Labour Day Spl: CoalMin to design 'Zero Harm' policy for mine labourers

Taking up the most neglected and sensitive topic in the coal mining sector – safety of mine labours, the ministry of coal is working towards ‘zero harm’ policy and coal companies would increase revenue spend on it.

The plan also includes phasing out of all manual loading in underground coal mines within a year's time. Most accidents in an underground coal mine happen due to land slide or gas leakage during extracting coal which is usually fatal.

In a representation made by labour unions, coal companies and ministry officials, the minister of coal Piyush Goyal emphasized on 'zero tolerance' for breach of workers' safety and said that all efforts must be made to ensure that there would be no compromise on workers safety.

“In view of the target of 1 billion tonnes for coal production in India, standards of safety must be improved further. He clarified that high production level must be achieved without compromising workers' safety and health” said the minutes of the meeting of standing committee on mine safety.

Coal mining in India is touted as the most dangerous job in the world with one fatality in every three days, said official estimates in 2014. The meeting which held earlier this month advised coal companies to design realistic safety budget both under capital and revenue heads.

“This should be finalised for the financial year 2015-16, after comprehensive assessment of the procurement of vital safety items so that the allocated budget was fully utilized,” said the minutes.

The other suggestions made were inspection of private mines and assessment of their safety and occupational health status thereat in next 3 months. Also, the committee noted professionalism should be brought into the health care system of all coal companies.

Director (Technical), ministry of coal was advised to organise and coordinate a study of the existing system of healthcare facilities in CIL by experts who could also suggest suitable recommendations to improve the system. The study should be completed within 6 months.

Coal mining in India is majorly done by state run monopoly Coal India limited which has six subsidiaries in different parts of the country. The company employs the highest amount of labours and has the largest and one of the strongest labour unions in the country. The safety of the mine labours is recurrent issue given the accidents that occur due to lackadaisical safety policies.

The second largest miner Singareni Collaries in Andhra Pradesh is usually termed better in handling its human resource.