Poonabhai Ramabhai Parmar, 59, has become the fourth victim of the deadly silicosis disease -- which is rampant in and around Khambhat town of Central Gujarat -- this year. Parmar breathed his last on February 25 night. Large number of locals joined his funeral on February 26 morning. Informing about his death, Jagdish Patel, senior social activist of the state-based NGO People’s Training and Research Centre (PTRC), Vadodara, said, “Parmar worked in a textile mill in Khambhat till 1994, and when mill was closed he turned to agate polishing. He was diagnosed of silicosis at Sri Krishna Hospital, Karamsad, in December 2012. He was bedridden for the few months.”
Patel, who is one of India’s topmost campaigners against the occupational disease, said, “This is the fourth death in 2014 following the death of Rukhiben Jethabhai, Isub Ibrahim and Nannusha Diwan. In 2013, as many as 14 male and 2 female workers died of silicosis.” He regretted, “In 2012 Government of Gujarat declared a welfare scheme for the workers dying of silicosis according to which Rs 1 was to be paid to the dependents. For technical reasons the scheme could not take off.”
Pointing out that recently the Government of Gujarat declared revised scheme, Patel said, “Accordingly, now the amount of Rs 1 lakh is to be given by the board for unorganized sector workers and not any insurance company. The scheme is to be implemented by the Rural Labour Commissioner (RLC). A resolution passed on January 4, 2013 reads that the rules should be drafted jointly by the director, Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) and the RLC to implement the government’s revised scheme.”
Friday, February 28, 2014
Fourth victim of deadly silicosis in 2014 fails to wake up Gujarat officialdom to pay up compensation
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Plastic exposure to women in the workplace could lead to health risks
To make plastic parts, such as bumpers and dashboards, pellets are heated in huge injection molding machines. These machines sometimes eject sticky plastic that smokes and smoulders and that workers can breathe in.
Many of these chemicals have been shown to be endocrine disruptors and carcinogens in animals.
Jim Brophy, a retired Executive Director of the Occupational Health Clinic for Ontario Workers (OHCOW) and lead author of the study is worried the chemicals used to make these plastics could be affecting the health of women who work in the plants and increasing their chance of getting breast cancer. Brophy wants the government to do more to protect workers and worries that the Ministry of Labour is not doing enough to minimize exposure.
Leon Genesove, the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s top doctor, says the Ministry is working with health and safety associations to assist employers “in eliminating hazards in the workplace, substituting with less hazardous chemicals if necessary. Implementing engineering controls, and assisting them with other control measures.”
Genesove cites a workplace safety blitz from October and November of 2012 where inspectors looked at dangerous conditions in the manufacturing sector.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Lack of mining exposure norms rued
NAGPUR: Noise, dust, vibrations, heat, UV sunlight, etc, are certain occupational hazards that miners' face during their regular work. Except for noise and dust, there are no standards for these exposures in India. The country needs standards for these exposures, especially in Indian mining conditions. Hence academic and scientific institutes should take a lead to first recognize and assess the potentially hazardous agents and then formulate standards.
These views were expressed by the former deputy director general of directorate of mine safety (DGMS) at Nagpur, RB Chakarborty while delivering the foundation day lecture of city-based National Institute of Miners' Health (NIMH) 'Safe Mines and Healthy Miners: Issues and Priorities'. The institute entered its silver jubilee year on Friday.
Miners suffer from a variety of occupational diseases like loss of hearing, pneumoconiosis, asbestosis (chronic inflammation of lungs), poisoning due to inhalation of metals and miners nystagmus (involuntary eye movement) due to darkness, skin cancers, lung cancers and tuberculosis. India has a unique blend of big and small, manual and mechanized, opencast and underground mines. Most of them are government-run but there are private players who violate rules. Hence, the standards should be formulated considering these factors too.
World Bank Agrees to Investigate Labor Conditions at Indian Tea Company
The World Bank has agreed to investigate Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited (APPL) in India for abusive working conditions on tea plantations in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, following a formal complaint by workers. A Columbia Law School team has confirmed the workers allegations.
In 2009, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, invested $6.7 million into the newly created APPL to take over 25 plantationsfrom the Tata Group, a major Indian multinational. In return, the IFC got a 19.9 percent in the new entity while Tata kept 41 percent ownership. The 31,000 workers on the plantations were allowed to buy shares in the new company at Rs 10 ($0.20) per share.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Another film to document ill Samsung factory workers
A citizen fund-raising campaign is under way to support the theatrical release of “The Empire of Shame,” a documentary on occupational diseases among Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant workers by director Hong Li-gyeong.
The move comes amid a wave of support for director Kim Tae-youn’s “Another Family,” which is based on the story of one worker’s struggle with leukemia and eventual death.
The distributor, CinemaDAL, started the campaign to support the film’s release on Jan. 29 by setting the goal of raising 30 million won (US$28,200) through the social funding site Tumblbug. As of Feb. 17, it reported raising almost 18 million won (US$17,500) from 554 donors.
Urgent need to recycle rare metals
The demand for metals such as neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy) is increasing much faster than production. These metals are used in technologies such as the generators that store power in wind turbines, and the electric motors that propel electric and hybrid cars. But they are also used in everyday products like computers and mobile phones.
Rare earth metals do occur in Earth's crust, but not in sufficiently high concentrations. This is why only one country -- China -- has so far been supplying the entire world with these elements. However, in recent years, China has begun to restrict its export of these materials
Monday, February 17, 2014
Apple in conflict mineral 'name and shame' crackdown
Apple has begun publicising which of its suppliers may be sourcing minerals from conflict zones.
Conflict minerals, as they are known, are mined in areas of fighting or human rights abuses, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The first published list detailed 104 suppliers that were unverified for compliance with ethical guidelines.
Electronics firms are being pressured by human rights groups to use their influence to force suppliers to change.
Most electronic devices contain either gold, tantalum, tin or tungsten. The gathering of these raw materials is often controlled by violent militias who may profit greatly from the activity.
Notices likely to 75 leases for illegal mining in Odisha
NEW DELHI: The Centre may issue show cause notices to companies, including SAIL, Tata SteelBSE 0.15 %, Essel Mining, JSPL and OMC, that hold 75 leases where illegal mining of iron and manganese ores was found by the Shah Commission.
The step would be in addition to legal action being initiated by the Odisha government against firms that carried out mining operations without environmental and other clearances.
Over 150 FIRs filed in two weeks over illegal mining
ALWAR/JAIPUR: In the past 12 days since an anti-mining campaign was launched, joint teams of various departments have lodged over 150 FIRs and arrested 57 people in connection with illegal mining in the state. The officials claim this data show the drive has been effective so far though it has proved to be eyewash in some parts of the state, especially in Mewat region.
Owing to lack of coordination among various departments involved in the drive and growing fearlessness among the miners, the drive has not seen any substantiate success. Mining mafia is attacking the government teams. At least four such attacks have been reported in Alwar district.