Incident Report Subject: Jamming of valves could have led to VSP accident: official - 12 dead latest official figure !!! Date of Email report: Fri 15/06/2012 Report Detail:
The accident on Wednesday night at the State-owned Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was reportedly caused as the oxygen tank (house) failed to work at the desired pressure, leading to jamming of valves in the newly built steel melt shop-II complex. This could have triggered the huge explosion as a result of backfiring from the oxygen house, a senior official toldThe Hindu on Thursday. The exact cause would be ascertained only after a detailed probe. Hot metal is converted into liquid steel by generating heat at 1200 to 2200 degree centigrade. By mixing various essences, hot metal from the blast furnace is converted into liquid steel at SMS. The SMS-II construction was completed sometime ago as part of Rs.12,500-crore 6.3 million tonne expansion project. A. Viswanath, who works in SMS-I, said there was lack of experienced hands. Work in critical areas of operation like SMS and blast furnace were being done mostly by contractors and sub-contractors as part of outsourcing policy. The management had stopped sending deserving employees for training to Rourkela and other steel plants in India. “Based on favouritism, employees are being picked up for overseas training in gas cleaning and other areas to Germany, Russia and France,” he said. The VSP-recognised union honorary president Ch. Narsinga Rao and AITUC activist J. Ramakrishna said the reports and recommendations after inquiry into May 1 explosion in the blast furnace, which claimed two lives, and other fatal accidents, were neither implemented nor made public. Biggest ever at VSP Negligence alleged Viskhapatnam Steel Plant Mishaps
Additional Documentation: VISAKHAPATNAM, JUNE 20: An explosion occurred on the night of June 13 in the oxygen plant of the steel melt shop of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. On Wednesday, Mr Ch. Prabhakara Rao, Deputy General Manager (Vizag steel plant), died here in a hospital and Mr R. Bhattacharya, an engineer of Dastur & Co, died in a Mumbai hospital. The last of the injured, Mr Khalsi (General Manager, Vizag Steel Plant), is struggling for life in a Mumbai hospital. His condition is said to be very critical. A high-level team headed by Mr. S.R Jain, the former chairman of the SAIL, arrived in the steel plant on Wednesday and visited the accident site to conduct a probe into the incident. The team would submit its report in July. Mr A.P. Chowdhary, Chairman and Managing Director of the steel plant, said at a press meet here that the accident was most unfortunate and everthing was being done to help the families of the deceased employees. They would be paid an additional ex gratia of Rs 20 lakh in addition to the usual compensation. A job would be provided to a member of the family at the executive level, depending on his/her educational qualification and the family would be allowed to stay in the steel plant quarters till the date of notional retirement of the deceased. Educational opportunities would be provided to the children in steel plant schools. He said the steel plant had agreed to a third party safety audit before commissioning the new units constructed as a part of the expansion project. He denied allegations made by the unions that the new units were not properly built and said it was not proper to make such sweeping charges, because an accident had occurred. He sought the co-operation of the unions and all others in instilling confidence in the employees. "We will overcome the crisis and the accident will have no bearing on the expansion project or long-term growth of the plant," he asserted. He thanked the unions for postponing the two-day strike proposed in the last week of June against disinvestment. From: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3550506.ece |
