Safety Violations Cited As Possible Cause Of Kazzinc Plant Explosion

The Emergency Situations Ministry has named the preliminary cause of the explosion at the Kazzinc plant, Orda.kz reports.

The explosion may have been caused by violations of the technological process during production operations. Emergency Situations Minister Chingis Arinov announced this at a government meeting.

According to him, preliminary findings indicate that the explosion occurred during work carried out in violation of documentation requirements and amid poor organization of the production process.

Earlier, violations of industrial safety requirements were detected at these facilities, including non-compliance with technical documentation, failure to conduct expert reviews to extend the service life of technical devices, deviations from project documentation, weak production control, and the untimely replacement of worn-out equipment,Arinov said.

However, Bektenov said the tragedy that occurred in May cast doubt on the company’s claims about its high level of industrial safety.

You report well. However, the situation that occurred in May undermines your words, so additional active measures must be taken,the prime minister said.

He also stressed that the company needs to strengthen its work on labor protection and industrial safety to prevent such incidents from happening again.

The explosion occurred on the morning of May 5 at Kazzinc LLP in Oskemen. Four people were hospitalized, and rescuers continued searching for people under the rubble. After the explosion in the smelting section of the electrolysis shop, two workers died and five people sought medical assistance. Later, another person died in the hospital.

Original author: Ilya Astakhov

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