Unanswered questions: What caused flash fire? Were there safety lapses? Who is responsible — the safety officer or management? Why hasn’t Vijay Marine submitted compliance report?
The vessel under construction at Vijay Marine Services shipyard in Loutolim.
MARGAO
Exactly a week has passed since the tragic incident at the Vijay Marine Services shipyard in Loutolim on October 17 has claimed the lives of five workers, but questions still remain unanswered – what caused the explosion followed by the “flash fire” as claimed by the Inspector of Factories & Boilers, were there any safety lapses that exposed the beleaguered workers to industrial accidents and who’s responsible behind the incident – the safety officer, who has since been arrested or the management of Vijay Marine Services?
These and many unanswered questioned have come to the fore as a week has elapsed since the incident took place last Friday, but the probe ordered by the Chief Inspector of Factories & Boilers remains incomplete. Directions issued by the Chief Inspector of Factories & Boilers to comply with the host of directives within seven days seemed to have gone abegging.
Inquiries by The Goan have only revealed that the Office of the Chief Inspector of Factories & Boilers has not received the compliance report from Vijay Marine Services till date.
In fact, when The Goan called up Chief Inspector of Factories & Boilers Anant S Pangam to shed light on the compliance report filed by Vijay Marine Services as per his written directions, he conceded that the company has not filed the compliance report.
When questioned over the exact cause of death behind the incident that has claimed the lives of five workers, Pangam pointed out that inquiry into the incident is still underway. He, however, did not say when the inquiry will be capped, other than say that the inquiry is underway, even though his directions had asked Vijay Marine Services to submit the compliance report and action taken report within a week or face action.
Incidentally, when The Goan called up Inspector of Factories & Boilers Pandurang Malik to shed light on the ongoing inquiry, he said he is not the authorised officer to provide information, saying the media can contact the Chief Inspector of Factories and Boilers for further information.
Incidentally, officials of the South Goa District Disaster Management Authority, when contacted by The Goan to shed light on the incident, have said the matter falls in the domain of the Chief Inspector of Factories & Boilers.
In his directions issued on October 18, the Chief Inspector of Factories and Boilers had stated that by virtue of the severity of the accident, it is essential to ascertain the exact cause of accident in order to prevent recurrence of similar or such accidents in future.
He further stated that it is also essential that all the routine and non-routine activities/ operations being performed in the factory premises are safe and without risk of any bodily injury and the methods of work adopted are safe.
Directions by Chief Inspector of Factories & Boilers
* Occupier and manager told to conduct Root Cause Analysis of the accident through recognised Occupational Safety & Health Auditor so as to ascertain the exact cause of the accident and submit action taken report on the findings
* Conduct/review the Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis for all the routine and non-routine activities / operations being performed in the factory premises through the Auditor and submit action taken report on the findings
* Prepare and review the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all the routine and non-routine activities / operations being performed in the factory premises through said Auditor and submit action taken report on the findings
* Prepare and review the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for all the routine and non-routine activities / operations being performed in the factory premises through said Auditor and submit action taken report on the findings
* Prohibit all activities and operations of the under construction 80M Landing Craft vessel on which accident occurred, until further orders
FIR registered by Maina-Curtorim police
Section 106 of BNS: Deals with causing death by negligence. Whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine
Section 281 BNS: “Under Section 281 BNS, anyone who drives or rides in a rash or careless way that endangers human life or may cause injury can be punished. It covers actions like overspeeding, ignoring traffic signals, or zig-zag driving on public roads. The law does not require an actual accident to have occurred—it’s enough if the action is likely to cause harm
Section 115 of BNS: The Section 115 of BNS talks about voluntary causing hurt punishable with imprisonment of maximum one year, or with fine up to 10K
Section 118 BNS: Deals with the offence of voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt using dangerous weapons or harmful means. It is applicable to acts involving tools or substances like guns, knives, fire, poison or explosives that can cause serious injury or endanger life
Deceased workers
Sher Ali, a resident of Zuarinagar and native of West Bengal
Vinod Deewan, a native of Chhattisgarh
Santosh Kumar, native of Chhattisgarh
Manish Chauhan, native of Uttar Pradesh
Abhishek Kumar who passed away on Thursday
