Andhra Pradesh: Drive to ensure safety from gas leaks

Rajahmundry: In a bid to ensure industrial safety, factories department authorities have issued directions to the managements of factories dealing with cold storage facilities and shrimp processing units which use ammonia gas, to comply with safety norms by installing all the requisite equipment in West Godavari.

As ammonia gas, if leaked accidentally, will affect the workers working in the factory and also those residing in the vicinity of the factory, the authorities are taking measures to help install the safety equipment at the factories.

Accordingly, factories department officials asked the managements to install ammonia leak detection system, ammonia receiver, self-contained breathing apparatus, ammonia shield mask and allied apparatus in their establishments. The workers are to be trained as to how to use them in case of gas leak.

The officials say that ammonia is being used as a coolant in large cold storage facilities and any accidental leak from valves or others will result in major impact on the workers at the first instance.

Similarly, in shrimp processing units also, ammonia is being used for freezing the shrimps after processing them to improve their shelf-life.

According to an estimate, around 20 shrimp processing units exist in the district and each unit engages more number of workers as it is labour intensive.

West Godavari deputy chief inspector of factories M. Mohan Rao said, “We have ensured all the vulnerable factories using ammonia gas to install safety apparatus. If the managements take care of proper maintenance of machinery and the safety equipment, there may not be any chance of gas leak and this ensures safety to everyone.”