Port workers allege lack of safety in workplace as employee dies

By C Shivakumar and U Tejonmayam

Chennai:

A 54-year-old Chennai Port Trust junior engineer’s death after he slipped and fell from a crane-cum-coal coveyor belt while on duty sparked anger among the employees who questioned workplace safety norms in Chennai Port.
The coal conveyor belt was not in operation for the last 18 months following a High Court ban on dusty cargo and what is more the erection of the conveyor belt itself was mired in controversy with CBI investigating it, said R Prem Kumar, vice-president of Transport and Dock Workers Union.
While Port Trust chairman Atulya Mishra maintained that the maintenance work was going on as usual, the employees who were working with the deceased employee Venkatesan alleged lack of maintenance work and safety norms resulted in his death. The incident also comes in the wake of Union Shipping Minister GK Vasan visiting Chennai Port on Friday.

Police sources said the Venkatesan (54) of Virugambakkam, who had been working with the Chennai Port Trust for the past 25 years, was supervising when employees were pouring oil in the engine as part of their regular maintainence work of the coal conveyor belt at around 10.45 am. “The man was standing on a platform located an height of more than 20 feet in the giant crane, kept in the coal yard, that was more than 42 feet high and was supervising when he slipped and fell to the wharf,” police added.  Employees working Venkatesan said that the platform where the deceased was standing gave away because it was corroded and not maintained properly.

 “As he fell and hit his head to the warp made of concrete, he sustained head injury and began bleeding immediately,” police said. He was rushed to the Port Trust hospital where he died, police added. They registered a case under section 174 CrPC.

Immediately after the incident, employees gathered in large numbers angry over the lack of safety in workplace. It was only after the assurance of Port Trust chairman of forming a committee to look into the incident, the tension eased.

Mishra said an enquiry into the incident will be conducted by safety officers. But the employees wanted a safety audit of the cranes and conveyor belts be done to ensure safety of employees in Port Trust. Interestingly, this is the second death of a employee in the last one month.

Interestingly, the incident happened when the empowered committee was to visit Chennai Port regarding the dusty cargo issue. Port employees maintain the computer, which was used to run the coal conveyor belt through GPS was corroded and was given for maintenance. Now the belt is operated directly. The incident happened at DCI in Jawaharlal Nehru Dock 6. The coal conveyor belt stopped working from September 30,2011.