The government has taken an initiative to strengthen boiler inspection activities to check accidents in the industrial sector, an official said.
As part of the move, the office of the Chief Inspector of Boilers (CIB), which is under the ministry of industries (MoI), undertook a set of measures, including recruiting more manpower and opening new regional offices. It has also prepared the draft of Boiler Act, 2020.
"We are going to get more manpower by December this year as the process of appointment is almost complete," Chief Inspector of Boilers (CIB) Mohammad Abdul Mannan told the FE on Monday.
Presently, they have offices in Dhaka, Chattogram and Rajshahi with only 24 members of staff, he said.
"We have a plan to open new offices in Gazipur, Narsingdi, Narayanganj and some other districts by the end of the current year," he added.
The office of the CIB could not conduct the inspection of boilers at different factories and industries smoothly due to the shortage of manpower.
At present, there are only three deputy chief inspectors (DCI) and three inspectors who visit the factories to assess the condition of boilers.
CIB Abdul Mannan said that seven more DCIs and 40 inspectors will be appointed by December next.
He said that if they get additional manpower, it would be possible for them to inspect more factories.
Presently, the office of CIB could inspect only around 25 boilers a year.
Mr Mannan further said they launched a book titled 'Guidelines to use Boiler and Inspection' on Monday, which will come in handy for both users and inspectors of boilers.
The guideline written in Bengali has 13 chapters covering all basic and valuable information about the safe use of boilers and inspection.
This book will help prevent boiler explosions, as it details how to avoid incidents.
Unveiling the cover of the book at the ministry, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayan said the government has taken zero tolerance policy against industrial accidents and pollution.
"We (the government) have taken zero tolerance policy against industrial accidents and pollution in line with our commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN," he said.
There are about 12,438 registered boilers in the country and around 600 boilers get registered with the office of CIB annually.
There are about 25 organisations in the country that manufacture around 300 small and medium-sized boilers a year.
The country is still largely dependent on import of big-sized boilers, which mainly come from India and China. The cost of importing boilers, on an average, is around Tk 3.0 billion annually.
State minister for industries Kamal Ahmed Majumder and industries secretary K M Ali Azam were present at the book launching ceremony.
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