Carry out week’s test-run, NDMA tells industries

NEW DELHI: Days after the gas leak accident at a polymer plant in Visakhapatnam, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a set of guidelines on safe restart of industries postlockdown. These guidelines require the first week after restart to be considered as a test-run period when all safety protocols must be ensured and achievement of high production targets avoided.
“To minimise the risk it is important that employees who work on specific equipment are sensitised and made aware of the need to identify abnormalities like strange sounds or smell, exposed wires, vibrations, leaks, smoke, wobbling, irregular grinding or other signs which indicate the need for an immediate maintenance or, if required, shutdown,” state the NDMA guidelines .
NDMA said that due to several weeks of lockdown and closure of industries, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established standard operating procedures.