Following the fatal accident at a cracker unit that claimed seven lives in Cuddalore district on Friday, the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) has asked fireworks industry to scrupulously follow all safety precautions while manufacturing, handling, storing and transporting of fireworks.
“With manufacturing activities in full swing as Dussera and Deepavali are fast approaching, we have reminded the industry of the need for strict compliance with safety measures to avoid any accident on their premises,” the organisation’s Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives K. Sundaresan said. Till now, the manufacturers were complaining about poor take off of their finished products due to the lockdown and uncertainty over the demand for fireworks due to the pandemic. Some of them even sought the government’s assurance to ensure the usual celebration of Deepavali that would facilitate sale of fireworks.
“Now that the lockdown rules have been relaxed to a major extent, the manufacturers might hope for a better celebration and expect higher demand for fireworks,” Mr. Sundaresan said. In such a situation, the workers would tend to rush in making the fireworks to meet the shorter deadline, forgetting to comply with the safety measures, he said.
Stating that manufacturing activities of different products at various stages required some domain knowledge and experience, Mr. Sundaresan warned the units against deploying new hands in such activities that might compromise safety.
In an e-mail sent to all manufacturers, he said work should be supervised by licensed foremen. The units should ensure that only approved number of workers were deployed and only the permitted quantity of chemicals were used every day.
Manufacturing activities should be confined within approved working sheds and not be in open areas. “The units should complete mixing and filling of fireworks composition before 11 a.m. when the atmospheric temperature is relatively low,” he added.
Using of the right materials for cutting for quick match fuse, micro chord fuse and papercaps could avoid accidents. “Some activities like dipping of sparklers outside the designated room; improper paper-punching of dots in ring caps, packing them before allowing them to adequately dry and keeping quick match along with semi-finished and finished fireworks often has led to fire accidents,” Mr. Sundaresan added.
Similarly, storerooms and magazines should not be used for packing gift boxes, he warned. In view of the monsoon rains, the units have been asked to take up maintenance of lightning conducts and earthpits. The units should avoid using the same mound wall room for mixing and filling of fireworks composition, the email noted.
