Question asked in Rajya Sabha on Safety audit of all the public sector steel plants after fire accident dated 06/12/2012
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF STEEL RAJYA SABHA QUESTION NO 1506 ANSWERED ON 06.12.2012 Fire accident at RINL 1506 DR. T.N. SEEMA Will the Minister of STEEL be pleased to satate :- (a) whether Government has ordered safety audit of all the public sector steel plants after fire accident at the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) plant at Vishakhapatnam recently; (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (c) if so, the details thereof along with the number of such accidents that have occurred during the last two years; (d) the number of employees who lost their lives and number of employees who suffered injuries in such accidents in last two years; and (e) the steps taken by Government to prevent the re-occurrence of such incidents in future? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STEEL (SHRI BENI PRASAD VERMA) (a)&(b): Yes, Sir. After the fire incident at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on 13th June 2012, a Comprehensive Safety Audit was conducted by Director (Safety), Regional Labour Institute under Factory Advice Service & Labour Institutes (FASLI), Chennai. The Audit Report has been submitted and recommendations are under implementation. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has also been advised to take all preventive measures and pro-active action and to undertake safety audits by external independent body / council to avoid such incidents in its steel plants. The National Safety Council had been carrying out the job of safety audits for running plants of SAIL on annualized basis. (c)&(d): There have been 8 fatal accidents and 46 reportable accidents occurred during 2011 and 5 fatal accidents and 28 reportable accidents occurred in 2012 at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. While at Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) plant & mines, 21 fatal accidents and 86 reportable accidents in 2011 and 24 fatal accidents and 69 reportable accidents occurred in 2012. (e) Government of India had constituted a High Level Inquiry Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. S.R. Jain, Ex-Chairman, Steel Authority of India Limited to investigate the incident and to make necessary recommendations to prevent re-occurrence of such incidents in future. The Committee had submitted its report and the Ministry of Steel has shared the findings of Inquiry Committee with all the steel plants both in private and the public sectors in the country with a view to minimize the risk of such accidents occurring again. A copy of Enquiry Committee’s Report has also been posted in the Ministry of Steel’s website.