VISAKHAPATNAM: Environment protection, occupational health and safety are three key parameters, and concerted efforts are needed to check recurring industrial accidents, say experts. There are specific guidelines to ensure safety in industries. However, very few of them are aware of them. There was a need for having safety advisory systems comprising trained experts, they said.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, a former professor of chemical engineering at Andhra University and former member of HPC P Jagannadha Rao said the advisory system will play a key role in alerting the management in the implementation of safety audit experts.
“In European countries, the advisory system was appointed by their governments to check accidents. The system also comes in handy in explaining the new technology to the workforce in industries. Introducing such a system in the country will bring down the number of accidents,” he observed.Prof Bala Prasad of Andhra University, who headed one of the technical committees which probed LG Polymers gas leak, said the majority of industrial accidents occur due to human negligence.
“They can be checked if there is ultimate commitment by people. Accidents also occur due to various factors such as technical snag and safety lapses. There should be a change in attitude of both employees and managements,” he said. The only way out to bring down accidents was strict implementation of safety protocol and presence of qualified experts in the industries.
Besides, workers should have thorough knowledge about the manufacturing process of the unit so that they can plug any problem immediately. It was mandatory to do risk and impact assessments for getting environment clearance. These assessments should be done without compromise and this will help ensure safety in industries. He said negligence on the part of management was also one of the reasons for mishaps. Only a very few are proactive, he said. SEZ managements should also have total awareness about the nature of industries in their industrial areas so that they can intervene, wherever required.
He said it was not the responsibility of the regulatory body alone to ensure safety, instead the industry should come forward and take up it as its responsibility. Besides, there should be periodical monitoring and repairs and rectifications. Strict adherence to safety norms and standard operating procedure, regular checks and proper training to workers are a must to avert industrial mishaps, he said, adding that the management should not compromise on safety.