Rs 5 crore earmarked for safety equipment
Jammu: With an aim to arrest the accidental deaths and injuries to the field staff of Power Development Department and taking care of its field employees, the Department has directed its field offices to immediately focus on relevant safety measures and to ensure that there is no loss of human life. As part of this effort, the department has directed both the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporations to ensure that Isolators and earthing rods are provided on every 11 KV feeder in the UT. This shall ensure that the field workers shall remain safe even if there is accidental touching of live lines or equipment and due to accidental charging of lines or equipment during shut down activity.
These directions were passed by the Principal Secretary, Power Development Department, Rohit Kansal while discussing the steps being taken by the Department for ensuring safety and security of the field staff while performing duties in the field.
In another first, it is for the first time that the Power Development Department has set aside nearly Rs 5 crore for the procurement of Personal Protective equipment (PPE) and other Safety Devices to be used by the field staff working round the clock to ensure that uninterrupted power supply is provided to all of its consumers.
The PPE which shall be provided to field workers shall include Safety Helmets to prevent head injuries due to accidental fall or falling objects or impact with other objects, Insulating Gloves shall be provided to prevent electrical shock due to operating rods and operating handles, Safety harness / Belt to be provided for fall protection equipment, while working on elevated electrical lines and other equipment and Safety Shoes shall also be provided to prevent foot injury and to provide electrical shock resistance.
In addition, the Power Department has also issued “Standard operating Procedures (SoP) for safe working besides designating Safety Officers. Set guidelines too have been framed for the field staff to follow while working in the field. Further, mock safety drill of SoP by the field staff under the proper supervision by safety officers would be made a regular feature in all the field offices of Power Department.
It was also decided to observe Safety Day every month to make the field workers aware about safety issues by conducting mock safety drills and use of PPE and Field Safety Devices.