Apparel Online India Magazine May 1-15, 2019 | Page 39

INDUSTRY LIVE
What compliance! 4 workers die while cleaning
washing unit in Tirupur
Irrespective of all focus on
compliance by the textile industry,
mishaps due to negligence continue
to take place claiming lives of
innocent workers. In one such
recent incident in Tirupur, four
migratory workers of a textile
washing unit lost their lives. These
workers were from Assam, over
3,000 kilometres from Tirupur
– India’s biggest hub for knitted
apparel manufacturing for export
as well as domestic market.
Speaking to Apparel Online,
S Nagarajan, President, Dyers
Association of Tirupur commented,
“It was a washing unit, and was
not member of our association. As
to the best of my knowledge, the
incident took place while cleaning
a septic tank.” He further added
that there are about 50 to 100 such
units in Tirupur working almost in
a similar way.
Meanwhile, the unit, situated at
Karuppa Goundan Palayam and
employing more than 10 people,
has been sealed by the officials.
Legal proceedings have been
started against the unit’s owner M.
Jayakumar of Coimbatore, booked
by the local police under Sections
287 (Negligent conduct with respect
to machinery) and 304 A (Causing
death by negligence) of the
IPC act.
The incident, according to media
reports, took place when a worker
named Farooq Ahamed entered
the tank to clean it. He soon
fainted after inhaling the noxious
fumes. Three other workers who
also went inside the tank fainted
one after another, before they were
pulled out by other workers. The
bodies of the deceased Farooq
Ahamed (22), Anwar Hussain (24)
his brother Dilwar Hussain (23),
and Abu (22) were sent to their
native district Cachar district
of Assam after post-mortem
proceedings were completed.
The unit, says a report further,
was neither registered with
the Department of Industrial
Safety and Health (DISH) nor
had obtained DISH’s approval,
apart from also not renewing
its licence issued by the Tamil
Nadu Pollution Control Board
(TNPCB). Officials from different
departments are conducting joint
investigations and soon a detailed
report will be submitted to the
Government.
The unit, says a
report further, was
neither registered
with the DISH nor
had obtained DISH’s
approval, apart from
also not renewing its
licence issued by the
TNPCB. Officials from
different departments
are conducting joint
investigations and
soon a detailed report
will be submitted to
the Govt.
residue stored in the tanks which
were used for recycling the
wastewater generated in the textile
washing unit,” reported a popular
English daily. The unit was lying
idle for more than a month. The
level of oxygen was very low in the
tanks as poisonous sediments of
the effluents were not cleaned for
a long time. After the inspection of
the unit, an official informed that
the workers had started cleaning
the tanks from 9.30 am onwards.
They had cleaned two tanks till 1
pm, before they were asphyxiated
while cleaning the third tank. The
unit owner, as a precautionary
measure, should have used
machineries to check the oxygen
levels in the 10-feet deep tanks
before cleaning them.
“The workers were asphyxiated
while cleaning the chemical
The washing unit where the mishap took place
www.apparelresources.com | MAY 1-15, 2019 | Apparel Online India
39