An oxygen cylinder explosion at the UltraTech Cement plant in Himri, Chhattisgarh, resulted in the death of three contract workers. Two other workers sustained injuries.
The incident has drawn attention to the issue of precarious employment in the Indian cement industry with the Indian National Cement Workers' Federation (INCWF) demanding fair compensation for the families of the deceased workers.
The deceased were young workers hired by a private company to fix pipelines at the plant. This incident has highlighted the problem of unsafe work conditions in India's cement industry.
Around 83% of workers in this industry have unstable jobs, doing dangerous work.
UltraTech Cement is one of India's leading cement manufacturers and is a part of the Aditya Birla Group (ABG), operating across 26 countries. However, recent incidents have raised concerns about worker safety within the company, prompting calls for enhanced safety protocols and practices.
In 2021, at least seventeen accidents occurred in the cement industry in which around 21 workers lost their lives and 20 workers were seriously injured. In 2022, at least ten accidents occurred in which nine workers were killed and 29 were seriously injured. The Majority of these workers were contract workers.
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