Safety last: on explosives units, safety record

India’s high-risk industries typically have a poor safety record. They operate in the margins, employ poorly paid unskilled workers, are characterised by unsafe working practices, and function under poor regulatory oversight. The explosive handling industry is a glaring example of such a high-risk industry. In October 2025, a devastating explosion at Sri Ganapathi Grand Fireworks in Andhra Pradesh’s Konaseema district, which killed 10 people, led authorities to frame new safety norms and standard operating procedures. But it would seem that few of these were followed by Sri Surya Firecrackers at Vetlapalem village in Kakinada district, where an explosion on Saturday killed all 20 people present on the site. Another disturbing fact is that both units were owned by the same person. The Vetlapalem unit had been ordered to cease operations in January and had, in any case, far exceeded its permitted daily quota of explosives and workforce numbers after securing a large temple festival order. Nagpur was conceived as a hub of India’s explosives making – with about four major public sector units supplying explosives, detonators and related materials for defence and industrial uses. The area’s green cover provided camouflage with good connectivity with the rest of India. Today, nearly a dozen such private factories function in the Bazargaon area of Nagpur district. Most of the workers are women on low wages. Often drawn from farmlands acquired for factories, the workforce is barely educated and insufficiently trained.

On Sunday, a blast at SBL Energy factory, Nagpur, killed 19 workers, most of them women. More than 20 lives have been lost in the past two years in half a dozen accidents in these units, including two at Solar Explosives, the largest unit, whose owner received the Padma Shri this year. Locals point out that the political connections of factory owners often invite the light hand of law enforcement. Ironically, the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, the regulator, is headquartered in Nagpur. In an example of lax supervision, several PESO officials faced a CBI inquiry for issuing licences for bribes. Only an overhaul of safety practices, norms and supervisory mechanisms as well as a commitment of business owners to safety can improve the safety record of these units. There is a lesson from Tamil Nadu. Once infamous for child labour in unsafe workplaces, and frequent deadly accidents, Sivakasi’s fireworks units have now turned around their safety record. Enhanced safety training and awareness among workers and owners have achieved this though illegal units still report accidents.