Safety violations found in 20% of chemical/pharma industries

Official inspection teams constituted by the government to take stock of industrial safety measures in the high-risk chemical and pharmaceutical factories in the State in the aftermath of the blast in Sigachi Industries on June 30, found serious violations in 20% of the sites visited.

District-level teams of representatives selected from Factories, Boilers, Industries, Labour, Telangana Pollution Control Board, and Fire Services identified a total 440 industries, mainly concentrated in five districts, namely Medchal-Malkajgiri, Sangareddy, Medak, Nalgonda and Rangareddy.

The teams physically inspected 185 factories so far as per the guidelines issued by the government, and serious violations were reportedly found in 37 factories. Sharing the details, officials from the Factories Department said the violations pertained to the built-in safety norms in reactors and dryers, and the working conditions at the factories. After the inspection, prohibitory orders were issued to two industries, and showcause notices have been served to the remaining, Director of Factories, Y. Mohan Babu said, without going into the details of the industries and the nature of their violations.

The highest number of showcause notices, at 11, along with one prohibitory order, were issued in Medchal-Malkajgiri district, where 60 factories have been inspected so far. After 46 lives were claimed and eight persons went missing in the devastating explosion at Sigachi Industries, the government issued detailed order constituting district-level committees comprising officials from the six departments, with Deputy Chief Inspectors as the conveners.

As per the orders issued on August 4, the district Collectors of all the 33 districts were to conduct sensitisation meetings and awareness programmes with the assistance from the DCIFs and all the related departments, by inviting members from the industrial bodies, industrial area local authorities, and the managements of the high-risk category industry managements, within a week’s time.

A self-certification check-list in a prescribed format was to be circulated to all the said factories, which should be duly filled in and submitted within a week.

After submission of the checklists, the district-level committees were to visit all the 4,061 identified high-risk category factories in the State, in a phased manner. During the first phase which is underway, they are to inspect all chemical and pharma factories. Gas bottling units, oil, paints, formulation and biotech factories are to be covered in the second phase, while thermal power plants, cement, steel, and foundry factories are scheduled for third phase inspections. All other remaining high-risk category establishments are to be covered in the final phase. The entire exercise is mandated to be finished in two months’ time.