The Ordnance Clothing Factory (OCF) on Friday, constituted a board of enquiry to look into the cause of the deaths of two men in the sewage chamber of its residential quarters in Avadi. The deaths took place on Thursday, September 7, 2023.
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Police had identified the victims as Moses, 46, of Avadi and Devan, 50, of Pattabiram. The police said one of the men had gone into the chamber after opening the manhole lid, and, had fainted inside the 15-ft. pit. The other worker followed him to attempt a rescue, and also fainted inside. Both men subsequently died.
In a statement the OCF said, that contractual workers were “never” detailed for cleaning septic tanks. “There was no official complaint registered for the blockage in the septic tank and the cleaning work was done by the two on their own without any intimation to their supervisor or the authorities at OCF,” it said.
As per the system prevailing at OCF Avadi, cleaning of blockages in septic tanks is not done through manual scavenging. Following information about the “unfortunate incident”, the factory had immediately engaged its fire service personnel and ambulance service for rescue operations and first aid respectively, the statement said.
The statement also said the the general manager, estate officer, security officer and labour welfare officer of the factory had rushed to the spot during the rescue operation, and, subsequently had assured all possible support from OCF to the bereaved families.