Lessons and learnings from Kosgama army camp disaster

It just was a tiny spark in the first few seconds.

Then arose the destined flicker. It popped up a roaring flame. Next it was a violent blaze that refused be disciplined, even by the stern military. In minutes, it led to unceasing thunder and unceasing explosions on that dreadful night. Twenty-four hours later it was history.

In a nutshell, that was how the fire and explosion tragedy occurred at the ammunition dumps located in the Army camp - Salawa - Kosgama on Colombo Avissawella road.

'History repeats itself' noted George Bernard Shaw - and that exactly was what happened out of the blue last Sunday evening. After ending the war, this was the fourth ammunition dump destruction since 2009 owing to accidental fires and explosions. "You will never be the same again if you mishandle explosives" is a stanza used in military training - and the truth of it has amply been proved for yet another time.

The mayhem resulted in death, injury, fear, destruction of military armaments, destruction of state property and private property located in the catchment zone. It also hampered essential public utilities such as power, water, transport and mobility. Reportedly, over 7000 families residing around the camp had to evacuate in a flash under serious panic.

The recovery effort will be challenging in the weeks (if not months) ahead for affected residents and businesses, while the Army will have to rebuild the camp if they decide to continue the site.

There is no doubt or debate that the Sri Lanka Army is one of the most efficient state apparatus admired by the nation - and rightly so. Their role in building a peaceful nation has been colossal in diverse facets beyond the battlefield. Mishaps and accidents can occur even in perfect settings. Our objective should be to learn from the mishap - and set sail a more organised journey into the future - be it as state institutes or as private businesses.

Myths

In the aftermath of the tsunami in 2004, upon watching merry-making sightseers flock to the disaster belt full of scattered corpses, a survived but dismayed foreign traveller from a developed country, said "In your country, anything seems to be entertainment. Even a tragedy of this scale looks to be fun for some". Shame - but it was painfully true.

Similarly, this time we saw an 'anything is political' scenario emerging. It mostly was blatant political exploitation of this tragic incident virtually by all sides. We also saw the social media going wild with ridiculous theories and claims - from conspiracy - to terrorism - to smart purchasing tricks - to coconuts - to Gods and many more. Some claims coined by those who are and were in the top echelons of national governance looked hilarious to the point of beating even the Chaplin comedies.

When we only wanted straight-playing, as usual it all was downplaying by some and up- playing by some and blind-playing by many. It was amazing to see how some conclusions were made while the fire was still growing - and even before forensic studies had begun to determine the authentic cause, thread of escalation and points of accountabilities.

Finally, myths ruled the day - and still so it appears.

Site realities

During the war time, ammunition was mostly in transit. Storage could also be chaotic due to flash manoeuvers - and that is understandable. Yet, seven years into peace times, it is a changed landscape today that allows apt fortification and flash response readiness.

Locating ammunition dumps in the least risk zones is a military decision, and not political. It could go to bureaucratic and political levels only when fund constraints and mass sensitivities begin to exist. Yet, deciding optimum locations for key ammunition dumps falls within geo-strategic military decisions.

As some claimed, if a welltrained Army acted by (militarily) untrained politicians' influence to take military decisions in relation to the locality of high risk dumps - and carried forward the claimed error for so long - it then shows some signs of lack of assertive reasoning by whomever accountable, successively. Even if the dumps were located first, and residential and commercial density increased eventually - the decision makers can still make it flexible by anticipating the potential danger. Reportedly, dumps carried only 10 per cent of the capacity. One can only imagine if this misfired when it was at 100 per cent.

Safety for all

If the dumps were not purpose built ultra-heavy duty dungeons for dense ammunition and explosives storage - though they may literally be called 'dumps', we are in for trouble - not just at Kosgama, but anywhere in the country on any day.

Out of the total safety blend, there are professional explosion safety blended with fire safety, lightning safety, electrical safety, radio-active safety, vibration safety, flammable and reactive utility safety, heat and airflow controls, intrusion controls, sabotage controls and safe self-detonating mechanisms - exclusively designed for ammunition dumps. If we can achieve zero deviation from those golden fundamentals at all times - it ensures safety for all - those in the camps and the catchment periphery too.

Whichever government in power, it is the particular camp and ammo dump command that is responsible for the protection of their weapons, explosives and ammunition in custody. Thus, identification of the obvious and underneath risk avenues plays a vital role in dungeon protection.

A comprehensive and (non pre meditated) objective study could determine if the dumps were open for sabotage, or where they were a soft target for covert terrorist (or subversive) operatives, or were fireprone that easily.

If it authentically reveals so, it then purely is military responsibility and accountability. Bringing a political flavour of any colour and overloading emotions into the equation does not help - but only complicates independent rational thinking.

Lessons for business

When it comes to the corporate world, not all businesses hold stocks of ammunitions and explosives. But many businesses hold stocks of flammable liquids, gasses and solids - sometimes in larger volumes. At times it can be hazardous materials that are reactive in nature unless properly segregated and safeguarded. The most dangerous situation is that time and again - the top management is not made aware of the fire and explosion risk they carry forward right within their corporate compounds.

The Kosgama explosion is an undeniable wakeup call for us all!! Learning from it and 'generalising a specific' to your business is what's needed in such instances. One debacle in an outlet should make all your outlets protected correctly across the business territory. That's how we can become result driven than excuse sheltered on the bad day.

Prevention does not demand a cure - while complacency is pretty costly - and perhaps that is the best lesson we can learn out of last Sunday's calamity.

(The writer is a foremost enterprise risk management specialist and a seasoned corporate risk trainer who serves as the CEO of Strategic Risk Solutions. He can be reached via email on solutions@sltnet.lk)