A order has been issued by Andhra Pradesh for a special drive for full-scale inspection of all industrial units in the state to ensure compliance of safety protocols, in the backdrop of a spate of accidents that claimed tens of lives in recent days, particularly in the port city of Visakhapatnam.
A seven-member committee headed by Joint Collector (Welfare) has been constituted in each district to carry out the special drive within 90 days, a senior official said.
The panel would take up the work with the involvement of officials from Factories Department, AP Pollution Control
Board, Boilers Department, State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department and Director of Electrical Safety and Chief Electrical Inspector (Energy Department).
A styrene vapour leak in LG Polymers unit at a village near Visakhapatnam in May had left 12 people dead and over 580 ill while a crane mishap at the Hindustan Shipyard Limited in the coastal city killed ten workers.
In the first phase, all hazardous chemical industries, covered under the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989, will be covered under the special drive, according to Special Chief Secretary (Industries and Infrastructure) R Karikal Valaven.
Industries that store, manufacture or handle explosive substances as defined under the Explosives Act and the Petroleum Act and all red category industrial units would also be covered in the first phase, he said.
