Abhishek N K

R16CV009
VIth Sem, ‘A’ Sec

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD AND INDUSTRIAL SAFETY ASSIGNMENT 1

1) Identify any one industrial disaster in India and world (except Bhopal gas
tragedy). Give a brief report on these disasters covering the background, causes &
measures taken. Suggest the preventive measures taken. Support the document
compulsorily with facts & figures.

Ans: Industrial disaster in India:

NTPC power plant explosion:

Background:
The NTPC power plant explosion was a boiler explosion that occurred on 1
November 2017 at a newly commissioned 500-megawatt unit of the Feroze Gandhi
Unchahar coal-fired power plant. The plant is operated by government-owned
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited, in Unchahar, Uttar Pradesh,
India. The explosion killed 32 people who may have been cleaning ash from the
boiler's interior.

Cause:
NTPC's power plant in Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh have revealed that engineers
were aware of a problem in the boiler unit commissioned just months ago and were
working to fix it. In a statement, NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation)
officials have said that "extremely high pressure" because of ash within the boiler
furnace caused it to leak, producing a disaster.

There was no explosion in the boiler, it happened outside the boiler. We were
aware of an ongoing problem and that's why the generation capacity of the plant
was reduced on that day, admitted RS Rathee, the regional executive director of
NTPC on Thursday evening.

Measures:
The Uttar Pradesh state government offered cash compensation of Rs. 200,000
($4,015) to the families of the deceased, Rs. 50,000 for the severely injured and Rs.
25,000 to those who sustained minor injuries. India's Minister of Power R. K. Singh
announced Rs. 2 million ex gratia for the next of kin of those killed in the accident.
The situation was closely monitored and officials were normalcy restored.
The National Human Rights Commission of India served a notice to the Uttar
Pradesh (UP) government over the death of more than 30 people in the blast,
demanding an immediate high-level probe into its cause. The UP government
ordered a magisterial inquiry by a two-member technical team to determine the
cause of the blast within seven days.
On 6 November 2017, Union Power Ministry has set up a committee headed by
P.D. Siwal, Member of Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to investigate the causes
of this accident and suggest measures to prevent such incidents in future.
The firm launched an investigation into the blast at the plant, based near the town
of Unchahar

Industrial disaster in world:

Chernobyl disaster:
Background:
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear disaster which occurred on 26 April 1986 at
the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine. At that time, Ukraine was
part of the Soviet Union. The event was the worst accident in the history of nuclear
power.

Cause:
The RBMK reactors used at the plant had no containment building to keep the
radiation in, radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union,
Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, and the eastern United States. Large areas of
Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated. About 60% of the
radioactive fallout landed in Belarus. About 350,000 people needed to be moved
to other places, where they could live after the accident.
Before the accident, there was a planned power reduction. By the beginning of the
day shift, the power level had reached 50%. Following this, randomly, one of the
regional power stations went offline. It was then requested that the further power
reduction would be postponed. Despite this request, the reduction and
preparations for a test that was to happen continued.
The accident occurred when the fourth reactor suffered a huge power increase.
This led to the core of the reactor exploding. Due to this explosion, large amounts
of radioactive materials and fuel were released. This caused the neutron
moderator, made of graphite, to start to burn. The fire caused more radioactive
fallout to be released, which was carried by the smoke of the fire into the
environment.
Measures:
Reactor 4 is now covered by a "sarcophagus", made from steel and concrete to stop
the escape of more radiation from elements such as corium, uranium and
plutonium, as well as radioactive dust. The sarcophagus is to be replaced with the
New Safe Confinement structure. The Soviet Union slowed down the process of
making its nuclear industry bigger for some time. The Soviet government also had
to become less secretive as a result of the accident. Since then, Russia, Ukraine and
Belarus have become separate countries.

2)Following hypothetical situations have been created as an exercise. Consider

them as a case study and support your answers by the use of relevant codes &
appropriate regulations.
i) Situation: assume that your plant has no medical or first aid services available to
its employees.
(a)Do the osha standards cover the medical services?
Ans: Yes, osha standards provide medical services to the employees in following
manner.
(b)What are the requirements for this situation under the regulations?
Ans: The requirements according to osha regulations are:
➢ General Industry (29 CFR 1910)
• 1910.151, Medical services and first aid.
• 1910.266(d)(2), First-aid kits
• Appendix A, First-aid kits.
 • Appendix B, First-aid and CPR training.
• 1910.269, Electric power generation, transmission, and distribution
• 1910.269(b), Medical services and first aid.
• 1910.421, Pre-dive procedures.
➢ Shipyard Employment (29 CFR 1915)
• 1915.87, Medical services and first aid
➢ Marine Terminals (29 CFR 1917)
• 1917.26, First aid and lifesaving facilities
• Longshoring (29 CFR 1918)
• 1918.97, First aid and lifesaving facilities (see appendix V of this part)
➢ Construction Industry (29 CFR 1926)
• 1926.23, First aid and medical attention
• 1926.50, Medical services and first aid
ii)Situation: Your construction site has 100 employees. What are the management’s
responsibilities and requirements regarding employee emergency plans and fire
preventive plans?
Ans: The purpose of the fire prevention plan is to prevent a fire from occurring in a
workplace. It describes the fuel sources (hazardous or other materials) on site that
could initiate or contribute both to the spread of a fire, as well as the building
systems, such as fixed fire extinguishing systems and alarm systems, in place to
control the ignition or spread of a fire.

According to osha regulations:

1910.39(a): Application. An employer must have a fire prevention plan when an
OSHA standard in this part requires one. The requirements in this section apply to
each such fire prevention plan.
1910.39(b): Written and oral fire prevention plans. A fire prevention plan must be
in writing, be kept in the workplace, and be made available to employees for
review. However, an employer with 10 or fewer employees may communicate the
plan orally to employees.
1910.39(c): Minimum elements of a fire prevention plan. A fire prevention plan
must include:
1910.39(c)(1): A list of all major fire hazards, proper handling and storage
procedures for hazardous materials, potential ignition sources and their control,
and the type of fire protection equipment necessary to control each major hazard.
1910.39(c)(2): Procedures to control accumulations of flammable and combustible
waste materials.
1910.39(c)(3): Procedures for regular maintenance of safeguards installed on heat-
producing equipment to prevent the accidental ignition of combustible materials.
1910.39(c)(4): The name or job title of employees responsible for maintaining
equipment to prevent or control sources of ignition or fires.
1910.39(c)(5): The name or job title of employees responsible for the control of fuel
source hazards.
1910.39(d): Employee information. An employer must inform employees upon
initial assignment to a job of the fire hazards to which they are exposed. An
employer must also review with each employee those parts of the fire prevention
plan necessary for self-protection.