Kiran Manral’s guest post brought up the oft-raised in an Indian context – that of Health & Safety. There have been various incidents in the past decade alone that have result in the needless loss of innocent lives, lives that may well have been spared if a few precautions have been taken beforehand.
Tragedies like the Kumbakonam School fire, the Garuda Mall mishap and of course, the recent accident of Aditya Dube, to name a few, may well be averted had basic Health & Safety procedures in place. A fire drill at the school, with a set procedure to be followed in event of a fire, could have prepared the staff and students at the Kumbakonam schools for the actuality of a fire. They could have merely followed procedure and assembled at a pre-agreed assembly point (as they do in the West), instead of running pell-mell and adding to the chaos.
Similarly, if the malls and restaurants had rigorous Health & Safety guidelines that they HAD to adhere to in order to remain open and strict building regulations that they had to follow to ensure the safety of their patrons, the tragedies that followed may well could have been prevented.
Whilst it is ultimately the responsibility of the parents’ to keep their youngsters in check, it is the duty of the owners of an establishment to make sure their mall / restaurant / cinema hall etc is safe enough for their patrons to visit without losing an arm or a leg or their lives. We go to a restaurant to have enjoy a meal and deserve to do so without wondering if we will fall a few floors to our death if we step on a tile.
Accidents like these focus on how little regulation is there to ensure the safety of our lives in everyday India. How easy it is to grease palms and speed things along, instead of worrying if a building will pass muster with the officials regarding its construction, design etc. How there are no standardised methodologies in place to ensure the safety of the users.
I wonder when the powers that be will sit up, take notice and take issues such as Health & Safety seriously. What needs to happen to bring that about?
Yes, this is a question which seems to have no answers.
As long as expedience and corruption exist, it will be impossible to enforce any safety norms.
How long are we to just blindly accept the status quo and carry on, Dips?
i could write a book on this. but i wont. will just nod along.
You should, you know. Write a book on the subj, I mean.
Great that you’re discussing this important theme
Now and again, we move away from utter rot to discuss some decent stuff! But don’t let that put you off!