are less in numbers. If, someone got injured in which we are also a party, we tell ourselves that we are right and feel sympathy or that they deserve it for not being correct.

Artificial resuscitation - video link

For adults, during cardiac arrest, this video shows continuous chest compression can lead to supply of oxygen rich blood to the brain and increase survival chances. One may think that by this method, the patient's chest bones may be broken. But, when he is already in danger, bringing life back is important.
http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/59002-Continuous-Chest-Compression-CPR-Mayo-Clinic-Presentation

CPR for babies: http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/59002-Continuous-Chest-Compression-CPR-Mayo-Clinic-Presentation

If blind can see, why not others? a video

The video below shows what a blind man did to get street lights back to working. If blind can see the problem, why not others. 

Most touching video that all government servants must watch

LINK