Industrial Accidents: The Human Cost of Indifference in India

• Industrial accidents in India are not acts of fate but result of choices made by individuals, institutions, and systems.

• In the last five years, at least 6,500 workers have lost their lives in India’s factories, construction sites, and mines.

• In Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu alone, over 200 fatalities have occurred in major industrial mishaps over the past decade.

• A 2022 study by the Centre for Science and Environment found over 130 major chemical accidents in India post-2020, with 218 fatalities and 300+ injuries.

• Causes of these deaths are elementary and avoidable, with no fire No-Objection Certificate (NOC), firefighting systems, permit-to-work system, training, fire exits, and accountability.

• India treats safety as a compliance hurdle rather than a core value, with workers seen as disposable.

• There is a deep troubling class bias, with safety lapses at high-rise corporate headquarters or in a software park going unnoticed.

• India needs to start a conversation about collective conscience, holding companies accountable, strengthening labour safety boards, digitising risk reporting, and ensuring whistle-blower protection.