ROURKELA: Three days after five contract workers of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) were taken ill allegedly due to leakage of Carbon Monoxide (CO) gas, the blast furnace (BF) department in its fact-finding report on Monday claimed there was no gas leakage.
RSP in a statement said the cooling system of the BF-V is of vital importance and as water leakage to the furnace may led to major problems, monitoring is done round the clock. During routine
monitoring on October 13, water leakage was suspected in the plate cooling system of the furnace at 33 metre level and immediately Tata Projects Ltd (TPL) was assigned for the repair work.
After planning, the working personnel were trained on use of personal protection equipment (PPE) and during the critical repair job senior most DGM (Operations) of BF, other senior officers of BF besides site in-charge of TPL were present.
Five workmen detected the leakage in the fourth cooler and started the repair job. The workplace was monitored with portable Carbon Monoxide monitor and the work was completed at about 11:30 am. However, after climbing down the ground they complained of uneasiness and were
immediately taken to the Occupational Health Centre. Later, they were shifted to the ICU of the Ispat General Hospital (IGH). They were discharged on October 14. While the RSP statement did not mention the reason behind workers taking ill, trade union leaders attributed it to leakage of CO gas.