REPORT OF CASE STUDIES IN THE STATE OF MEGHALAYA
(DURING THE PAST 15 YEARS)
Name of accident
Cut injury; right
and left thumbs.
Category of
accident
Non fatal
Description
An accident had
occurred on 10-7-1991 in a
printing press factory in East Khasi Hills District. The accident took place in a paper cutting machinery
Causes
During normal operation, a worker has to
apply right foot’s pressure on a foot, paddle so that the cutting blades comes down and cuts the papers as desired but before taking, out these cut papers, the
foot paddle has to be released so that the cutting edge/blade lifts upwards. However, in the present case after
he
had released the paddle, unfortunately the cutting blade got stuck at half the
vertical range by itself; the
victim was
not aware of the situation while taking out the cut papers and
the
blade
suddenly came down and cut his both thumbs seriously. This accident was caused
due to the fact that the locking device of the machine was out of order and did not function properly. Also, there was an inbuilt “Safety Bar" interlocked with the
machine which automatically pushes the hands of the worker away should the worker
accidentally put his hands under the blade while it descends for cutting purpose. This safety
device was also out of order.
Advice
The factory occupier was advised not to allow the machine to be operated
till the above defects were rectified
Name
of accident
Burn injuries
received on legs, arms, knee-joint, right side of cheek, neck and ear and also
a small portion of the abdomen
Category of
accident
Non fatal
Description
An accident had
occurred on 18-2-1992 in a coal
mill-department of a cement plant in East Khasi Hills District.
Causes
The hot air alongwith coal dust coming from the furnace, enters
the duct (in the hot air ducting process) and there is a hopper below the duct which
has a close-open plate for clearing/cleaning purposes. The accident took place
when the injured person was opening the plate
by pulling, to allow the coal dust collected in the hopper to fall down. But unfortunately the coal dust caught fire
and while coming out it came into contact. with his knees, legs, arms, etc because as the plate is situated at a lower/knee
level, a person has to bend his
body for the said work.
Advice
Erection pf a cell concrete wall of required specifications to restrict the consequences incase of any
such fire or hot. Substances was advised so as not to cause any
hindrances/operational difficulties
or accidents.
Cut, fracture and swelling injuries.
Category of
accident
Non fatal
Description
An accident had
occurred on in a coal dryer
department of a cement factory situated in East Khasi Hills District.
Causes :
The accident took
place while the injured person
was cleaning the slippery coating (substance) which appears on the surface of the revolving drum due to continuous
rubbing between the drum and
the hopper-discharge belt. His intention was to produce more friction (i.e. increase the co-efficient of friction) between the two
contact surfaces i.e. the belt and the drum hence
he used an iron rod and started hitting or tapping with its tip on the surface of the revolving drum, but unfortunately, in doing so the rod slipped and his
right hand was dragged in between the moving drum and belt. This happened because of the short, length of the rod he was using and consequently he had to extend his hand
beyond the moving edge of the discharge belt.
Advice :
In order to avoid
such type of accident the following advice was given :
1.
An iron rod
of. suitable length is to be used so that a person can operate/do such
job from a safe distance away from the
moving edge of the conveyor belt.
2.
Fencing of the
hopper discharge belt is necessary in such a manner so as not to cause any
hindrance from operational point of view.
Cut injury
Category of
accident
Non fatal
Description
An accident had
occurred in the kiln Department
of a cement factory situated in East Khasi Hills District on 24-12-1993.
Causes :
The injured person was applying grease by means of a hand pump into the
second compartment of a cooler [air seal of the fuller (grate) cooler] through an inlet pipe; accidentally the
throttle of the pump slipped off the inlet pipe and at that
instinct his right hand went inside and his index finger got rapped in between the reciprocating clamp of the rotating wheel and the static steel
block(casing).
Advice :
Work Permit System
should be followed. Only persons with
sufficient experience should be engaged for such work.
Injury in the lips and front two teeth
Category of
accident
Non fatal
Description
An accident took place
on 16-05-1994 in a roller flour mill factory situated in East Khasi Hills
District, Meghalaya.
Causes :
The accident had
happened while the injured person was tightening the nut and bolt of the motor of an
elevator. The motor’s position is
located at a height of about 4(four) feet from the floor level. His intention was to fit the motor in its
position on and while doing so unfortunately the wrench slipped while pulling towards himself
and hit his upper lip and two of his front teeth were broken
Advice :
In order to avoid
such accidents in future the management should adopt a “Work Permit System” for
their workers in such repairs or any over-haul works.
Crush injury of the right middle and ring
finger
Category of
accident
Fatal
Description
An accident had
occurred on a stone crusher section of a cement plant on 31-08-1996.
Causes :
Due to stone jamming in between a fixed
steel wall of the crusher and a to-and-fro moving jawplate, the crushing process
was interrupted. In order to free the jam a steel wedge tied
with leather
strap was used while doing so the stone suddenly got released also dragging along the steel wedge
downwards creating - tension on the leather strap. As the injured person was also holding the other end of the leather
strap by foot, his right hand’s fingers got trapped in between the leather strap and the edge of the window-like
opening steel wall, thereby causing ,crush injury.
Advice :
Holding of the leather strap, by foot should be
prohibited while clearing a jam as mentioned above. It is advisable keep the ether end of the strap free and avoid standing
over it. Also, the strap could be fixed
to some point at a length covering its maximum downward travel distance. Proper training should be imparted to the workers and
safe working practice should followed.
Fall from a height of about 4 m.
Category of
accident
Non Fatal
Description
An accident had occurred
in a cement plant on 31-031998 where a victim received a small injury I the
head and upper part of the right lower limb.
Causes :
On the day of the accident a repair work was
being carried out in the retention ring inside the horizontal kiln at point of about 12m from the entrance to the kiln. Just right from the entrance there is an
opening space of 2m breadth, 2.5 m length and 4.00 m height which is used to
collect the just burnt material/clinker
coming
from
the horizontal kiln for cooling purposes (to the cooler). In order to make access to the kiln one has
to cross over the breadth of this open space
of about 2.00 m and for doing so a temporary removable wooden plank was
used. A welder who was already at the
job site inside the kiln 12 meters away from the entry
point
alongwith
an illuminated electric bulb was waiting for the two fitters to come one of
whom was the victim was attached to the cement mill department for fitting purposes.
The
victim who was not familiar with the condition inside the kiln moved his way
towards the welder who was waiting at the job site and without knowing that there was a plank provided for crossing,
stepped in an open space and accidentally had a fall. This caused due to the following :
1.
No lighting was provided at
the entry point in view of the on-going repairing work. This is contrary to the provisions of the Factories Act
and Rules,
which requires that sufficient lighting
should be provided in and around any work area.
2.
The victim who
was entrusted as a helper for the repair work was actually from other section
(cement mill department) and was not well conversant with the present section
(Kiln department). In fact it was
obligatory on the part of the management to instruct the
supervisors/foreman of the present section to give proper training and
necessary prior instructions before engaging any worker in other work areas
which does not belong to his own section.
Advice :
1. The
work place should be well illuminated.
2. Necessary training should be imparted to the
workers.
3. Unsafe conditions should be eliminated.
Crush injury due to fall of heavy object on
the victim’s right fore arm and left foot.
Category of
accident
Non Fatal
Description
An accident had
occurred in the clinker yard shed in cement factory situated in East Khasi
Mills District of Meghalaya on 12-061998. The injured person is an employee/worker of a contractor's firm/erector which was engaged by the factory's management for renovation work of a factory shed
which was damaged due to
cyclonic storm. Thus the category falls under that of the construction. workers.
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Causes :
The above mentioned cyclonic storm had damaged
a portion of the factory's clinker yard shed in which the G.I. Sheet roofing alongwith steel truss. were
bent due to the storm in some portion as found during the spot investigation.
It was learnt that a day before the accident, the worker/victim had
completed gas cutting of 6 (six) number of steel columns which were reinforced in a cement concrete of approx O.70m x
O.70m size
and about 1.5m height above ground
level. The victim, while cutting the 7th such column and due to loss of balance
and heavy weight of the already cut portion of the steel column it stripped towards the
worker. Due to heavy lead of the steel truss together
with G.I. Sheetroof of
approximately 2.5 tons weight the victim fell down on the ground and his face,
arm and foot got crushed.
Advice :
Had the worker made use of the manual crane
available at the site for holding purpose or the truss, the accident could have been averted. Hence, doing any type of work without necessary
precautions and in a haphazard manner should be prohibited as it may
endanger the life of other workers, as
well as safety of the machines.
Crush injury
Category of
accident
Fatal
Description
An accident had occurred in a mosquito repellent coil manufacturing
factory situated in the Ri-Bhoi district of the state of Meghalaya on 26-11-2002.
It is a crush injury of left
arm between pneumatic moving parts and fixed metal; where the injured person
received a minor fracture in left arm.
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Causes :
During the investigation conducted by the
Factory Inspector it was found that a coil stamping machine in this case was pneumatically
operated with the aid of an air compressor through a small cylinder (size about O.70m length anti O.05m diameter) of the mould pusher which has get air release/close
valves at both ends. It was learnt that the moulds (dies) has to be cleaned periodically, The accident had actually
happened when the injured
person, after cleaning the, mould was removing the mould-cleaning-tub at which instant the mould pusher activated and
through its horizontal motion his left hand got trapped in between and had a minor fracture just above his wrist. This was caused due to air valve leakage in the coil machine and that the air valves present in
the small
cylinder were not checked; before doing such jobs. Compressed air in the cylinder should have been released first.
Advice :
To avoid such type of accident in future, the management was advised to
adopt a “Work Permit System” and allow only skilled workers to perform such
works.
Fire Accident
Category of
accident
Non Fatal
Description
A dangerous occurrence (fire accident) which did not result in death or
bodily injury except property damaged had occurred on 16-01-2006 in a
Mosquito coil/mat manufacturing unit situated at Ri-Bhoi district
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Causes :
On the day of the occurrence .at around 6:30
AM only 9(nine) to 10(ten) of its employees of the first shift (6:00AM - 2:00 PM) had arrived at the
factory after a two days break (being a holiday due to Bihu festival on 14/01/06 and Sunday
(15/1/06) when a fire broke
out. They could not ascertain the exact cause of the fire. During investigation by the inspector all the witnesses
were interrogated and the
sequence of events based on statements made by these witnesses were taken into consideration. It was. concluded that the
fire started from the chemical storage area from where the smoke was
first observed. It was noted that this factory uses, various chemicals having various flash points and
the minimum flash point of certain chemical is 66oC. Since the time of the incident was early in the
morning and the burner used for drying purpose was not yet started, the
room-temperature around that area was much below the above said flash point
temperature 66oC.
However, prlor to the incident the factory was closed for two days as mentioned
above. Hence a accumulation of
chemical vapours around chemical storage area could not be ruled out.
Also, there must be a source of ignition or spark to start the fire
Thus current leakage or electrical short circuit producing spark in presence of chemical vapours was presumed
to be the cause of fire producing fog like smoke which quickly turned black smoke as seen by one of the witnesses.
A fire with tremendous heat in that area was caused as it was evident from the
bent steel truss of the roof. It may be mentioned
that since the fire had started from the chemical storage area all the burnt chemicals must had already been evaporated by the
time the fire-fighting personnel
arrived the scene. Otherwise, the consequences and after effect of these chemicals
on them would. have been
serious if they were not equipped with proper personal protective equipment
like SCBA, etc.
Had the, chemicals been stored separately away from the work floor a huge fire would not have been caused inspite of the electrical
short circuit or spark.
Advice :
The management was advised to take corrective
measures as follows :
1.
All chemicals
should be kept separately away from the 'work floor area in a cool, dry and well
ventilated room/place away from any source of ignition, heat, etc. Information
from the MSDS should be strictly followed while handling, storage of such
chemicals.
2.
Storage of
finished products and raw materials should
be kept away from the machineries or from aisle ways, so as to keep more breathing space
for the workers.
3.
It is
observed. that with the introduction of additional tunnel for drier and
mezzanine floor the working space have become
congested-same
should be
rectified.
4.
On-site and off-site/emergency plans should be formulated
5.
Safety Audit by Govt. agencies like Rhl Kolkata or DGFASLI, Mumbai
should be carried out.