Best Colleges for Vocational Courses in India
India has no structured processes to handle industrial hazards
India is perhaps becoming the epicentre of work related health diseases. Across the nation, industrial centres are spewing toxic material that harms workers much faster and worse than it does any other group in the society. Gujarat, for example, is the epicentre of asbestos related diseases in India ' one in Alang (one of the largest ship breaking yards in the world) and the other in Ahmedabad. Lethal diseases, including lung cancer and skin diseases affect the exposed 55,000 workers in Alang, where they are exposed to toxic asbestos fiber ' and unmindful of the grave danger, they work there at their own peril. Although the International Agency for Research on Cancer is trying to develop an alternative product to asbestos because of its health risks, the fact is that right now, the material is extremely risky.
In the city of Ahmedabad, hapless workers toil in sordid conditions to produce asbestos required in the construction industry. In reality, the asbestos industry is booming in India ' factories have obtained permission forcefully from the authorities and the government is turning a blind eye to the health hazards being created. The fact that the government supports asbestos manufacturing is not without reason as it provides livelihood to thousands of people in India (annual production turnover of the industry is 1,25,000 mn metric tons).
Another example comes from the recent episode in New Delhi involving the radioactive material Cobalt 60. Six people were hospitalised in Delhi after they were exposed to Cobalt 60! Close on the heels of this comes the news that a major radioactive disaster was averted at Tarapur Atomic Power Plant, as scientists there fixed a technical snag at just the right time to save the nearby villages from a catastrophe.
The spate of calamities continue unabated ' a cylinder with chlorine gas leaked in Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) and enveloped a nearby college ' 98 people, mostly port labourers, suffered. The fire brigade was rushed in to save the situation. Post the incident, experts found and cleared more than hundred chlorine cylinders lying in the MPT area since 1997! As if that was not enough, a day after this episode, 25 people (mostly workers) were hospitalised in the steel city of Durgapur in West Bengal, as they complained of breathlessness and nausea! The happening was because of carbon monoxide leakage from the nearby steel plant.
These industry hazards not only affect the workers directly but also contaminate the natural resources. From water to air to soil ' everything in the vicinity of an industrial area is found to have traces of toxic and harmful metals.
Natural calamities can and do happen, but preventable calamities taking place because of human error or negligence. In the US, one keeps hearing about products, toys and equipment being recalled after being found to have toxic material. When was the last time such an episode occurred in India?
The closest we came to was when a US ship carrying radioactive material was sent back by Minister Jairam Ramesh late last year. But even that was caught by accident rather than by a structured process in place. Unless India develops a structured procedural action plan to catch such happenings and occurrences, India will remain flying on a plane which is guaranteed to crash ' sooner rather than later ' with untold negative effects.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
INDIA'S BEST COLLEGES, INSTITUTES and UNIVERSITIES
India has no structured processes to handle industrial hazards
India is perhaps becoming the epicentre of work related health diseases. Across the nation, industrial centres are spewing toxic material that harms workers much faster and worse than it does any other group in the society. Gujarat, for example, is the epicentre of asbestos related diseases in India ' one in Alang (one of the largest ship breaking yards in the world) and the other in Ahmedabad. Lethal diseases, including lung cancer and skin diseases affect the exposed 55,000 workers in Alang, where they are exposed to toxic asbestos fiber ' and unmindful of the grave danger, they work there at their own peril. Although the International Agency for Research on Cancer is trying to develop an alternative product to asbestos because of its health risks, the fact is that right now, the material is extremely risky.
In the city of Ahmedabad, hapless workers toil in sordid conditions to produce asbestos required in the construction industry. In reality, the asbestos industry is booming in India ' factories have obtained permission forcefully from the authorities and the government is turning a blind eye to the health hazards being created. The fact that the government supports asbestos manufacturing is not without reason as it provides livelihood to thousands of people in India (annual production turnover of the industry is 1,25,000 mn metric tons).
Another example comes from the recent episode in New Delhi involving the radioactive material Cobalt 60. Six people were hospitalised in Delhi after they were exposed to Cobalt 60! Close on the heels of this comes the news that a major radioactive disaster was averted at Tarapur Atomic Power Plant, as scientists there fixed a technical snag at just the right time to save the nearby villages from a catastrophe.
The spate of calamities continue unabated ' a cylinder with chlorine gas leaked in Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) and enveloped a nearby college ' 98 people, mostly port labourers, suffered. The fire brigade was rushed in to save the situation. Post the incident, experts found and cleared more than hundred chlorine cylinders lying in the MPT area since 1997! As if that was not enough, a day after this episode, 25 people (mostly workers) were hospitalised in the steel city of Durgapur in West Bengal, as they complained of breathlessness and nausea! The happening was because of carbon monoxide leakage from the nearby steel plant.
These industry hazards not only affect the workers directly but also contaminate the natural resources. From water to air to soil ' everything in the vicinity of an industrial area is found to have traces of toxic and harmful metals.
Natural calamities can and do happen, but preventable calamities taking place because of human error or negligence. In the US, one keeps hearing about products, toys and equipment being recalled after being found to have toxic material. When was the last time such an episode occurred in India?
The closest we came to was when a US ship carrying radioactive material was sent back by Minister Jairam Ramesh late last year. But even that was caught by accident rather than by a structured process in place. Unless India develops a structured procedural action plan to catch such happenings and occurrences, India will remain flying on a plane which is guaranteed to crash ' sooner rather than later ' with untold negative effects.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
INDIA'S BEST COLLEGES, INSTITUTES and UNIVERSITIES
