Two industrial accidents in Anakapalli District in Visakhapatnam within 48 hours have brought the focus on the need for stringent safety measures to prevent disasters in the industrial hub of Andhra Pradesh.
A series of industrial accidents in and around Visakhapatnam in the last few years have sparked fear among thousands of workers in the units, especially those dealing with chemicals.
The recent mishaps have also led to panic among people in villages near the industrial hubs.
In the first accident on August 21 as many as 17 people were killed and 36 injured in a reactor blast at a pharma unit in Atchutapuram Special Economic Zone (SEZ), about 25 km from Visakhapatnam.
In the wee hours of August 23, four workers were injured in another accident in a pharma unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parwada, about 35 km from this port city.
Inadequate preventive measures, lack of regular maintenance by industries and the failure of the authorities concerned to conduct safety audits are leading to such disasters, say the workers.
Lack of infrastructure to manage emergencies is compounding the problem.
Employment of unqualified personnel is said to be another reason for the failure to prevent accidents or deal with emergencies.
According to Andhra Pradesh Home Minister, V Anitha the leak of solvent MTBE (Methy Tertiary Butyl Ether) led to the reactor blast at Escientia Advanced Sciences Private Limited at Atchuthapuram SEZ.
The workers tried to plug the leak but failed and gas formed and spread from the third floor to the lower floors of the building.
"Before the leak could be plugged the solvent fell on an electrical panel and a fire broke out leading to a blast," Anitha said after a visit to the accident site.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said Escientia, a red category industry, failed to follow Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which led to the mishap.
Within 24 hours of CM Naidu warning the industries against negligence, another accident was reported from Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parwada.
Four workers of Synergies Active Ingredients were injured in the accident that occurred when they were mixing chemicals.
About 40,000 people work in more than 138 industrial units at Atchutapuram SEZ and Parwada Pharma City together.
Chief Minister Naidu revealed that since 2019, the combined Visakhapatnam district reported 119 industrial accidents in which 120 people died.
Most of the industrial accidents in recent years were caused by reactor blasts.
Failure to take adequate safety precautions to control pressure and temperature is said to be leading to reactor blasts.
Reactors play a crucial role in chemical industries. Each industry has multiple reactors, each with a capacity of 1-8 KL.
Employees handling the process have to be always careful to ensure that there is no leakage from chemical pipeline joints, valves and solvent tanks.
The staff working at the reactors also need to be provided safety gear like firecoats to protect themselves in case of any mishap.
Leaders of workers' unions alleged that due to the high cost of firecoats and other safety gear, the management are not making the same available to employees.
There are allegations that the chemical industries are not storing foam and dry chemicals to deal with any leakage or fire.
Visakhapatnam and surroundings have seen several industrial accidents in recent years. After every accident, the government pays compensation to the families of the dead, and everyone emphasises the need to improve the industrial safety mechanism but after a few days everything is forgotten.
Following a series of industrial accidents, the state government in 2022 introduced new safety guidelines aimed at preventing accidental leaks of toxic gases and hazardous chemicals in factories.
However, workers' unions and people's organisations say this did not result in any change on the ground as more industrial accidents were reported.
Following the latest disaster, the authorities are now contemplating to make third party safety audit compulsory for all 300 units which come under red category.
Currently, this regulation applies to only 41 units.
Visakhapatnam has seen several industrial disasters in recent years. In April 2022, six people were killed and 12 injured in a huge fire in the pharmaceutical intermediate manufacturing unit of Porus Laboratories at Akkireddygudem.
In February 2022, one person was killed and four workers were injured in a blast in the Hetero Drugs plant near Nakkapalli.
Activist and former IAS officer EAS Sarma had slammed the authorities for allowing the unit to continue.
He recalled that in the past, there were two major accidents at the unit, one in 2012-13 and another in 2016, in which 5 workers had lost their lives.
In May 2021, a major fire broke out at one of the crude processing unit of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. Luckily, there were no casualties.
On May 7, 2020, twelve people died and over 580 were hospitalised due Styrene gas leak from LG Polymers in Visakhapatnam.
One the worst industrial accidents in the city, it had raised many questions on the safety of people living around the industrial units.
The monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal found that maintenance staff fled the plant after witnessing the leak.
The management also allegedly neglected the styrene storage tank, leading to the autopolymerisation of styrene, which resulted in excessive heating and release of vapour through the gooseneck and dip hatch of the storage tank.
A month later, two persons died and four were injured due to a leak of hydrogen sulphide at Sainor Life Science at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City and on July 14, one employee died and one was injured in Visakha Solvents in the same cluster due to a fire in the reactor.
In May, 2017, two workers died and three more sustained burns in a reactor blast at the Azico Biophore India Private Ltd on the outskirts of Visakhapatma.
The accident occurred when the workers were cleaning a new reactor with a highly inflammable cleaning solvent.
In 2016, a worker died and 15 others were wounded due to a leakage of ammonia gas at Srikar Laboratories Private Ltd at Pharma City.
Some of the other major incidents that occurred include an oxygen pressure reduction station blast at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, killing 19 people on June 13, 2012.
The HPCL Visakha Refinery fire claimed 27 lives on August 23, 2013. The massive fire at Biomax Fuels Ltd at Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone in 2016 was also a major disaster, though there were no casualties.
The fire had to be combated by over 200 men and 40 fire-tenders. More than 30,000 tonne of foam was airdropped using naval helicopters.
(With inputs from IANS)
