Safety kits, tools displayed at exhibition

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 16

“Time and again industrialists are more inclined towards upgrading machines and equipment used at their factories. However, the safety of labourers, working in these factories, is always at risk. No initiatives has been taken by the owners of these factory to enhance the quality of safety kits for workers,” said Mukesh Kumar, a dealer of 3M company, who displayed variety of upgraded safety kits at the ‘Machine Tools- Automation and Engineering Technology (Machma Expo), exhibition, here at New Grain Market, Dana mandi.

Mukesh said, due to the scarcity of awareness about the safety kits, several casualties were reported at the factories. In the recent past, around 150 labourers had died in a fire incident that occurred at a Ludhiana-based factory.

Based on fire brigade officials claims, he said the workers could be saved while wearing the safety kits. He displayed a jacket made up of ‘reflected tapes’ that shines even in the dark and workers could easily be spotted and saved.

He also displayed, varieties of hand gloves, safety shoes with steel toe, that could bear a weight of about one tonne without hurting the worker’s foot and fire extinguisher ball that converts a severe fire into smoke.

After the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) directives, a city-based industrialist didn’t step away from placing the orders for eco-friendly and unmanned innovative machines.

Representatives of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation India Ltd, intrigued industrialists for ‘Green fuel’, that maximises the use of LPG cylinders commercially, hence reducing the cost of existing fuels by 50 per cent.

Hand tools manufacturers also attracted industrialists. “As Jalandhar is a hub of hand tools equipment, hence the modifications displayed in the exhibition raised our eyebrows”, said Jaswinder Singh of Emkay tools.