Karnataka - Belgaum   

‘Quick rectification of defects can prevent accidents’

Precaution: A mock drill on Chemical Disaster Management being conducted in Belgaum on Monday

Belgaum: N.S. Murthy, Senior Divisional Manager (Consumer Sales), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Belgaum Divison has said that quick rectification of defects is one of the important measures which can prevent accidents.

Mr. Murthy was speaking to presspersons here on Monday after a mock drill on Chemical Disaster Management at IOC’s Desur depot, 20 kms from here.

He said the corporation was conducting regular mock drills to increase awareness among employees and the public.

The drill was an exercise wherein the teams managing disasters and accidents were trained to improve their response time after they heard the sirens. Most of the installations in the petroleum depot had been fitted with gas sensors and explosive meters, which had been calibrated for use in respective hydrocarbon environment.

According to sources at the corporation, there are four major hazards and one main hazardous installation in the district. They are IOC’s LPG Bottling Plant at Kanagala and petroleum depot at Desur. The Bharat Petroleum Corporation plant at Desur. Sanjay Chemicals at Honga industrial area at Belgaum and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation depot at Desur. All these units have a comprehensive on-site emergency plan approved by the Department of Factories & Boilers. The storage of chemicals in these locations was done according to the standards laid down by various government agencies and all safety precautions were complied with. All operations were also monitored continuously to prevent any accidental spillage owing to overfilling of storage tanks (both static and mobile). The unloading pipelines were mounted with non-return valves to take care of any surges in unloading or bursting of houses and so on. The drill was also open to people living in the vicinity of the depot as part of the programme.

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