Displaying items by tag: fatality

Zimbabwe: The National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has lifted a prohibition order which it issued to Livetouch Investments subsidiary Diamond Cement after the death of a worker on 6 March 2020 at the company’s 0.4Mt/yr Redcliff grinding plant. The incident brought to light “sub-standard safety and security arrangements.” The Chinese-owned company had also failed to register any employees under the NSSA’s Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fund (WCIF) and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).

The New Zimbabwe newspaper has reported that the NSSA lifted the prohibition order in mid-September 2020 after the company was found to have complied with its registration and safety requirements. NSSA communications officer Tendai Mutseyekwa said, “After a joint visit by the NSSA’s Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate and the Compliance Inspectorate, the company registered with the NSSA schemes. They subsequently settled their subscriptions for the two NSSA schemes from the effective date of 4 April 2017, when the company started operating.”

A police investigation into the fatality continues.

Pakistan: Two workers have died at DG Cement’s Khairpur plant. They were both killed by ammonia gas poisoning after falling into a sewer at the site, according to the Dawn newspaper. The investigation continues.

Pakistan: Two contract workers at Lucky Cement’s plant in Pezu, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province have been killed in a gun attacked on a bus. A third worker was wounded in the incident, according to the Dawn newspaper. Local police are searching for the killers.

Pakistan: Two employees of DG Khan Cement have been killed in a gun attack. A third worker was seriously injured in the incident, according to the Dawn newspaper. Police report that unidentified motorcyclists in Dera Ghazi Khan opened fire on a company security van whilst it was transporting workers to a nearby plant. The victims died at the DG Khan Medical College.

India: A contract worker has been killed in an accident at Ambuja Cement’s Maratha plant in Maharashtra. An apparent electrical problem in a wagon loading machine caused the incident that crushed the 32 year old worker, according to the IndustriAll union. The union says that mechanical problems had been reported previously in the plant’s packing unit. LafargeHolcim, the owner of Ambuja Cement, reported 86 fatalities at its sites in 2016.

India: Orient Cement has paid US$46,000 in compensation to the families of two workers who were electrocuted at the Chittapur cement plant. The move follows tension in the local community, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. The cement producer has also agreed to offer employment to the members of both families and to grant pensions to the widows of the workers.

Pakistan: The number of fatalities from an explosion at the Rohri Cement Plant in mid-September 2017 has risen to seven, following the death of journalist Lal Bux Kandhro. Four people died in the initial blast whilst defusing explosives, according to the Dawn newspaper. Seven other people were severely injured in the incident, of which three have subsequently died including Kandhro.

China: Four workers have died when the roof of a shed collapsed at the Zhongda cement plant in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. Three workers died at the scene and another died in hospital, according to the Xinhua News Agency. An investigation is currently underway.

US: A person has died at the Kosmos Cement plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Local police told the WDRB local television station that the male victim was aged in his 30s or 40s and was pronounced dead on the scene. Officials say the death was a workplace accident involving a pulley system.

Bangladesh: Masud Sheikh, a technician working at Bashundhara Group's Meghna Cement Mills, has died from inhaling ‘poisonous gas’ in an abandoned barge owned by Meghna Cement Mills at the port of Mongla. Sheikh, aged 42 years and a Bangladeshi national, was attempting to rescue a Chinese national who also died in the incident, according to the Xinhua News Agency. The Chinese employee of Sinohydro supporting the construction of the Padma Bridge was checking the barge prior to its sale.