One death is a tragedy, a million a statistic—so goes the cynical saying. This is especially true in the case of industrial accidents in the country. From the Bhopal gas leak to the blast at Sigachi Industries in Telangana, thousands have lost lives over decades and many more maimed for life. Yet, after a flurry of knee-jerk reactions, the Centre, the states and the companies go back to business as usual rather than seriously introspecting and finding a permanent solution to ensure workers’ safety.
The Sigachi blast crashed a building and resulted in the death of 38 workers. At the end of Thursday, 10 others were missing. Yes, compensation has been announced and panels formed to investigate the cause of the accident; but the void left among the shattered families can never be filled. As per official data, close to 500 industrial mishaps of different magnitudes have occurred over the last five years in Hyderabad, a pharma hub. But in several other states, too, such accidents are just waiting to happen. Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has seen several tragedies including the LG Polymers gas leak, as has Tamil Nadu in its fireworks factories. Between 2017 and 2020, on an average, three people died every day in factory accidents, according to the Union labour ministry’s Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes. The National Disaster Management Authority has counted 130 chemical accidents over the past decade. Reports suggest over 3,000 died in such incidents between 2018 and 2020. Mind you, these statistics do not include the informal sector and even the micro, small and medium enterprises.
It’s not that we do not have laws to protect workers—in fact, we have enough of them. The Centre brought in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code in 2020. The problem is in effective implementation and in turning a blind eye to safety standards in the push to improve the ease of doing business. Also, several ministries are involved in ensuring compliance, causing confusion. The alarming regularity of accidents not only costs precious lives, but also deals a blow to the manufacturing sector. It is high time governments got their act together to strictly enforce norms, and make an example of managements that flout them and the errant officials who give such managements a free pass.