Report on Accidental Fire at Roricon Limited

Date:09/11/2020
Introduction:
The Board of Directors requested a report on the fire incident that took place at the R&D
centre of Roricon Technologies Limited in Pune. There were some important documents,
some data on the server and some Business contracts that were destroyed due to the fire. The
purpose of this report is to analyse the damage caused by the fire. The report includes
findings of investigation and recommendation to avoid any such incident in future.

Background:
Roricon Technologies Limited was established 8 years back. And since then it has grown
exponentially having established its headquarters in Pune, and within the starting 3 years of
the establishment, they have expanded their organization with offices in 11 countries
including USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Middle East and Japan too.
As we know, being a huge organization, they opened a new R & D centre in Pune itself for
further expansion and growth. The total capital invested in this new R&D centre was a total
of 31 Crores. This investment was one of their largest investments they had made to open up
a new R&D Centre making them more profits as projected by the company.

Assumptions:
 When Roricon Technologies Limited set up their R&D centre in Pune they were
advised by their technical team members to mainly focus and pay attention to the
technicalities, the setup should be such which can support a large number of
computers, generators, and required machinery.
 But the members of the committee and association neglected the idea of the team.
 Even after setting up the R&D centre properly the head of the technical team tried to
raise the issue in front of the committee members but the committee members were
out for new R&D setup in Kerala.
 The other day because of the overload on one of the Machine some of the computers
stopped working, the staff members themselves tried to fix the issue by fixing the
wires in some other machine.
 It worked out for time being, after 3-4 days because of the overload on the machine
there was a massive fire breakout because of the short circuit which leads to a huge
loss for the company.
Findings:
Under the investigation conducted it was found out that the fire broke out due to the short
circuit in the switch box of the operating machinery in the R&D centre of the Roricon
Technologies limited branch in Pune. It was found out that there were a spark and fluctuation
in the mainline which was caused due to heavy overload of power. Upon making some
inquires the investigation team came to the knowledge that there was a paucity in
technicalities which supported a large database of connected computers and machinery. The
team upon asking about the events from the workers who were nearby the fire outbreak
revealed that the power fluctuation in the machinery has started 3 days before the accident
took place but the engineers in the facility neglected the fluctuation and fixed the wiring
problem on guesswork. But due to continuous workload and increased power generation, the
fluctuation caused the short circuit which turned into a massive fire outbreak. In addition to
all the fittings in the rooms were also in operation which increased the fire to spread very fast.
The team also investigated the casualties of the accident and found that 3 employees lost their
life while 7 were injured severely including Mr Pradeep Sahu, head of the automation
department who lost his life. Other 7 those were injured included 3 chief operating engineers
and 4 research operators were able to escape the unfortunate event and were immediately
taken to the Jehangir Hospital. In addition to the database of the company including various
business contracts, and several important product research which was developed was
destroyed due to which the company faced the financial loss of approximately 2 crores. Also,
they had to pay some amount to the families of the injured and deceased.

Conclusion:
Roricon Limited was already aware of the technical setup that they. They still neglected the
fact that the types of machinery need some advanced setup which can bear a lot of loads. Due
to the same negligence, 3 people had to lose their life and 7 people had fatal injuries. Not just
the lives were lost in the hazardous mishap but also the company had to bear the losses of
approximate 2 crores and they also had to pay to the families of the 3 employees who lost
their lives and the hospital bills for the ones injured. If at all Roricon Limited had considered
the complaints from the technicians and worked on having advanced setup the fire tragedy
wouldn’t have happened.

Recommendations:
1) Install a fire alarm.
2) The cables should be checked at regular intervals.
3) Proper fuses must be installed to avoid the excess flow of current
4) Security staff must be trained to handle electric components.
5) To install more fire extinguishers at vent age point is necessary.
6) The worn-out wiring should be immediately replaced.
7) During the downpour, reduce the use of electricity.
8) Once a month test fire alarm battery.
9) Before plugging the wires, check these wires because of faulty wiring there is a chance of
short circuits.
Submitted By:
1. Aaryaa Mahamuni
2. Aarya Chodankar
3. Aadil Mohammad
4. Aditi Bhavthankar
5. Apurva Mantri
6. Ayush Satyam
7. Bhakti Thormote Patil
8. Mukul Karande
9. Niharika Mathur
10. Pratiksha Pandey
11. Rajnandini Kumar
12. Shreyas Nehru