Nine persons suffer burns as hot slag falls on them at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in Andhra Pradesh

Of the injured, four are permanent employees and five contract workers; workers’ unions point finger of blame at management

Officials inspecting the accident site at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Saturday.

Nine persons, four of them permanent employees and five contract workers, of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), were injured when hot slag fell on them at Converter-E in SMS-2 section at around 12.25 p.m. on February 11 (Saturday).

The incident took place when the employees were engaged in clearing a track for the movement of the slag pot that was stuck. The hot slag from the pot splashed onto the nine persons after it came in contact with water, causing them burn injuries.

The four injured employees were identified as DGM Anil Dahiwale, senior manager T. Jaya Kumar, technician Eshwar Naik and chargeman Panda Sahu. The contract workers were R. Bangaraiah, Suribabu, Ch. Appalaraju, K. Srinu and S. Potaiah.

The injured were given first-aid at the Visakha Steel General Hospital (VSGH) and later shifted to the Seven Hills Super Speciality Hospital for further treatment.

RINL Chairman and Managing Director Atul Bhatt, along with Director (Commercial) D.K. Mohanty, visited the injured workers in the hospital and also met their family members.

According to the police, three of them are said to have suffered serious burns.

Police provide green channel

“Immediately after coming to know about the incident, a senior police officer reached the spot and helped the VSP officials evacuate the injured to the hospital. Based on the instructions of Commissioner of Police Ch. Srikanth, we have provided a green channel to the ambulances so that the injured can reach the hospital quickly,” DCP-II Anand Reddy told The Hindu.

On the other hand, Steel Plant CITU president J. Ayodhya Ram said the reason behind the incident was the negligence and immature policies of the government and the plant management.

“Some inexperienced officers have been appointed in key positions,” he alleged, and added that the management was negligent in installing security devices at such places.

As soon as the hot metal came in contract with water, there was a blast. Consequently, the hot metal spilled up to a radius of about 50 metres, he said.

VSP CITU general secretary U. Ramaswamy said the management should immediately take appropriate measures to increase the number of workers, take safety measures, and appoint experienced workers in key departments to avoid recurrence of such accidents.

‘Strengthen burns ward in VSGH’

INTUC secretary Mantri Rajsekhar said the burns ward of the VSGH should be strengthened with advanced medical equipment “ to prevent severity of the burns as much as possible before shifting the injured to a super-speciality hospital in case of an emergency.”

GVMC 78th Ward corporator B. Ganga Rao from the CPI(M) said the government should take up recruitment process and stop privatisation.

CPI (M) State Secretariat member Ch. Narasinga Rao and CPI State vice-president J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy visited the injured in the hospital.