Safety is non-negotiable

It is disconcerting that there has been another massive blast in a fireworks factory. This time in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda. The scant respect for prescribed standard operating procedures that reduced the three-story factory to rubble on February 6 has killed 12 people and injured more than 200.

The high-intensity explosion also damaged at least 50 houses in the vicinity, while rocks and metal objects emanating therefrom hit several passersby. The unit, which was a primary source of employment in the region, reportedly functioned without a fire extinguisher within its premises and also illegally housed a substantial stockpile of firecrackers.

Laudably, the fire was expeditiously extinguished, and the injured were swiftly shifted to nearby hospitals. Besides apprehending the factory owners, the government transferred the District Collector as well as the Superintendent of Police and set up a three-member high-powered committee to probe the incident. All firecracker units across the state are being audited for safety. Financial aid to the tune of Rs 4 lakh and 2 lakh is to be provided by the state and central governments, respectively, to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.

Units manufacturing crackers are codified as a “dangerous operation” under the Factories Act, 1948. Classified as class 7 explosives, the manufacture, possession, use, sale, transport, import, and export of firecrackers (fireworks) are regulated by the Explosives Act, 1884. Illegal manufacturing of firecrackers is punishable with up to three years of imprisonment, or a fine up to Rs 5,000, or both.

Although fire accidents due to crackers have been reported from across the country, a majority of the fatal ones seem to be occurring in and around Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi, also known as the Fireworks Capital of India, where 73% of licenced fireworks manufacturing units in the state operate. For the fireworks owners, the relatively dry climate and lack of rainfall are a boon. However, mostly people in and around Sivakasi, due to a lack of opportunities in other occupations in the region, work in the fireworks units as unskilled workers on a contractual basis.

The Chaitanya Prasad Committee, set up by the Tamil Nadu government in the wake of one of the worst fire accidents that killed over 40 workers, many of them charred beyond recognition, came out with several recommendations. Some of the suggested safety measures, like banning sub-leasing of works by licenced units, maintaining inter-safety distances between sheds covered with earthen mounds, providing a smoothened pathway with a width of 1.5 metres, etc., merit implementation on a nationwide basis.

Looking beyond Harda, there is a need to strictly enforce the various rules and prescribed norms. The major causes of accidents involving fireworks, as investigations from past incidents have shown, include manufacturing firecrackers in makeshift, unlicensed units, rough handling of chemicals by untrained workers, spillage/overloading of chemicals during the filling process, working outside permitted areas, etc.

As most of the fatal accidents in the fireworks industry seem to recur mostly in filling and mixing sections, the checklist of norms to be followed needs to be strictly enforced.

Accident prevention requires purposeful, continuous action on everyone’s part. Both inside manufacturing units and outside, the workers handling firecrackers must understand the safety aspects, and the supervisors should lead the effort in identifying possible hazards and correcting them. This will go a long way towards putting an end to unsafe working conditions that continue to endanger lives in the fireworks industry.

Most importantly, safety is non-negotiable. While enforcement of laws with zero tolerance is important, the certainty of the punishment is more of a deterrent than the severity of the punishment.