Workers present at unit? Lunch packet count is the answer

Thrissur: Despite repeated deadly tragedies, the state continues to approach fireworks production rather casually. The latest proof was the way the number of workers present at the Mundathicode unit at the time of explosion was calculated — counting the 40 lunch packets ordered!The authorities did not have a clarity on how much explosives were being stocked there either. Official sources said the district administration usually gives licence to stock 2,500kg of gunpowder and related explosives each for Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu devaswoms for the main display event of Thrissur Pooram. But a much higher quantity is stocked up every year and used for the competitive display.The accidents at fireworks units are not random but they reflect a repeated pattern of systemic failure in how items for festival fireworks are manufactured and managed, according to Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) former joint chief controller of explosives R Venugopal.Under the legal framework, fireworks and explosive compositions must be manufactured and processed only in licensed premises, with approved layouts, specified safety distances between sheds, controlled quantities and strict man-limits for each shed, he said."The mixing shed of pyrotechnic materials should have an 18-metre safety distance from each other while the manufacturing unit and drying platform should have a 12-metre distance. While each mixing shed should allow only two people to work at a time, only four people should be allowed in a manufacturing shed. What happened in Thrissur on Tuesday shows more people must have been present at the unit. This resulted in the high number of casualties," said Venugopal.The opposite seems to have been happening in many fireworks units: Large quantities of compositions are being mixed, assembled and dried in relatively open or semi-open areas, without proper compartmentation or the necessary safety distances or effective man-limits and with many workers present simultaneously, Venugopal said.The manufactured pyrotechnic materials should be taken to the licensed magazines to be store there before being taken to the display ground.The incident at Mundathikode is the latest in multiple major blasts reported in the district earlier. In 2006, four persons were killed and six were injured when a blast occurred at a fireworks manufacturing unit at Puthukkad. Workers were making fireworks for Paramekkavu devaswom as part of Thrissur Pooram when the blast happened.In 2011, another blast occurred at a fireworks unit at Athani, killing six."As an alternative to the scattered and often unsafe cottage-type fireworks manufacturing that feeds our temple festivals, the state should consider setting up dedicated fireworks parks of about 50 acres, in which only four or five licensed factories operate. Within such a park, each unit can be laid out to comply fully with the explosive-related rules on safety distances, man- limits and segregation of mixing, manufacturing and drying sheds, while a common infrastructure for fire protection, emergency response and materials testing can be provided. This clustered model, similar to approaches being explored in other states for green fireworks, would allow us to move all Pooram-linked manufacturing away from temple premises into engineered, auditable facilities," said Venugopal.