Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), along with two associations of fireworks manufacturers, has planned to conduct Safety Awareness Week from September 5, the first anniversary of the Om Sakthi Fireworks Industries at Muthalipatti that claimed 40 lives and injured 56 persons.
Talking to reporters here on Saturday, Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives (in-charge) R.Venugopal said talks by experts on various aspects of safety would be delivered throughout the week. Quiz, essay writing and safety slogan writing competitions would be held for the workers of fireworks units. Roadside skits and folk song programmes on safety would be held. A bike rally would also be taken out, he said.
“Creating safety awareness among the workers was one of the important recommendations made by the Chaitanya Prasad Committee that probed the cause and circumstances that led to the fire accident,” Mr.Venugopal said. The aim of the Safety Awareness Week was to disseminate the knowledge of safety among all the people involved in fireworks — from workers to top management. “There are some companies that are being run accident-free for 70 years. This can be achieved through a sheer determination to adhere to the safety rules,” he added.
The inauguration of the Safety Week will be marked by hoisting of a flag with the SAW-2013 logo and administration of a safety pledge by the occupier/director or manager to the employees at all the units. The workers would wear safety badges throughout the week.
Among the topics to be discussed by experts were fireworks safety, need of the hour, social responsibility (of fireworks units) towards health, safety and environment, first-aid and treatment of burn injuries, principles of safety, occupational safety health analysis and safety in the manufacture of aerial display pieces.
The district administration had been requested to conduct awareness meeting, by involving the elected representatives of the panchayats, to prevent outsiders from rushing towards the cracker units where accidents happened.
“This is to prevent fatalities and injuries to outsiders like what happened at Muthalipatti,” he said.