State safety policy to prevent factory accidents

“Like the National Safety Policy in our country, there should be a state safety policy in the state and the industries should strictly follow its guidelines”, said Deputy Director of Factory and Boiler Malay Kumar Pradhan.

Showing his concern for the three districts where most factory accidents occur, Pradhan said that there would be a provision to cancel the operation of the industries who will not follow the guidelines of the safety policy.

“It (state safety policy) would definitely provide safety and guard the interest of the workers”, he added.

As per records, over two lakh of workers are engaged in 3,460 factories of the state. And statistics reveal that in last four years, 404 labourers have lost their lives in accidents inside the factories most of which were contract labourers. 

The recent killing of Deputy General Manager (Operations) of Graphite India Ltd of Powmex steel division R S Roy at Titlagarh, has raised many eyebrows over the sincerity of the authorities in resolving the problems of the labourers. Citing violation of labour laws to be the main reason behind the labour unrest, the labour union leaders allege that lack of coordination between industry rules, labour laws and the district administration results in such accidents.

“Industries openly violate the labour laws to which the labour department and the district administration hardly pay heed. And this insincere attitude leads to contention among the workers”, said labour leader Pramod Mishra.