The classic principles of accidents are as follows:
1. Unsafe
conditions.
2. Unsafe Actions.
While we are debating these points let’s
consider the meaning of these principles.
Unsafe Acts are those which are caused by
the person ignoring safety rules and meeting with accidents.
Unsafe Conditions are those which allow
accidents to happen, because of poor design.
Unsafe Conditions are the main reason for
causing accidents worldwide.
It is the duty of the manufacturer who
should ensure that there are no unsafe conditions in their appliances and it
should be idiot proof.
The guards of machines should be such that
a person cannot put his fingers into the covered areas thereby injuring his or
her fingers. We are aware of these rules while designing equipment.
It is only the responsibility of the makers
who have to ensure these designs.
Industrial accidents are viewed very
seriously in our country.
The Factory inspectorate penalizes
establishments for not providing the safety guards etc, and the employee is
very well protected against such accidents. The employer has not only to pay
for the injured person’s treatment but ensure corrective actions are taken to
stop such accidents in future.
If the government is so strict in enforcing
such stringent rules to safeguard employees- which are correct- then why
accidents on the railways are brushed aside as trespassing.
I read a report in the The Times of India
about the recent accident of Ms Monika More in Mumbai.
She was trying to board a train which had
just started and in the course of her run to get a foothold, she slipped in a
trench along the platform in Ghatkopar station, and slipped. The fall was bad
and her hands got under the wheels of the train. This resulted in the severing
of her both hands.
The girl is in the hospital fighting to
survive, but has lost both her hands. The hospital could not retrieve her
hands.
This speaks of a great tragedy in our
country. Very often the accident victims in the railways are not attended to
immediately. Poor facilities are available on the railway stations, lack of
infrastructure and ambulance often delay in rushing the patient to a hospital.
This delay not only affects the likely treatment but very often leads to death.
The Railways carry millions of passengers
on the suburban network in Mumbai.
They get huge revenues from passengers.
Often the courts have highlighted the poor
facilities on the railway stations but to no avail.
There seems to be no concerted attempt to
mobilize these facilities and save lives and limbs of passengers.
The Ghatkopar incident is that of an unsafe
condition.
How can there be a sudden gap in the
platform along the boarding side of the platform.
The railways say that there are equipments
below the pit, hence cannot be covered with cement.
If that is so what prevents them from
making a frame of angles and covering the pit with plates so that nobody would
fall and their equipments can still function.
Previously the trains had fewer
compartments, now days the trains have 12 and 15 compartments and the railways
should realize the danger of these hazards as the train stops very near the
pit.
Can
the government wake up now at least and ensure that such death traps are
avoided.
Unsafe
conditions cannot exist anywhere and have to be plugged immediately.
