The state government has released a set of guidelines a few weeks back for vehicles carrying dangerous or inflammable material.
The standard operating procedure (SOP) states that a vehicle carrying hazardous or inflammable material must be equipped with a first-aid kit, a fire-fighting system and safety equipment. Only vehicles that are registered to carry such materials must be used for transportation, it says.
These vehicles will also have to display labels about the materials that are being ferried like inflammable liquid or gas, oxidising agent, poisonous substances and organic chemicals.
The SOP is an attempt to reduce accidents during transportation of inflammable articles and put in place a set of guidelines that transporters and drivers will have to abide by, senior officials of the transport department said.
The SOP comes within a week of a tanker carrying methyl alcohol going up in flames on CR Avenue after turning over.
On February 28, the vehicle overturned at a spot not far away from Mohammad Ali Park. While the diver fled the spot, the help was charred to death inside the cabin.
The blaze spread to at least two adjacent buildings. One of them was badly damaged but fortuitously it was old and had no residents. Shops on the ground floor of the building were destroyed. Portions of an adjoining building were affected, too.
“After speaking to a section of transporters we realised there was no guidelines for carrying such dangerous and inflammable articles,” a senior official of the transport department said.
“The SOP has been drawn up after taking into account different rules and regulations under the central Motor Vehicles Act along with those issued by the Central Pollution Control Board.”
Some of the points laid down in the SOP include:
- Operators carrying dangerous or inflammable materials will have to inform the State Pollution Control Board and obtain a ‘no objection certificate’ for disposing hazardous waste if it has to be dumped in a state other than the one from where it has been generated.
- Vehicles carrying such goods that are dangerous and hazardous ‘to human life’ and ‘also inflammable in nature shall be fitted with a spark arrester’ under the provisions of the Central Motor Vehicles Rule. A “spark arrester” for vehicles usually refers to a steel chain type item that hangs from the vehicle touching the ground.
- Before loading such items and goods, the driver will have to “collect adequate information about the particular hazardous or dangerous goods and adopt precautionary measures.
- It will be the vehicle owner’s responsibility to inform the driver in writing so that he understands the nature of goods being transported, the nature of risk that may arise while transporting such goods and what are the dos and don’ts in case of an emergency.
- The driver of the goods carriage carrying such goods should “receive adequate instruction and training toenable him understand the nature of goods being transported...”
Senior officials said a copy of the SOP has been sent to the director-general of state police and that of the fire and emergency services, all district magistrates and regional transport officers.
“We have instructed for strict compliance of the SOP to all the concerned officials so that no lives are lost in the event of an accident or an emergency,” the official said.