New guidelines to be followed for restarting industries

As the third phase of the lockdown is seeing gradual resumption of economic activity, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has asked industries to treat the first week after reopening as a trial or test run. NDMA has also issued guidelines for restarting industries after lockdown, in the wake of the Visakhapatnam incident where at least 11 people lost their lives and about 1,000 others were exposed to a gas leak at a factory after it restarted operations. This advisory relates to numerous things like to storage of raw materials, manufacturing processes, storage and guidelines for workers.

“To minimize the risk it is important that employees who work on specific equipment are sensitized and made aware of the need to identify abnormalities like strange sounds or smell, exposed wires, vibrations, leaks, smoke, abnormal wobbling, irregular grinding or other potentially hazardous signs which indicate the need for an immediate maintenance or if required shutdown,” it states.

Further, it tells industries to ensure that all lockout and tagout procedures are in place on a daily basis. All instruments need to be inspected as per the safety protocols during the restart phase. It recommends that the local district administration must be approached for specific assistance if the industry has any difficulty in managing crucial backward linkages that may be critical for their safe functioning.