One of the lesser talked about but highly damaging impact of the pandemic is the deteriorating track record of industrial workers safety in India. The stop start nature of manufacturing that industries have had to adopt during the pandemic has seen a spurt in the number of accidents.

According to data collated by IndustriALL Global Union, as many as 116 industrial accidents in chemical and mining industries were reported in the country that led to the death of at least 231 workers between May last year and June this year. From May to December, 2020, around 64 accidents were reported wherein 118 workers were killed and several hundreds were injured. From January to June 2021 over 117 workers were killed and about 142 workers were injured in about 52 industrial accidents happened in mining and chemical industries.

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