Six injured in first major accident in Chennai
In the first major accident at a Metro Rail construction site in Chennai, one worker died and six were injured on Wednesday evening.
The injured were taken to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and one of them is said to be critical with a spine injury.
The accident took place at the site near Pachaiyappa’s College after what Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) officials called a crane boom failure. The Pachaiyappa's College site is part of the underground stretch of Chennai Metro from Thirumangalam to Egmore, along corridor II.
The failure occurred as one of the giant cranes at the site was about to drop a nearly 25-tonne reinforcement bar – iron cage-like structure used in the construction of the diaphragm wall for the underground station – in the underground chamber. “Consequently, the huge iron bar fell from a height of 22 metres, when the seven men were stationed around the chamber,” said S. Krishnamoorthy, chief general manager (public relations), CMRL.
The worker who died was identified as Sindhu (30) and those injured were Ravindra (22), Sadiq (25), Imanul (30), Sonelal (20), Jainul (20) and Ajay (35) from Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar.
CMRL officials said the chamber was1 metre wide, 5 metres long and 20 metres deep. All the workers were standing around it when the iron cage came crashing down, dragging Sindhu into the pit. The accident is said to have occurred around 8.30 p.m. Soon after, senior officials from CMRL, and contractors executing construction work at that site – Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and China-based Shanghai Urban Construction Group (SUCG) – rushed to the spot. Siren sounds of several ambulances and fire engines could be heard.
Around 9.30 p.m., motorists going past the site sensed the commotion and began slowing down, causing a pile-up. Around 10 p.m., five ambulances zoomed out of the site, which was enclosed completely, with police and Metro Rail personnel preventing anyone else from entering. Immediately, all the floodlights that were on until then were switched off.
The labourers were first rushed to a private hospital after which they were brought to GH. Ajay Mohan Singh (35), who hails from Orissa, said he felt a load hitting him and then he collapsed. “When I regained senses, I was being taken to a hospital.”
CM’s solatium
Condoling the death, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced a solatium of Rs. 1 lakh to the family of Sindhu. The six injured would be given Rs. 25,000 each from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
Keywords: CMRL accident, Metro accident, EVR Salai accident, crane collapse
WHile the above 7 check points are OK,
One important aspect is the "People" in the process, it is seen from the list of those ijured and near by, working people are from different "language " and Backgrounds. Where only poverty is motivation for them to take up these jobs. it is essential on the part of the contracting company to ensure clear communication, work instruction that is easily understood by them, and a test that they have really undestood the DO and DONT of the task, especially whether thay have the correct perception of the apparent and inherent risks in the task, and above have they become compeptent enough to manage the risks for themselves and their team members, they are , as team able to cohesively maintain a sense of balanced safe work and care for each other.
This is the major task for the team HR of the company, and they cannot shake thier shoulders and say they have no time for this activity. after all in the long run they are the people who will ultimately
first thing is these people don't know to work even my dad works in
metro project same in chennai metro but a different company called
gammon this type of accidents happen because of their irresponsibility
and careless and lazyness in work i know the actual story that is they
insert a cage(made of tmt bars like a square) into the ground they
construct them and after they pour concrete into them after putting
them into ground so what happened here is the cage whatever they are
making is 24 meters in height so they should put it in half and one by
one so that load don't disturb the crane while lifting it so when they
insert half cage into the ground same as the ground level at that time
they weld another half to the below half and move into the ground
towards the end this is called diafram wall this is used in various
purpose in this case underground station so when they did that it
didn't go correctly so they pulled it back and crane was unable to
take the load and it fell down
Very tragic event. I hope the workers are adequately compensated. Unfortunately
you can't build a word class infrastucture with our current Indian system. We need
serious Western help to go beyond our current system. Our workforce need
immediate and proper training and our politicians need replacing....
Fatalities and serious injuries can
occur if cranes are not inspected
and used properly. Many fatalities
can occur when the crane boom,
load line or load contacts power
lines and shorts electricity to
ground. Other incidents happen
when workers are struck by the load,
are caught inside the swing radius or fail to assemble/
disassemble the crane properly.
• Cranes are to be operated only by qualified and
trained personnel.
• A designated competent person must inspect the
crane and all crane controls before use.
• Be sure the crane is on a firm/stable surface and
level.
• During assembly/disassembly do not unlock or
remove pins unless sections are blocked and secure
(stable).
• Fully extend outriggers and barricade accessible
areas inside the crane’s swing radius.
• Watch for overhead electric power lines and maintain
at least a 10-foot safe working clearance from
the lines.
• Inspect all rigging prior to use; do not wrap hoist
lines around the load.
• Be sure to use the correctloadchart
Safety culture is very lenient, and the people in the safety department they do not have basic engineering qualificaiton. Company must take action to put only qualified staff not like safety stewards.Most of the poeple in the safety non-engineering back ground.They don`t know how to inspect the cranes, machineries and equipments.Most of the accidents in the construction related to equipments failure and wrong opeartion and lack of experince operator.
Total Negligence.
Goverment projects are like this, imagine the plight of workers on private contracts/projects. This attitude to safe working should change
Target Zero Accident
1. Valid Lifting machinery, Lifting Gear Test Certificate by Professional Authority
2. Monthly crane Service Record
3. Daily Crane Inspection Checklist by Crane Operator
4. Daily Lifting Gear Checklist by Lifting Supervisor
5. Daily Crane Access and Stability inspection Checklist By Engineers.
6. Bad Weather - Crane Access and Stability inspection Checklist By Engineers
7. Daily Lifting Permit to work
8. Lifting Plan ( Crane, Lifting Gear validity cert, Crane Load Chart, Lifting materials with Hook Point, Anti collision, Lifting area, Access, Emergency Escape Route, Appointed Lifting Team
And Lifting Procedure with Risk Assessment) to brief to Lifting Team
9. Lifting Crew to provide proper Communication Equipment, Whistle & Proper Attire.
10. Lifting team to be a competent person. (LS , RS, Crane Operator Course + Exp)
11. Daily Tool Box Meeting
12. Appoint Safety Team to enforce Safety
Project Team to Support& Promote Safety.
Management to allocate safety Funds
It is a regrettable accident. Though the government announced a
solatium of rupees one lakh to the kin of the deceased, still the
compensation is very meagre comparing to the loss to the bereaved
family. These people are coming from far away and working in the
Government projects, hoping that they would support their family. The
deceased would have earned this one lakh, within a year by putting his
hard work if he was not succumbed to death.
It is appreciable that the Government takes initiative to get justice
to the suffered or to the family of the diseased, whenever it is
caused by negligence in private organisations. It is equally
responsible that the Government should respond with due compensation
considering the loss of the life to the family and it should not be a
mere formality or an eyewash. Since it is a public work, more care
should be taken by the Government in ensuring safety norms. Stringent
actions must be taken against the erring contractors.
There is no value for human life at all...there should be strict regulations in place....we dont have that. Whenever such things happen, the govt pays 1Lakh to the victim and case closed....employee saftey is the least priority which is the exact opposite to the standards in EU....
People who will be riding in foreign cars and racing bikes should donate for these pitiable employees... They are not less than kargil victims...
RIP sindhu!
If crane fitness is certified before using for every day by the qualified personnel, these fatal accidents could be avoided. So many things are taken into granted and work started. No strict safety standards are being followed in India for both Industries and infra structure projects. So far, how many accidents were recorded and no concrete solution was found. The human life cost in India is 1 lakh rupees. Highly pathetic !
Fatal accident had been more common in infrastructure projects carried allover India in recent years. Developed countries had set their KPI (Singapore -1.1 fatalities / million mans worked) to bring down their fatality rates by enforcing safety standards with hiegher penalties for occupier of the project to takecare human lifes. Its a big question mark that the contractor had extablished and enhanced safety measures as stated below when heavy lifting to be carried?
1. Has the risk assessment developed and communicated for the specific activities
2. Permit to work system in place?
3. Crane operator qualified and experienced in operating the crane?
4. Lifting crew in place (Lifting supervisor/Rigger/ Signalman/ Qualifeid crane operator)?
5. Is the crane condition good to use?
6. Lifting plan developed ( lifting load calculated)
7. Crane access and stablity of the ground condition had been examined and clearence given by the specific engineer.
Govt to review safety regulations immediately
Does sindhu's life worth only 1 lakh?
Only I Lakh to the person who injured and 1 Crores to the Cricketers! Terrible!
The meager solatium of 1 lakh for the deceased only adds insult to injury, when one thinks who will take care of his family now.
Is that all a worker's life is worth - one lakh?
And why should the CM give this? As charity?
It should ideally be taken from the contracting company responsible for the project and should be fixed at some 10 crore per fatality or something so that safely is taken seriously.
So the cost of life is Rs.1 Lakh very nice .
Poor workers, they will get some pittance and that will be it. All for some upper casetes who do not give a damn to another's life.
It is serious issue and not followed the safety norms. So, Government
and its safety agencies need to do investigation and take necessary
actions with prevent measures.
The safety measures that are to be followed in such work has never been followed. It is utter carelessness on the part of the people in charge of the project.They never care for the precious life of the workers. They should first be arrested and dismissed . Then only they will realise what is life and how precious it is for the near and dear. There was yet another building collapse in a n engineering college two days before. Every one get scot free.The payment of mere 1 lakh or two is not going to solve the problem. Let these project managers visit foreign countries where such works are carried out smoothly.
Why would anyone be stationed directly beneath the load? Shouldn't all
personnel stay clear of the load being lifted by the crane until it is
safely put down on the site? All the top brass who did not practice even
this minimum safety should be sent to jail. When will we ever learn
SAFETY?
I am really not sure how many people would have died building this
Metro, for some political whims...and show off...sorry state of affairs
and no one to ask about safety.....
Its very sad. Paying homages to dead. Its sad to read the way it narrated understand the pain of it. I can say there are no human values at all in India. I read stories of accidents Vizag steel plant etc also. All these accindets are preventive and workers/laborer must be trained well to save a life till the last minute. What we lack is higher level accountability, responsibility both at govt and private contractors. Officers takes bribes at the time of allocating contracts, contractors take profits and sit in a/c room, CM annouces exgratia and the cheap poor laborers come from poor states receive serious injuries/death on the ground. This will repeat and do not know why no one take precautions? We compare ourself to USA/western nations but why do not we follow/compare human values what they follow during big constructions? Its purely a negligence on part of govt officials and private contractors. No excuse for this.
Sad to hear...Compensation for a life lost just 1 lakh?? How cheap is
life in India.
1. Have we not learned anything from accidents that happened during Delhi metro construction.
2. I am not sure whom to blame... lot of accidents... 9 ppl died in wall collapse, accidents involving school kids, fire in abirami mall etc. We have not learned from any of the tragedies that happened earlier. These are not something that are happening just now...it is happening for decades. Even for simple digging on roads...we still dont see board mentioning..which department has dug it and no barricade/warning sign around it.
3. Govt needs to enforce stringent safety measures and ensure that geniune citizens are not affected.
4. Over the last few weeks CMRL itself has seen couple of incidents like in Vadapalani, LIC cracks (reason unsure) and now this Pachayappa college incident..I am worried about CMRL operations during rainy season...even though there was an article few days back on the same
5. Answers from Mr.Krishnamoorthy on insurance, ambulance etc r not assuring.Poor workers
What a worst starting line. Is the reporter expecting more major accidents? Come on I say. Don't try to look for sensational statistic everywhere.
It is a terrible and unfortunate accident, waiting to happen, since we neither respect the safety of the workers nor the public. SAFETY SHOULD BE PLACED #1 PRIORITY. Let us hope the govt and the railway board and the construction company learn lessons from this sad accident.
Reminds me of the pre-Commonwealth Games catastrophes in New Delhi.
Please Email the Editor