32 accidents in industrial units in last two months; 75 killed

India has witnessed at least 32 accidents in industries in the chemical sector since May this year, taking the lives of 75 people and injuring 194 others, indicating a "breakdown" in safety measures taken at manufacturing facilities in the country during and after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Of the 32 incidents between May 3 and July 5, according to 'IndustriALL Global Union', the maximum of seven incidents were reported from Chhattisgarh followed by six in Gujarat and four in Maharashtra.

The warning sign is that in all of these cases, there is “at least the possibility” that workers and residents of nearby communities have been exposed to toxic chemicals that will cause health issues in the months or years to come.

The Bokaro Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh reported four incidents, the highest for any unit, during this period in which one person was killed and seven others injured. According to IndustriALL Global Union's analysis, 20 workers were killed in two fire incidents in Tamil Nadu's Neyveli Lignite Corporation in May and June.

One of the biggest incidents was reported from Visakhapatnam where at least 11 people were killed and around 100 injured due to a gas leak in LG Polymers following which the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issuing fresh guidelines for factories reopening during and after Covid-19 lockdown, advising them not to scale up production in the first week itself and instead run on trial basis.

The analysis showed that five of the incidents were due to gas leaks in manufacturing units in which 17 people lost lives and at least 111 suffered injuries. In three incidents of boiler blast, 22 people lost their lives and 49 were injured.

There were eight incidents of fire in manufacturing units during this period in which 14 people were killed and seven injured.

Since May, the government allowed the functioning of industries with restrictions during lockdown and it was fully functional from June when the government started the 'Unlock' process.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Valter Sanches warned that the "terrifying reality is that this cluster of serious accidents could easily indicate a pattern of failure, with even more accidents likely to follow."

"When this kind of a systemic breakdown in safety controls is observed, the possibility of a major catastrophe on the scale of the 1984 Bhopal disaster, cannot be ruled out," Sanches wrote.

INTUC president G Sanjeeva Reddy, who is also the head of IndustriALL affiliate Indian National Metalworkers Federation, said the government should form an expert commission to analyse the industrial accidents, immediately address this safety crisis and stop potential accidents. "The government should involve unions in the decision making process both at the national level and at the factory levels to avoid accidents in the future,” he said.