Why are India’s factories so dangerous? Because people who can make them safer aren’t bothered

Going to work shouldn’t feel like going to battle, but that’s the truth of India’s factories. In just over a week, more than 60 workers have died in three major explosions. Such news would jolt any sensitive nation to introspect and improve.

Italy’s Seveso leak in 1976 laid the foundation for entire EU’s industrial safety programme. Between 2019 and 2022, industrial accidents across EU averaged 22 a year. In Korea, CEO of lithium battery maker Aricell was only yesterday sentenced to four years in prison, for a factory blast that killed 23 workers.

We have become calloused, however. Last week’s Vedanta boiler blast, and firecracker factory explosions in TN and Kerala this week, shock us no more than bus fires that kill hundreds a year, and road accidents that kill 1.8L a year.

We have normalised risk. When the Kerala cracker unit exploded yesterday, a shoe factory in Delhi was also ablaze. Our capital has been the scene of some of the deadliest factory accidents, such as the 2019 fire that killed 43 sleeping workers. That’s the micro sector, but what do you say when a brand-new HPCL refinery, awaiting inauguration, goes up in flames?

Two things are clear. One, life’s cheap in our eyes, so factories without fire exits, overloaded electrical systems, and poorly maintained boilers are all around us. Also, hazardous chemicals stored without safeguards.

Remember Bhopal? Two, the vigilance system is broken. In 2020, Delhi had only one inspector for every 973 factories. The auto ancillary industry is notorious for accidents that cost workers hands and fingers, yet, data shows a sharp drop in inspections from 2012 to 2020. We can’t solve a problem if we refuse to see it.

In 2017, a study claimed 48,000 occupational deaths in India every year.

Govt disagreed.

Its own data shows an average of 1,109, but those are in registered factories, while 90% of Indian labour works in the informal sector, where work conditions are far worse. Even in the formal sector, most accidents go unreported as employers, police and hospitals aim for a “compromise”.

There’s a reason why the ILO calls India the most dangerous country for workers. It’s time to do something about it.

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