The Punjab government has restored provisions of the Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance 2002 to resume inspections in factories located in residential areas, a week after 26 workers were killed when a factory for manufacturing veterinary medicines collapsed due to an apparent boiler explosion.
An official privy to the development said that the government had also decided to legislate a Punjab Boiler Act 2012 to regulate the inspection and use of boilers in all industries.
In July 2005, then chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi ordered the Industries Department to cease all inspections and visits by boiler and electric inspectors and civil defence officers to factories located in residential areas of the province. The stated purpose of this move was to eliminate bribery and extortion by inspectors.
But the collapse of a four-floor factory in Hassan Town on Multan Road and the five-day rescue operation that followed put pressure on the Punjab government to restore inspections, especially as many of the 26 workers killed were women and children.
The Industries, Commerce and Investment Department has moved a summary to the chief minister for approval. The department has proposed that regular inspection and certification of boilers located in factories in residential areas be resumed through the boiler inspection wing of the department, as an alternative mechanism entailing inspections through qualified insurance companies – as envisaged in the 2002 ordinance was not yet functional.
“This dispensation may be allowed subject to the conditions that the Directorate of Industries carry out a detailed prior survey of boilers located in residential areas; and the industries director evolve a monitoring mechanism to ensure that inspections are carried out transparently, no possibility of undesirable practices as in the past,” says the proposal.
Factory inspections were banned as part of the Punjab Industrial Policy 2004-5 to create a business-friendly environment and to stop corrupt practices by inspectors.
The idea was to outsource inspections to private companies, but this has never taken off.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2012.
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As per the article, "Factory inspections were banned as part of the Punjab Industrial Policy 2004-5 to create a business-friendly environment and to stop corrupt practices by inspectors."
Not only did this approach not work, it provided a window of opportunity to create unsafe conditions for workers.
The collapse of a four-floor factory in Hassan Town on Multan Road, was readily apparent. How many people are working in uninspected factories waiting for the next disaster to happen?