A series of accidents in Visakhapatnam industrial units - the big ones as well as the smaller ones and pharma units - in recent times have raised safety concerns and the latest one in a pharma unit on Tuesday claiming the life of a worker has brought the issue to the fore once again.

A safety audit was ordered after a massive fire broke out at Biomax Fuels Ltd in the Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone at Duvvada in April. Fortunately, there were no casualties in that accident.

The safety audit covered 92 units in the Visakhapatnam region and it has been found that many units have been flouting the safety norms.

The audit was jointly conducted by the Inspector of Factories, the AP Pollution Control Board and Fire Department, in 92 units, including big PSUs such as HPCL and VSP.

According to the Deputy Joint Inspector of Factories Chinna Rao, more than half of the industrial attracted adverse reports.

It was found that critical components such as reactors, compressors, condensers and pipelines were not certified by the authorities in many units. The safety audit was ordered by district Collector N. Yuvaraj.

CPM leaders Ch. Narasinga Rao and B. Lokanadham and several others questioned the reliability of the safety audit.

"The audit was taken up after a string of accidents and it was not taken up by experts. We demanded that experts from outside such as professors from IIT and Department of Explosives be included in the team. It was not done” said Narasinga Rao.

B. Satyanarayana Murthy, MLA of Parawada where the Jawahar Pharma City is located, said that "in the pharma city all safety norms and protocols are being violated with impunity and unless urgent steps are taken to improve the safety standards, the lives of workers will continue to be at risk."

He demanded a thorough probe by independent experts into the accidents and corrective measures.

sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in