A casual attitude to safety

A casual attitude to safety

India has just witnessed its most horrific train accident in over two decades. At the time of writing this column, official estimates put the number of deaths at 275, with over 1,000 injured. It involved three trains — the Coromandel Express, which derailed and then hit a stationary goods train before being hit by the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express coming from another line. Initial reports had suggested a signalling and switching error/malfunction as the probable cause, though the investigation has now been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

If this tragic accident was not bad enough, a bus carrying some of the injured persons from the train accident site in Balasore to a hospital had a head-on collision with a van in Bengal’s Medinipur district. Finally, even as this column is being written, videos of the collapse of an under construction bridge in Bihar are going viral on social media.

 

Investigations will eventually give the reasons behind the tragic train accident, the bus mishap and the bridge collapse. They are not linked by anything other than the fact that the issue of safety and quality in India has never been a high priority — either for various governments or for citizens. There has been little effort to analyse and then find ways to reduce the accidents while improving the safety of citizens.

To be fair, train accidents have been decreasing over time and the number of consequential (or serious) accidents has reduced over the years. But given our large railways network — the fourth-largest in the world at 68,043 km — and the 3.5 billion people who travel on this network annually, the number of railway accidents and the number of people who die because of these mishaps make for grim statistics. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, an average 23,000 people died every year between 2010 and 2021 in railway accidents.

Deaths due to road accidents are far more numerous. A report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in 2021 put the total number of road accidents that year at 412,432, claiming 153,972 lives while causing injuries to 384,448 persons. Meanwhile, when it comes to bridge collapses, a study which came out a few years ago, counted 2,130 bridges that had collapsed between 1977 and 2017. If one were to take roads and highways that have simply sunk because of bad construction, it would run into hundreds, if not thousands, every year.

There are four primary reasons for accidents — and deaths and injuries due to accidents. They are faulty design, poor maintenance and wear and tear, improper safety protocols and regulations, and finally human error, sometimes compounded by fatigue and boredom. A fifth, wilful flouting of safety regulations and norms, merits a separate discussion because it has to do with both societal attitudes as well as law enforcement.

India has just witnessed its most horrific train accident in over two decades. At the time of writing this column, official estimates put the number of deaths at 275, with over 1,000 injured. It involved three trains — the Coromandel Express, which derailed and then hit a stationary goods train before being hit by the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express coming from another line. Initial reports had suggested a signalling and switching error/malfunction as the probable cause, though the investigation has now been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

If this tragic accident was not bad enough, a bus carrying some of the injured persons from the train accident site in Balasore to a hospital had a head-on collision with a van in Bengal’s Medinipur district. Finally, even as this column is being written, videos of the collapse of an under construction bridge in Bihar are going viral on social media.

 

Investigations will eventually give the reasons behind the tragic train accident, the bus mishap and the bridge collapse. They are not linked by anything other than the fact that the issue of safety and quality in India has never been a high priority — either for various governments or for citizens. There has been little effort to analyse and then find ways to reduce the accidents while improving the safety of citizens.

To be fair, train accidents have been decreasing over time and the number of consequential (or serious) accidents has reduced over the years. But given our large railways network — the fourth-largest in the world at 68,043 km — and the 3.5 billion people who travel on this network annually, the number of railway accidents and the number of people who die because of these mishaps make for grim statistics. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, an average 23,000 people died every year between 2010 and 2021 in railway accidents.

Deaths due to road accidents are far more numerous. A report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in 2021 put the total number of road accidents that year at 412,432, claiming 153,972 lives while causing injuries to 384,448 persons. Meanwhile, when it comes to bridge collapses, a study which came out a few years ago, counted 2,130 bridges that had collapsed between 1977 and 2017. If one were to take roads and highways that have simply sunk because of bad construction, it would run into hundreds, if not thousands, every year.

There are four primary reasons for accidents — and deaths and injuries due to accidents. They are faulty design, poor maintenance and wear and tear, improper safety protocols and regulations, and finally human error, sometimes compounded by fatigue and boredom. A fifth, wilful flouting of safety regulations and norms, merits a separate discussion because it has to do with both societal attitudes as well as law enforcement.