COVID-19 is an unprecedented humanitarian challenge for all countries. Six weeks of national lockdown has given India the time to make a concerted effort to flatten the pandemic’s curve. Now attention is shifting to reopening the economy while containing the virus: a conundrum many other nations are also grappling with. On priority are critical industrial units like pharmacy, critical equipment, packaging, packed food and other manufacturing units which have been allowed to start operations but gas leak at a factory in Visakhapatnam and a boiler blast at NLC India Limited’s thermal power station in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore changed the whole scenario. NDMA has issued fresh detailed guidelines for restarting industries after the lockdown and the necessary precautions to be taken.
Some of the manufacturing facilities have pipelines, valves which may have residual chemicals, which may pose risk and similar is the case of storage facilities with hazardous chemicals and flammable material. Early warning signs like strange sounds or smell, exposed wires, vibrations, leaks, smoke, abnormal wobbling, irregular grinding indicate the need for immediate maintenance or if required shutdown. Every industry is supposed to need to maintain a sanitisation routine every two-three hours, especially in the common areas that include lunch rooms and common tables that will have to be wiped clean with disinfectants after every single use. Managerial and administrative staff should work one shift at 33 per cent capacity as per the MHA guidelines preferably with those associated with safety and maintenance and one week trial run is a mandatory.
State Governments shall also ensure that Major Accidental Hazard units are up to date and well prepared for any crisis. But how much prepared are our local UT officials and industries is a debatable point keeping in view recent CTM episode at Kathua. With many potentially hazardous units in Jammu, Kathua, Samba and Udhampur, special teams of SIDCO, SICOP and other technical experts must be assigned to supervise all arrangements for these units. UT administration must adhere to all guidelines by NDMA while giving permission to these industries to restart.
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