After spending 37 years in India’s oil and energy sector, this writer has walked through the innards of factories, refineries, and chemical plants across the country. This writer has seen, up close, the tragic aftermath of industrial accidents — not as distant events, but as raw human tragedies. These are not acts of fate. They are the result of choices — bad ones made by individuals, institutions, and systems that fail to care.
We have seen it again, recently — as explosions at Sigachi Industries in Telangana, and as a firecracker unit disaster in Tamil Nadu. They are not aberrations. They are the symptoms of a deeper, ongoing national crisis.
A universe is shattered every time
In the last five years, at least 6,500 workers have lost their lives in India’s factories, construction sites, and mines, according to government data compiled by the Labour Ministry and several Right to Information-based reports. This means nearly three fatalities every day in peacetime, in a growing economy, in the 21st century.
In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu alone, over 200 fatalities have occurred in major industrial mishaps over the past decade. But the true toll — especially from the unregistered or informal sector units may be much higher and rarely makes news. Each of these cases is not just a data point. It is about a breadwinner gone, a child orphaned, and a household thrust into trauma and penury. This writer has witnessed this — an empty seat in a refinery canteen after a fatality, families pacing outside the plant gates, waiting for news they know will break them.
A study in 2022 by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) found that India had had over 130 major chemical accidents in just a 30-month window post-2020, with 218 fatalities and 300-plus injuries. Most of these occurred in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often operate under regulatory radar.
What makes these deaths even more inexcusable is how elementary and avoidable their causes are: no fire No-Objection Certificate (NOC) — factories running without even the basic No-Objection Certificate from the Fire Department; no firefighting systems — alarms, sensors, extinguishers missing or dysfunctional; no permit-to-work system — high-risk jobs undertaken casually, with no formal hazard identification or job safety analysis; no training — especially for migrant and contract workers who often speak different languages and oblivious to the signage or safety protocols; no fire exits — or exits locked, blocked, or hidden under storage materials; no accountability — audits, when conducted, are often tick the box exercises. Convictions for safety lapses are rare, and penalties are negligible.
Not a core value
Even in large corporates, the focus on operational excellence often overshadows basic safety culture. Globally, countries such as Germany and Japan have embedded safety deeply into industrial design and workplace culture. In contrast, India still treats safety as a compliance hurdle rather than a core value.
While the spotlight is on Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, let us not pretend that other States fare better. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Uttar Pradesh have their own grim records. In fact, Gujarat witnessed over 60 major industrial fires and gas leaks in just a single year (2021), according to media and State records.
According to the Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), India records one serious industrial accident every two days in registered factories. What are unregistered units? Nobody truly knows.
The pattern is now familiar to the point of fatigue: tragedy, outrage, compensation, committee and then silence. The root cause remains untouched. The next accident is just waiting to happen.
What keeps this cycle alive is national indifference — the silence of the public, the inertia of regulators, and the cost-cutting impulse of companies that treat safety as overhead, and not obligation. Workers, especially those on contract, are seen as disposable.
There is also a deeply troubling class bias. Would a similar safety lapse at a high-rise corporate headquarters or in a software park go similarly unnoticed? The harsh truth is that these lives are undervalued because of who they are — migrant workers, contract labourers, and the economically voiceless.
The phrase ‘act of god’
There is a phrase that we often hear, which is “act of God.” It sounds biblical, a way to distance ourselves from culpability. But these disasters are not divine punishment. They are man-made. A National Geographic documentary once explored this very idea showing how industrial accidents across the world stem not from chance, but from negligence and failed systems.
Countries such as South Korea and Singapore now have corporate manslaughter laws, holding senior executives criminally accountable for gross safety failures. India needs to begin that conversation.
This is not just a call for regulatory reform or better audits. It is a call for collective conscience. As citizens, as industry leaders, as media, as policymakers we need to say, “We care”.
We must not only hold companies to account but also strengthen our labour safety boards, digitise risk reporting, and ensure whistle-blower protection. And for every worker who risks life and limb to keep our industries running, we must affirm this truth: industrial safety is not a favour, it is a right.
The question is not whether we have the means to prevent these tragedies. We do. The only question is this: do we care enough to act? Or will we, through silence and resignation, keep proving that unspoken indictment true? Who cares?
Shrikant Madhav Vaidya is former Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
Published – August 09, 2025 12:08 am IST