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29 September, 2022Three workers died and eight others sustained severe burns after a hydrogen gas cylinder exploded at Cospower Engineering in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on 28 September.
At the time of the explosion, 50 employees were working in the manufacturing unit, making electrical panels among other electrical equipment. The fire triggered by the explosion claimed three lives and severely injured eight others. The deceased are identified as Ajay Badra, 27, Sandeep Mishra, 25, and Ashwin Patel, 28.
“This is a shocking incident and the indifference on the part of the management regarding the lives and safety of workers is unacceptable. Workplace safety is the responsibility of the management. Employers must be prosecuted by the government when there are fatalities,”
says Apoorva Kaiwar, IndustriALL regional secretary.
Workplace safety is still in a dismal state in India, where lax safety mechanisms in manufacturing units continue to claim the lives of workers.
Less than a month ago a contract worker died and four others sustained injuries after a gas leak at a pharmaceutical manufacturing unit in the same district.
“It's terrible that workers' lives are treated with such indifference. We urge companies and the government to take workplace safety with utmost seriousness,”
says Sanjay Vadhavkar, executive committee member of IndustriALL and general secretary of Steel, Metal & Engineering Workers’ Federation of India (SMEFI).