PM orders assessment of all factories every 3 months

NONTHABURI, May 7 - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Monday she has instructed the industry ministry to step up safety measures by inspecting all factories every three months in the aftermath of serious accidents in two plants in industrial estates in the eastern province of Rayong over the weekend.

The premier said the industry ministry has also been assigned to assess the risk of the chemical leak at the Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) factory in the Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate.

She said that industry officials will have to visit all factories for every three months to inspect the chemicals used in the plants. The assessment result will have impact on the extension of the permit of factory operations.

The premier noted that safety measures need to be reviewed and tightened although the current ones already meet international standards.

Saturday’s explosion and fire at the Bangkok Synthetics Co (BST) petrochemical factory at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate killed 12 people, while 24 of the 142 injured remain hospitalised.

The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) ordered the company to stop butadiene rubber production in order to find the cause of the explosion and to assess the damage from the incident as well as to equipment in nearby areas.

Just one day later, chlorine leaked from the Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) factory in the nearby Hemaraj industrial estate after an emergency shutdown of the plant's operations.

The gas reportedly spread through surrounding areas for a short time, dizzying at least 131 people, while 12 still hospitalised.

The industrial estate agency on Monday suspended the plant's operations until the investigation of the accident is complete.

Industry Minister Pongsawat Svastiwat on Monday instructed concerned agencies to tighten safety measures in the industrial sector.

The minister made his remarks as he met with the governor of Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), as well as concerned officials and entrepreneurs in the Map Ta Phut complex.

Mr Pongsawat emphasised that such accidents must not reoccur and that the IEAT will meet with factories using chemical or hazardous substances in their operations to lay out stricter measures.

The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee (TLSC) on Monday issued a statement regarding the two accidents, urging the government to make the clearer policies to protect workers, rather than focusing only on the rising export figures.

TLSC chairman Chalee Loysoong said the group will submit a letter of complaint to Labour Minister Padermchai Sasomsap on Thursday. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-05-07

And the budget for qualified trained inspectors is coming from where?

ALL factories in Thailand will need to be "inspected" every 90 days.

Just using a rough figure of say 100,000 factories in Thailand,

1/4 is 25,000 divided by 90 days = 277.77 Inspections PER DAY.

Assuming it takes half a day and only one inspector is assigned,

that means 138.8 inspectors need to do 2 jobs every day, including travel.

Now lets look at 100,000 ever 90 days with an inspector and assistant.

1,111.1 inspections per day using 2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

or best case two locations per day 555.55 inspections PER DAY using

2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

Having paired inspectors minimises the easy of tea money changing hands,

and ability to cover larger places. Of course this will still happen,

and the TM swill move up the chain per usual.

OK say there are 2,222 what is their wage per month?

Say Minimum 15k costs 33,330,000 a month

or 399,960,000 million baht a year... not including car leasing

1,111 car fleet, gas 1,000 a day x 1111000 per day

x 365 = 40,5515,000 per year.

Cost for inspections a nominal 805,475,000 a year at least.

before paperwork and office space.

But does Thailand have ONLY 100,000 Factories Using Chemicals?

Is a factory employing 25 people,

but using toxic and flammable toluene and blow torches inspect-able?

Or is it some arcane number to shave the budget like 100 employees and up?

Or only factories in approved Factory Parks going to be included in

"All Factories To Be Inspected Every 90 Days".

Does Anyone think before writing her speeches?

If only it was practical, as you say, I wonder if when she says things they are off the cuff, rather than thought out.  BECAUSE it is too early to know if you can put these measures into practice. Maybe ministers will check inbetween checking on prices in local markets.

If Yingluck wants more respect she will have to be more sincere in her words, good clear thinking is needed, and experienced hands on. AND a good job done well. This applies to all.

She said that industry officials will have to visit all factories for every three months to inspect the chemicals used in the plants. The assessment result will have impact on the extension of the permit of factory operations.

With the honest and truthful inspecting and reporting we all tend to expect in Thailand, the cost of running a factory may just have gone up a wee bit?

Mind you, a certain level of quarterly and yearly reporting seems very normal in lots of countries. Inspections are mostly done at start-up, at random, after accidents and when statistics show trends. A bit of infrastructure is needed, standardization in check items/questions and reporting form, online submission, etc., etc.

The PM's remark is clearly an ad-hoc reaction on a disasters, like we see in the Western world as well. Please check here again in three months time and ask for the number of factories assessed.

Yingluck ought to review how the police are policing, and have reports every 3 months, If serious things need assessment and she is honest, next after this the BiB should be next in line.  Whether it be factories, Health and safety, transport. Get your whip out Yingluck and mean it--NOT just say it to the press and let it drop.

But what to do when a large percentage fail? Every factory in the country cleans parts with with diesel in a pan in the corner that gets dumped in the drain. Is that a failure to comply with safety or environmental rules?

These inspections will of course include those little factories tucked away in shop houses too I presume ?

This will all soon be brushed under the carpet after a few months, remember that bus that was about 30 years old and crashed and caught fire, there was talk then of tightening things up, same too when that Doctor was killed by a speeding bus, we nearly always go back to square one as status and money seem to make problems and potential problems disappear.

Another case of engaging mouth before brain!

Any big wig owners named ??? interesting !! will be interested later to see how much they give the innocent workers/etc. compensation ??? about the same as the flood 5,000 bht ????

In other words, some ministers started to complain about the lack of money, so they have been assigned with a new duty(wink wink)

I hope i am wrong, but having lived here for long enough, i am afraid this is exactly what it is going to be a "payday" for certain people.

This has nothing to do with safety. 'Inspectors' will be hired.... people who have connections... and they will get bribes to sign off on safety.

I doubt that these inspections will ever happen. At most, an 'inspector' will visit the front office for a free lunch.

The reason for this is that they will soon have another 111 mouths to feed

They need to increase their income sources

it gets funnier by day

Another case of engaging mouth before brain!

What brain?

The assessment result will have impact on the extension of the permit of factory operations.

... once the appropriate tea money has been paid.

I remember seeing at my work (in australia) the 5 stages model of safety management culture, or whatever it was called.

This reaction makes for an interesting example of where Thailand is at when it comes to safety management.

And the budget for qualified trained inspectors is coming from where?

What qualified trained inspectors?....someone's wife,brother,sister,daughter,etc. with connections, just got a cushy job with a nice travel expense acct. and opportunity to show up at a nearby restaraunt,bar,resort, every 90 days to be paid for their signature without so much as glance in the direction of any factory.

Does Anyone think before writing her speeches?

No, not necessary as long as a majority of those listening, or reading are not thinking.

Any big wig owners named ???

Check out the website of Bangkok Synthetics.

More jobs for friends and relatives .

Any big wig owners named ???

Check out the website of Bangkok Synthetics.

BST Board of Directors:

http://www.bst.co.th/shareholder.aspx

And the budget for qualified trained inspectors is coming from where?

ALL factories in Thailand will need to be "inspected" every 90 days.

Just using a rough figure of say 100,000 factories in Thailand,

1/4 is 25,000 divided by 90 days = 277.77 Inspections PER DAY.

Assuming it takes half a day and only one inspector is assigned,

that means 138.8 inspectors need to do 2 jobs every day, including travel.

Now lets look at 100,000 ever 90 days with an inspector and assistant.

1,111.1 inspections per day using 2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

or best case two locations per day 555.55 inspections PER DAY using

2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

Having paired inspectors minimises the easy of tea money changing hands,

and ability to cover larger places. Of course this will still happen,

and the TM swill move up the chain per usual.

OK say there are 2,222 what is their wage per month?

Say Minimum 15k costs 33,330,000 a month

or 399,960,000 million baht a year... not including car leasing

1,111 car fleet, gas 1,000 a day x 1111000 per day

x 365 = 40,5515,000 per year.

Cost for inspections a nominal 805,475,000 a year at least.

before paperwork and office space.

But does Thailand have ONLY 100,000 Factories Using Chemicals?

Is a factory employing 25 people,

but using toxic and flammable toluene and blow torches inspect-able?

Or is it some arcane number to shave the budget like 100 employees and up?

Or only factories in approved Factory Parks going to be included in

"All Factories To Be Inspected Every 90 Days".

Does Anyone think before writing her speeches?

I agree, I was an Inspector in the UK. She is talking out some other orifice. It simply won't happen I was trained for 2 years with a P/G diploma before being set loose. Then we concentrated on serious issues. This country is simply a joke when it comes to safety. Lots of signs 'Safety first' then , on construction site, workers wandering around in flip flops. when it comes to high level hazards I'd stay well away

As most assessments in Thailand are based on a no-fail policy, I don't think that many factory owners need to worry.

Yawn.

dont wake me up for the the crackdown - I've seen them all come and go.

In an amazing, miraculous type of time frame

And the budget for qualified trained inspectors is coming from where?

ALL factories in Thailand will need to be "inspected" every 90 days.

Just using a rough figure of say 100,000 factories in Thailand,

1/4 is 25,000 divided by 90 days = 277.77 Inspections PER DAY.

Assuming it takes half a day and only one inspector is assigned,

that means 138.8 inspectors need to do 2 jobs every day, including travel.

Now lets look at 100,000 ever 90 days with an inspector and assistant.

1,111.1 inspections per day using 2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

or best case two locations per day 555.55 inspections PER DAY using

2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

Having paired inspectors minimises the easy of tea money changing hands,

and ability to cover larger places. Of course this will still happen,

and the TM swill move up the chain per usual.

OK say there are 2,222 what is their wage per month?

Say Minimum 15k costs 33,330,000 a month

or 399,960,000 million baht a year... not including car leasing

1,111 car fleet, gas 1,000 a day x 1111000 per day

x 365 = 40,5515,000 per year.

Cost for inspections a nominal 805,475,000 a year at least.

before paperwork and office space.

But does Thailand have ONLY 100,000 Factories Using Chemicals?

Is a factory employing 25 people,

but using toxic and flammable toluene and blow torches inspect-able?

Or is it some arcane number to shave the budget like 100 employees and up?

Or only factories in approved Factory Parks going to be included in

"All Factories To Be Inspected Every 90 Days".

Does Anyone think before writing her speeches?

You are a mathematical genius but, this is Thailand, lets say 100 baht will cover it and the ruling party gets the rest, ok?

An important part of Industrial safety would be paying attention to the Enviromental and Health Impact on communities before giving licenses in the first place - or there's this approach

The basic problem is this: the constitution says that any project that might have severe environmental or health impact on local communities must follow certain procedures

.

What happened with the projects in Map Ta Phut was the government felt that those projects did not have severe environmental or health impact on the local communities, and our judgment on that was not just our own judgment, it was based on the environmental impact assessment that had been made according to our environmental law.

Now, unfortunately our judgment and the administrative court’s judgment were different. The court said that these projects might affect the local communities in terms of health and environment impact severely, so it had issued a temporary order to freeze these projects............

.................. So what clearly has upset sentiment has been the uncertainty that the current projects are facing because they thought they had gone through all the legal requirements but they have been ruled not to have done so, and they are correcting that.

So it’s something that I think we have now reached a point where there is a clarity about what needs to be done and I think also we are at the point where new investment has to accept higher standards of scrutiny before they get their permits.

http://newley.com/20...ts-fcct-speech/

Seems like there's still a way to go.

And the budget for qualified trained inspectors is coming from where?

ALL factories in Thailand will need to be "inspected" every 90 days.

Just using a rough figure of say 100,000 factories in Thailand,

1/4 is 25,000 divided by 90 days = 277.77 Inspections PER DAY.

Assuming it takes half a day and only one inspector is assigned,

that means 138.8 inspectors need to do 2 jobs every day, including travel.

Now lets look at 100,000 ever 90 days with an inspector and assistant.

1,111.1 inspections per day using 2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

or best case two locations per day 555.55 inspections PER DAY using

2,222 inspectors; head and assistant/witness.

Having paired inspectors minimises the easy of tea money changing hands,

and ability to cover larger places. Of course this will still happen,

and the TM swill move up the chain per usual.

OK say there are 2,222 what is their wage per month?

Say Minimum 15k costs 33,330,000 a month

or 399,960,000 million baht a year... not including car leasing

1,111 car fleet, gas 1,000 a day x 1111000 per day

x 365 = 40,5515,000 per year.

Cost for inspections a nominal 805,475,000 a year at least.

before paperwork and office space.

But does Thailand have ONLY 100,000 Factories Using Chemicals?

Is a factory employing 25 people,

but using toxic and flammable toluene and blow torches inspect-able?

Or is it some arcane number to shave the budget like 100 employees and up?

Or only factories in approved Factory Parks going to be included in

"All Factories To Be Inspected Every 90 Days".

Does Anyone think before writing her speeches?

I agree, I was an Inspector in the UK. She is talking out some other orifice. It simply won't happen I was trained for 2 years with a P/G diploma before being set loose. Then we concentrated on serious issues. This country is simply a joke when it comes to safety. Lots of signs 'Safety first' then , on construction site, workers wandering around in flip flops. when it comes to high level hazards I'd stay well away

Well I was in Austria in contact with Inspectors for food production and distribution and they had a training of 5 weeks.

I think in Thailand they can shorten the training to 5 days.

I mean what you need to learn for 2 years "Give me 10.000 Baht and I signature that everything is OK"

Words - words and more words - just play for the gallery. Nothing will happen. No capability in this 3.rd world country. Its still a rebulicabanana, but eventually things has to happen....

She keeps coming up with the best "T Money" making jobs...Amazing...