AMARAVATI: Several supervision lapses have been observed at the Porus Laboratories, which witnessed a major explosion in one of its reactors killing six people and injuring 12 others critically.
It has now emerged that officials of the factories department, which is the overall supervision body, did not insist that the management keep backup power generator ready to meet emergency situations.
In fact, the automatic power supply system from DC to AC is mandatory in critical units of chemical factories. Surprisingly, the ill-fated industry did not keep a standby generator despite launching the manufacture of a new product in the reactor.
The deputy chief inspector of factories (DCIF), Vijayawada, inspected the plant in 2021 and submitted a report. Eluru DCIF R Trinatha Rao refused to react on the issue. He explained that they have indeed received the safety committee report and it was under verification.
Not clear why 50 workers were present, says safety expert
He, however, did not elaborate as to when the last report of the safety committee was received by the authorities.
Sources said the workers in the night shift told the police that failure to restart the reactor soon after tripping of power supply triggered the explosion in the reactor. They said their efforts to restore the reactor through generator got delayed due to the failure of the generator to start immediately after the power supply interruption. "The power supply was stopped at around 9.30 pm and it took nearly one hour for us to restore the power supply through generator. The temperatures in the reactor shot up resulting in the blast," said a worker.
However, it is not clear why nearly 50 workers were on duty in the night shift. "Normally, two to four people would be sufficient to monitor the reactor function. It is surprising to see over 50 workers present close to the reactor at the time of the blast," said an industrial safety expert.
