Bokaro: The district disaster management authourity (DDMA) has ordered Vedanta’s ESL Steel Limited, Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), Sundaram Steel and all the other power, gas, petroleum, cement, coal companies to conduct a safety audit of their installation and submit a report within a month’s time. The step focuses on hazard risk vulnerability analysis.
Taking a tough stand to ensure industrial safety here, DDMA has also ordered companies to submit 17 points comprehensive report including all incidents and disasters occurred in their units in the last three years along with the complete details of loss of life and property. The companies have also been asked to appoint one Nodal Officer.
Chairman, DDMA cum DC, Bokaro, Rajesh Singh said “step is being taken to check the preparedness related to safety measures in the industries. This will be helpful in avoiding any disastrous situation. DDMA is responsible for district planning, coordination and implementation for disaster management”. He added, DDMA also stands responsible for ensuring the prevention of disasters in vulnerable areas and gives directions to the concerned authorities for taking adequate mitigational measures
Sources said, there are four industries in the district, which are identified as major accident hazardous units as they use huge amounts of chemicals. Besides, there are 30 industries which are simple hazardous unit as they don’t have any chemical storage. Besides, the district is vulnerable to many kinds of natural disasters like thundering, fire, gas leaks, an epidemic of diseases, accidents, and others. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has earlier identified the district in Zone-3, which means it is prone to earthquakes.
The district disaster management officer, Shakti Kumar said “companies have been asked to submit a comprehensive report that includes complete emergency resource inventory to deal with any emergency situation, on-site disaster management plan, detailed risk analysis, vulnerability mapping report, evacuation plan, report about safety and preventive measures being taken during transportation of hazardous materials in units, and detail about SOPs for rescue teams and cordoning area plan”.
