VISAKHAPATNAM: A committee has been formed to assess the safety parameters in various industries, particularly major hazardous ones in Visakhapatnam district, following the May 7 gas leak at LG Polymers plant, which claimed 12 lives and hospitalised several hundreds. The committee formed special teams to inspect the conditions of all major hazardous industries during lockdown in the district.
Speaking to TNIE, Inspector of Factories Prasad said the teams have already visited 19 industries and will submit the reports to District Collector V Vinay Chand on Monday. In the reports, they have suggested measures to step up safety mechanism through automation and database in the industries though most of these units are following standard operating procedure (SOP) as per the safety protocols.
Stating that safety drive should be a continuous process, Prasad said he recommended the industries to lay more focus on public awareness about the safety measures and a separate cell should be set up by them for the purpose. He said there are 10 to 12 hazardous industries, including Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), in the city.
Prasad said all these industries are doing internal safety audit every year and external audit teams also examine them. He said the department conducted safety inspection. Stating that there was no lacunae in safety mechanism in most of the industries, he said accidents, however, take place as they cannot be foreseen. Referring to LG Polymers incident, Prasad said as production was stopped for more than 50 days, there was rise in temperature in the tower leading to gas leak. He said the special chief secretary is investigating the reasons for the accident.
With regard to accidents at Pharma City, he said all pharmaceutical industries are located in Pharma City in Parawada. He said there are 60 to 70 pharma industries in the Pharma City, while in neighbouring Telangana, pharma industries are spread across four districts.
‘Units must lay stress on safety mechanism’
Safety drive should be a continuous process, said Inspector of Factories Prasad. The industries were advised to lay more focus on public awareness about the safety measures and a separate cell should be set up by them for the purpose