The cost of flouting safety checks
Pushpa Girimaji

Callous indifference to safety can claim lives, lead to major tragedies. This is the most dominant message that came across throughout the year 2011. As we step into 2012, we need to constantly remember this and take corrective action. Or else, we will forever be condemned to suffer the consequences.

Why not be safe rather than being sorry? Lack of adherence to safety norms results in loss of life and property. People gather near a rubber factory at Topsia in Kolkata where a fire had broken out — PTI

Let me begin with the fire at the Advanced Medicare Research Institute (AMRI) in Kolkata , which left over 91 -mostly patients at the hospital- dead. AMRI was not a cash-strapped government hospital, but an up-market private hospital claiming to provide "advanced medicare". But obviously, patient safety did not figure in the list of priorities at this hospital because even the basic fire safety measures were not in place and the hospital had not even paid heed to the notice from the Fire Department to clear the basement of the highly flammable material stored in contravention of the fire safety norms. Even after the fire started, the staff did not call the fire service for 90 minutes and later, left the patients to die in the smoke-filled rooms, while they made their escape.

The fire certainly sent shock waves around the country and suddenly, hospitals -both private and government-run- woke up to the absence of fire safety measures. As state governments around the country ordered safety audits of hospitals, even more deplorable state of affairs came to light. In Jammu and Kashmir, for example, the Director General of Fire and Emergency Services told reporters that the fire safety measures in all hospitals were dismal or almost negligible. Things were no better in the nation's capital. Responding to a question in Rajya Sabha, minister of state for home affairs Mullappally Ramachandran said only 31 of the 48 hospitals inspected by the Delhi Fire Service in the past three years had been issued Fire Safety Certificates. As many as 17 of them had been asked to rectify the shortcomings in fire safety measures.

Two thousand and eleven also brought up the absence of fire safety in community centres and marriage halls around the country. Following a major fire in a government-owned community hall in East Delhi, leaving 16 dead and over 45 injured, the state administration suddenly became alive to the woefully inadequate fire safety measures in its 225 community halls in Delhi. The civic authorities have now issued a series of guidelines to ensure fire safety at all marriage halls, besides temporary structures and tents pitched for marriages and other celebrations. Hopefully these will be enforced stringently.

Another safety issue that came to the fore during the year pertained to aviation safety. In the past, police in different parts of the country have unearthed organised rackets in issuing fake motor licenses to professional drivers. That's bad enough . But when you find professional pilots obtaining commercial pilot licenses on the basis of fake degree certificates, marks sheets and false credentials pertaining to experience and flying hours, then one can only say that safety consciousness in this country has touched the nadir. Imagine being flown by pilots unfit to do the job, thereby putting the lives of thousands and lakhs of air passengers at risk! The arrest of as many as 24 pilots during the year fully exposed the lax aviation regulatory system in the country. Hopefully, the measures being put in place to overcome the lacunae will fully protect passengers from such exposures in the future.

Similarly, the buckwheat (kuttu) flour adulteration witnessed during the Navaratra celebrations raised serious doubts about the competence and integrity of those in charge of food safety. In as many as seven states- Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh-consumers suffered from symptoms of food poisoning as a result of consuming adulterated buckwheat flour. The incidence sharply highlighted the lack of food safety management in general and the absence of a comprehensive system of traceability of food products in particular.

If you go to the root of all these problems, you will find a common enemy — corruption, which brings about slack enforcement of safety laws in the country.

Even as I write this column, the death toll from the illicit liquor tragedy in West Bengal has gone up to 170 and more than 100 — mostly poor labourers, rickshaw pullers and hawkers — are still suffering acutely from the toxicity of methyl alcohol.

This is again a case of the excise department as well as the police turning a blind eye to illicit liquor sale. These illegal liquor units sell liquor cheap by mixing genuine liquor with a range of chemicals and additives to considerably increase the quantity. As we begin the new year, let us resolve to fight corruption and demand accountability from law enforcement agencies, particularly those involved in ensuring consumer safety.