Guidelines for factories to resume operations safely
After Vizag gas leak tragedy, disaster management agency flags lockdown risks
NEW DELHI: The first week in which factories reopen after the national lockdown must be used as a trial period in which safety protocols are ensured and high production targets are not set, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in detailed guidelines issued on Sunday.
These guidelines came days after 12 people were killed in an industrial accident in Visakhapatnam that may have been caused by the long duration of inactivity at the facility.
“Due to several weeks of lockdown and the closure of industrial units during the lockdown period, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established SOP (standard operating procedure). As a result, some of the manufacturing facilities, pipelines, valves, etc may have residual chemicals, which may pose risk. The same is true for storage facilities with hazardous chemicals and flammable materials,” NDMA said in its guidelines.
Such units should consider the first week of restarting any machinery or chemical unit as the “trial” or “test run” period and “not try to achieve high production targets”, the agency added.
Industrial scale operations include the use of chemicals and machinery that require specific cycles of use and maintenance to keep them operating safely and free of hazardous materials that may accumulate as a result of disuse. Since March 25, most of these units have virtually been shut down, raising the risk of accidents.
At least 12 people died after a chemical from a factory spread to several villages in Visakhapatnam district in the early hours of Thursday, affecting more than 1,000 people who woke up from their sleep choking and with burning sensation in their skin. The leak was of styrene, which is believed to have turned into gas after a cooling unit at the
LG Polymers factory failed, raising the chemical’s temperature to dangerous levels, according to a preliminary incident report filed by district officials.
The same day, 14 others were hurt in two other industrial accidents. The first one involved a group of seven cleaning staff who were clearing out an enclosure filled with poisonous gases at a paper mill in Chhattisgarh’s Raigad. The other was an explosion in a boiler that left seven workers hurt at the Neyveli Lignite Corporation’s plant in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore.
“When Lockout/Tagout procedures are not in place, many energy sources can prove to be hazardous to operators/supervisors who are servicing or maintaining electrical, mechanical or chemical equipment. When heavy machinery and equipment are not maintained periodically, they can become dangerous for the operators/engineers. Combustible liquids, contained gaseous substances, open wires, conveyor belts and automated vehicles make manufacturing facilities a high-risk environment. Improper enforcement of safety codes and improperly labelled chemicals can further pose serious health hazards,” the NDMA advisory said.
The NDMA’s directives is with a clear intention to ensure precautionary measures for complete safety and security of labour, employees and the environment, said DK Aggarwal, president, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“There is cost involved for each non-productive day and a delay of a week for trial runs will bring additional cost, but industries should not restart in haste and at the cost of safety and security of workers, staff and the public at large,” said Aggarwal.
“There needs to be several layers of early warning systems in place like there is for nuclear plants. All emissions and other data on dashboard should be made available to Central Pollution Control Board, state boards, state disaster management authorities and national disaster management authority,” said SN Tripathi, head of civil engineering department at IIT Kanpur.
The NDMA guidelines said that employees should be made aware of the need to identify abnormalities such as strange sounds or smells, exposed wires, vibrations, leaks, smoke, abnormal wobbling, irregular grinding or other potentially hazardous signs that indicate the need for an immediate maintenance or, if required, a shutdown.
The guidelines also asked the industry to take the help of local administration in case of any difficulty, and district magistrates were told to ensure that in such instances the industrial unit may be facilitated to run end-to-end operations in the interest of industrial security.
NDMA further detailed the steps that specific industry needs to take when they reopen. For example, storage or raw materials units have been asked to “inspect for any signs of spills, wear and tear during the lockdown” as well as check for “already opened storage vessels/containers/bags/silos for possible oxidation/chemical reaction/ rusting/ rotting etc”.
Manufacturing units were told to carry out a complete safety audit of the entire unit before taking up starting activities and they should first clean the pipelines, equipment and discharge lines, and factories working 24 hours were asked to consider a one-hour gap between shifts, except those factories or plants that require continuous operations.
They were also asked to operate with 33% managerial and administrative staff as per MHA guidelines; but while deciding which particular person to be included in 33% at any given point of time, overriding priority be given to personnel dealing with safety, and to prepare accommodation to isolate workers if needed.
The reopening of factories was permitted by the easing of restrictions to the national lockdown from May 4 for all zones as long as factories and industrial units were access-controlled, with employers required to put in place social distancing rules for workers.