Industry safety can be ensured by adhering to international standards for storage and processing, putting safest and efficient procedures, and installing robust technologies in place says Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya chairing a seminar on “Safe Use of Chemicals at Workplace”.

“It is crucial that international standards developed by ILO are adopted by India as this will not only mitigate industrial accidents but also ensure further alignment with global best practices,” said Dr. Mandaviya. 

The seminar was organised by the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) and International Labour Organisation (ILO). A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in presence of Union Minister Dr. Mandaviya between DCPC and ILO for adopting the International Chemical Safety Cards (ICSCs).

Dr. Mandaviya exhorted all stakeholders to ensure that information about not only these International Chemical Safety Cards but also safety regulations are conveyed adequately to the workers.

He underlined that often catastrophic accidents can happen related to chemicals, mainly due to lack of proper safety measures and this calls for adhering to global safety standards and practices.

He urged various stakeholders including government officials, experts, and industry leaders to engage in a brainstorming session. He said that such stakeholder consultations will bring out innovative ideas which can be further used as the basis of future legislations and steps.

Bhagwant Khuba, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers and New & Renewable Energy said, "India’s stature has risen globally in the chemical sector and thus it becomes a need that we look at the sector not just from production basis but safety aspects as well."

He said that the Industrial workers from floor-level to manager-level must be made aware of possible hazards at the workplace and must be equipped with adequate knowledge to deal with them in case of any emergency.

He said that such training sessions and safety mock drills are not only important for workers’ safety but also play a key role for our environment as well.

He was hopeful that the MoU between DCPC and ILO would further enforce our efforts in implementation of safety regulations in the country.

Arti Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals; Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals; Dagmar Walter, Director, ILO; Prabh Das, Chairman, FICCI Petrochemical Committee; and other industry leaders were also present in the meeting.