IOC organises emergency response drills

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, SEPT. 29. The emergency response drills, especially those conducted offsite, by industries dealing in hazardous products create public awareness about steps to be taken in the event of an accident, speakers at a function have said.

Led by the Tiruvallur District Collector, Mr.P.Sivasankaran, they said the emergency response drill was a learning process to rectify mistakes, if any, and remain fully prepared to handle any safety crisis. They were speaking after witnessing onsite and offsite emergency response drills organised by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at its Ennore LPG bottling plant on Friday.

Cautioning against any neglect of safety aspects, the speakers including the Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, Mr.V.Selvaraj, emphasised the need for an effective mutual aid programme in industrial belts such as Manali and Ennore. Particularly, the water sprinklers systems should be maintained properly, they said.

Saying that the drill was a self-evaluation of the emergency preparedness, Mr.Ramlesh Das, Deputy General Manager-LPG of the IOC, said the oil major was spending almost 50 per cent of the cost of projects towards safety equipment and systems. The company, he added, also believed in continuous training of its employees on safety aspects.

Mr.K.Ramalingam, Senior Plant Manager of the company, said the emphasis of his organisation was on continuous upgrading of the safety mechanisms.

The plant, commissioned in March 2000, had decided to conduct an offsite emergency response drill too. The offsite exercise, conducted at a distance of 1.5 km from the plant, involved cooling of an LPG bullet-tanker by spraying water and preventing fire. ``Simultaneously, the fuel was also transferred to an empty bullet-tanker. At the same time, people residing in the neighbourhood were evacuated to safer places."

As part of the onsite drill, the company demonstrated the routine to be followed, particularly activation of inplant systems, during a gas leak in the plant. Both the exercises carried out in association with the neighbouring industrial units were also to test the preparedness of the members of the mutual aid programme in the Manali-Ennore industrial belt.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Educational experts to evolve `Asian
           Accreditation Accord'
Next     : Two phone exchanges commissioned