Community • Home • News • Network • Education • Cities • Life • Rankings • More inSign in with LinkedInCommunity > Srinivasa Rao Narasimhadevara Next Member >> Srinivasa Rao Narasimhadevara DIRECTOR Premier Explosives Limited Srinivasa Rao Narasimhadevara is a member of: Bloggers After few years Presently I am on the Board of M/S Premier Explosives Limited. I may continue in the board in an elevated position. Different from others Understanding the need of the market, developing the product well in advance among the competitors and making the product available to customers at a price lower than their expectations and quality better than their expectations will give an advantage. Important Decisions generally there is a belief, career progress will depend on how many companies you have shifted. It may not be true in all the cases. During my service with m/S Premier Explosives Limted(PEL), I have taken a decision of shifting the company. But the Management wanted me to stay back. I have put some requests before them but they are not able respond positively. Then I have shifted myself to M/S Pennar Chemicals Limted. After two years serving there, I received a call from Management of PEL and they requested to come back to PEL and they agreed to accept all my requests which were denied earlier. Hence I joined back in PEL in a elevated position. In my opinion these are the important career decision I have taken. Measures to be taken Maintaining the quality of the product, introducing new products into the basket of company products,minimizing the production cost of the product,studying the latest trends in the market and coping up with the changes are some of the measures I have taken. Today our products command lot of respect in the market and customers are ready to pay a little higher cost also for our products. Definition of BI Business intelligence in our context can be defined as knowing the trend of the market, knowing competitors product performance and improving the product quality as required by market. Product improvement and new product requirements to meet. Learnings There is no substitute for hard work is the first point. we should always get educated ourselves with the latest developments in our field of work and subjects concerned. Then only we can be the front runner and can climb the ladder fast. Comparison of current work from previous one As President(Production), i was monitoring the production activities of the company. But now as a Director of the company I am more concentrating on new business areas, new products for company, revenue increasing methods etc. Your Role As Director(Production), I am responsible for meeting the marketing budgets. What are the requirements for meeting the demand, where are the bottle necks and how to deneck them are my responsibilities. All factpry incharges will be reporting to me. I have to guide them in getting their maximum out put. Coordination with marketing and purchase for the needs of production is also a responsibility. Describe your struggle of achieving success After my Doctorate I have started my career in chemical industry as a laboratory in charge and then from quality control I shifted to production from there to factory operations and finally I am the business management. Personal Information I am professional engagged as Director In Premier Explosives Limited, Hyderabad. I am from middle class family from east godavari district of Andhra pradesh. Elder brother to 4 brothers and 3 sisters, younger brother to one sister. I a

ACCIDENTS IN EXPLOSIVE MANUFACTURING Dr. N.V. SRINIVASA RAO, INTRODUCTION Accidents are unwanted and undesired. To avoid accidents; all possible precautions should be taken. No stone must be left unmoved for avoiding accidents. Even after taking all possible precautions; some times accidents may happen unfortunately. Once an accident happens; better understand the situation well. Analyse the situation. Observe the debris. Try to list out probable causes. Take all precautions required to avoid such kind of accidents again. If we are not learning from our failures; we can not have success in our life In Andhra Pradesh; there are; More than 10 manufacturing units of industrial explosives, 4 detonator manufacturing units, 6 detonating fuse manufacturing units In the pursuit of safety and accident free manufacturing; There should be a system of sharing knowledge among the manufacturers. If there is a common forum for having discussion and debating. A lot of scope will be there for improvement and preventing accidents. The present manufacturers association is limiting its function to commercial matters only. A thought can be given for having a common forum With the above introduction, I like to present two accidents selected from literature. Accident in DF Plant  Company : A multi national explosive manufacturing Company  Facility : Detonating Cord plant  Incident : On 31st December, 1999; two mechanics were removing a metal plate which was mounted on to the wall of a spinning room. A detonation occurred. Why this incident is chosen: An incident which is a nearmiss will give very valuable lessons. Severity of the consequences in this incident might have been quite high. There was a clear potential for more serious injury and even death. Luck only saved the mechanic and left with minor injuries. Description of the incident: Two mechanics were disassembling a metal plate bolted onto a wall. The detonation occurred as the plate was being removed from the wall. The plate was projected and hit one of the mechanics. Routine before maintenance: Ensure there is no visible sign of any explosive or explosive waste in the compartment. Wash the room and wall carefully with high pressure water. Clean the equipment carefully using a brush. In addition to brush cleaning; use chemical for destruction of explosive. It is very essential to destroy any residual explosives in cracks or crevices. Maintain water flow all the time on the work area while undoing nuts and bolts. The following findings were recorded by the investigation team: The maintenance supervisor was present when the accident occurred. The supervisor and safety personnel know the standard procedure for cleaning the equipment and chemical destruction. Work permit was given and complied with requirements. The room was cleared from all explosives as per the prescribed procedure. Initially cleaning has been carried out by the production operator and then cleaning has been carried out by contract persons. The mechanics had previous training and experience with explosives. Water flow was being maintained during the removal of the plate. Even after taking all required precautions the detonation occurred. The most probable causes for the accident: Presence of PETN dust in the bolt / hole. Improper tools used for removing the device. Excessive use of force to remove the device, some dry PETN was not reached during the cleaning process. It remained inside the hole and was detonated by friction. Lessons to be learnt Third party inspection: No third party inspection is carried out before starting the work. Risk assessment: Risk assessment is not done; what can happen; what effect will it have; what can be done to prevent or reduce the consequences. Careful adherence to standard procedure; Adequacy of the procedure: One can understand that how easily this explosive penetrate into crevices; joints; threads etc. It is better to prevent this from occurring than treating the consequences subsequently. Avoid use of excessive force to remove equipment which offers resistance. If force is required; provide it from behind a barricade or remotely if possible. Accident in Booster Plant Company : An explosive manufacturing plant (Defense undertaking) in USA. Facility : Booster manufacturing plant and PETN drying plant Incident : On January 7th, 1998 in Booster plant during a ‘Melt Pour’ operation involving TNT; PETN and composition B an explosion occurred, followed by a 2nd explosion 3 seconds later in PETN Plant Causalities : 4 persons died; 6 persons had serious injuries; Total explosive involved is 47,000 lbs Observation by investigation team: A metal hammer was being used to break up lumps of explosive. The company was getting some of its raw materials from military explosives such as torpedoes; rockets; motor shells and bombs. Sometimes; nuts, bolts and other objects from the above materials would be discovered in explosive mixing pot. After completion of each shift; the melting pot was being cleared and it was being completely freed from all explosives. Next shift operator did not bother to look into mixing pots before starting. Management believed that unless otherwise a cap is used; it was nearly impossible to detonate the chemicals used. Many essential elements of process safety management were missing. The use of contaminated explosive material will pose some risk. This was not adequately studied. Reasons for Incident: Different theories were made to identify the reasons 4 scenarios were developed; usage of steel hammer to break solid explosive, which may cause a friction and/or impact. Operators used brooms and plastic buckets to clean up spills; which will have a static risk. Process of drying PETN made faster by increasing the temperature increasing risk of PETN explosion. Training / safety rules displayed in other than local language. Inadequacy of training and awareness among the persons. But the investigation team basing on seismic data; interviews with workers; the physical evidence observed during the investigation believed that; The day before the incident one melt / pour operator working in booster 2 plant left the work early. About 50 to 100 pounds of explosive was there in mixing pot at that time. The mixing pots blade extended about 2 inches into the mix. The next shift; no operation in the building. The following day morning the same operator switched on the motor of mixing pot. By that time the mix in the pot solidified with the bottom of the mixer blade embedded in the solidified explosives. Because of impact; shearing or friction of explosive material with the pot wall, explosion took place. Another possibility is that lumps of explosive material were crushed between the mixer blade and the pot walls; causing the detonation. A heavy piece of equipment or burning debris from the 1st blast fell through the reinforced concrete or the skylight of the PETN building and initiated the 2nd explosion. Lesson to be learnt Process hazard analysis is to be conducted for all processes. Proper training programme for managers and operating persons are very much essential. Operating procedures must be updated. They should be in the language understood by the work force. No deviation should be allowed without proper analysis. Systematic safety inspection / auditing programme should be followed. Employees should be involved in developing or conducting process safety activities. Accidents can be avoided or effects can be minimized; Whether it is in primary explosives; secondary explosives; pyrotechnics or Bulk explosives if the following few points are followed without fail. Maintain explosive & man limits in the buildings. Don’t allow untrained operators to conduct manufacturing operations. For every worker; supervisor and line manager; not only general safety training but also on the job training is required. Standard operating instructions; MSDS for materials involved should be available in local language. All involved must aware of these things. No body should change the operating procedures without thorough understanding & proper analysis & approval. Third party safety audits to all plants at regular intervals. Adequacy of safety systems procedures and equipment should be thoroughly studied. Use of required personnel protective equipment. Hazard analysis and Risk assessment for all the process should be conducted before implementing the process. Suitability of equipment for the process is to be thoroughly studied before introducing.