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A day after an ammonia gas leak at a private seafood processing and export unit near Periyapalayam in Tiruvallur district killed seven migrant workers, labour rights activists and experts pointed to gaps in workplace safety and in the provision of safe rest areas and accommodation for workers.
The workers, many of them young women from Odisha and Assam aged between 19 and 25, were off duty and resting in the dormitory when the leak occurred.
R. Geetha of the Unorganised Workers Federation said living spaces are as important as worksites, particularly for migrant workers, since employers are responsible for the accommodation provided to them.
She pointed out while the Factories Act, 1948 requires shelters and rest rooms to be adequate, ventilated, cool and clean, and bars eating in work rooms where a lunch room exists, in practice, she said, these norms are often not followed. Workers made to stay in cramped and overcrowded spaces.
She added that for many migrant workers, there is hardly any separation between the workplace and the place where they stay, which often blurs the line between work and rest. This leaves them vulnerable to being overworked, affects their mental well-being, and also puts them at risk even when they are off duty if an accident or industrial mishap occurs.
A.R. Shanthi of the AITUC, and the Working Women’s Forum, said that a shrimp processing unit would generally not fall under the Factories Act’s category of a ‘hazardous process’ factory, as seafood processing is not among the industries listed in the First Schedule.
However, she added, specific operations within such units — such as ammonia-based refrigeration or handling of certain chemicals — should still attract additional safety and environmental compliance requirements.
Dr. Shanthi said every factory is required to have its own evacuation plan, fire prevention protocol and safety measures in place, but questioned whether these are actually implemented or regularly checked. In industries such as seafood processing, where large quantities of ammonia are used for cold storage, the potential risk is significant, she said.
Fr. Simolin of Don Bosco Migrant Services said companies, irrespective of size, do not take worker safety or compliance with safety mechanisms seriously.
Referring to the incident earlier this month, in which a migrant worker died after a ramp in the corridor of an abandoned makeshift accommodation at a private company collapsed, and the 2025 Ennore Thermal Plant SEZ accident in which nine workers died, he said companies fail to put adequate safeguards in place.
He said while compensation may be paid after such incidents, survivors are often moved out, effectively pushed out of work, and no meaningful changes follow.
Call for judicial inquiry
Penn Thozhilalar Sangam has urged the State government to constitute a high-powered judicial inquiry into the ammonia leak at St. Peter and Paul Seafood factory, alleging serious lapses in workplace safety and labour protection.
In a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister C. Joseph VIjay, the Labour Department, and the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health, the federation said the incident was not merely an industrial accident but one that raised questions about workplace safety, labour rights, regulatory oversight, and the treatment of migrant and Adivasi women workers.
It demanded that criminal cases be registered against the owners, managers, and others responsible under provisions relating to culpable homicide, negligence, and violations of labour and safety laws.
It also sought an independent judicial inquiry, the publication of a detailed report on the incident, permission for an independent civil society fact-finding team to visit the site, and unrestricted access for trade unions, lawyers, and labour rights groups to meet the workers.
Expressing concern that workers housed at a marriage hall after the incident could be sent back to their native places without informed consent, the groups urged the government to ensure humanitarian assistance and facilitate conciliation proceedings between the workers and the management.
The memorandum also sought answers on the recruitment of migrant and Adivasi workers, their wages and social security coverage, factory safety inspections, measures in place to prevent ammonia leaks, the government’s emergency response, and whether families of the deceased and injured workers were informed promptly.
Calling the tragedy symptomatic of wider labour exploitation, the organisations urged the government to inspect seafood processing units and other hazardous industries across the State, publish the findings, and strengthen coordination among departments, and establish a multilingual hotline for workers to report unsafe working conditions.
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