What does steel sector need to do to decrease hazard risks?
At around 11.30 on a Tuesday morning in October last year, a massive gas explosion at the Bhilai Steel Plant claimed the lives of 12 workers, injuring 20 more. It had been reported at that time that the injured had more than 80 percent burns. Bhilai Steel Plant is a subsidiary of domestic steel behemoth the Steel Authority of India (SAIL).
In July of last year a poisonous gas leak at Gerdau Steel India Limited’s steel plant in the Tadepatri division of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh killed six workers while five more were injured. Gerdau is a leading producer of long steels in the US and one of the largest suppliers of special steels in the world.
In a reply given in the Lok Sabha, the Union Steel Minister, stated that SAIL suffered from 20 fatalities due to accidents in its plants in 2015, 11 in 2016, and 16 in 2017. Besides these fatal accidents, it had also suffered other reportable accidents: 53 in 2015, 31 in 2016 and 35 in 2017.
Overall, the number of industrial accidents at steel plants has come down in India as proven by data but the country has not yet reached a stage of nil casualties. As per information culled from the Lok Sabha archives, the number of fatal and non-fatal steel plant accidents in India has reduced from 23 in 2006 to eight in 2017.
This story is from the March 2019 edition of Steel Insights.
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This story is from the March 2019 edition of Steel Insights.
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