Thane, Jul 8 (FN Representative) IndustriALL Global Union along with its affiliates in India called for urgent actions of the government of India to improve occupational health and safety situation in the country. This demand was made by the office bearers of the Union in an online press conference on Wednesday said Sanjay Vadhavkar, IndustriALL Executive Committee Member and General Secretary of SMEFI), in an official release here. In about 116 industrial accidents in chemical and mining industries across the country about 231 workers were killed between May 2020 to June 2021. In fact, since the resumption of industrial activities after the covid-19 lockdown measures in May 2020, India witnessed series of industrial accidents.
From May to December, 2020, around 64 accidents were reported wherein 118 workers were killed and several hundreds were injured. From January to June 2021 over 117 workers were killed and about 142 workers were injured in about 52 industrial accidents happened in mining and chemical industries. These statistics are merely indicative of the grave situation as they are based on compilation of mainstream media reports and accidents reported by IndustriALL trade union affiliates. The real number of accidents and fatalities may be much higher. A large number of workers have also died due to Covid 19, some of them contracting the infection at their workplaces. So far in about 32 industrial establishments 1857 workers lost their lives due to Covid in the manufacturing sector comprising public and private including coal mining, steel, cement corporations. Speakers at the press conference highlighted that deployment of large number of untrained precarious / contract workers, poor safety inspection system, weak implementation of safety protocol and safety awareness, inadequate risk assessment and response; negligence; breakdown of the emergency response procedures have exacerbated the impact of the accidents.
“IndustriALL is alarmed over the serious accidents, which are beyond the control of individuals and difficult to analyze and prevent using traditional occupational health and safety protocols. Industrial accidents in India are a serious concern, however they are highly under-reported and statistics revealed that their coverage also incomplete. All aspects of safety, including materials, tools, equipment, work environment, job and task procedures, and all stakeholders (government, employers and workers) must create a system of multiple layers of prevention, with no opportunities for shortfall,” says Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary. “The government of India should form an expert commission to analyse the industrial accidents and identify the root causes and errors committed. The government and employers should bear their responsibility to protect the health of their workers and immediately address the safety crisis. The recently passed Occupational Health, Safety & Working Conditions Code, 2019 fall short of addressing trade unions concerns. It has limited and confined coverage and leaves out of vast section of working people, including precarious workers. They must work with unions to devise policies and strengthen the existing laws/directives to ensure health and safety of the workers,” says Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy, INTUC president.
Sanjay Vadhavkar, IndustriALL Executive Committee Member and General Secretary of SMEFI), said, “we are losing large number of workers to Covid-19 and in addition frequent fatal accidents have become a serious concern for workers in the manufacturing sector. The central and state governments should immediately strengthen safety inspection system, conduct appropriate investigation, make the accident investigation reports public, hold public consultation and involve trade unions in improving safety measures and protect workers’ lives at work.”