Health & Safety Safety Alert Red Stripe: 04/ FY-24

Ore Mines & Quarries, Raw Material Division, Tata Steel Limited

Incident : Fatal incident of employee of M/s R.C. Engineering Enterprises

Date of Incident : 27.01.2024 Time: 09:40 AM
Department : Dry & Logistics, Joda
Section : Logistics, Joda
Location : New Belt Conveyor (NBC) 3A
Details of Deceased Person (DP) : Mr. Motay Tamsoy, Age: 41 years.
Injury : Cervical Spine Injury

Photograph of the incident site:

Top belt

Chain block used to lift carrying

side of belt.

Idler

Job location of Deceased

Person in between the conveyor
belt.
Bottom belt

What Happened:
Iron ore products (lumps and fines) of processing plants are conveyed through a belt conveyor
to loading system for onward dispatch through railways. The conveyor belt moves on a set of
rotating parts called idlers (shown in the photograph as above).
These idlers occasionally get jammed due to wear and tear. At the time of incident, idler
replacement job was in progress. To access the idler, working team has to remove side
barricades and enter the area in between top and bottom portion of the conveyor. Accordingly,
top belt was lifted using a chain block (shown in the photograph as above).
Health & Safety Safety Alert Red Stripe: 04/ FY-24
Two contractual employees of M/s RC Engineering, Mr. Motay Tamsoy and Mr. Tushar Ranjan
Mahanta, entered the area, sat on the bottom belt and were engaged in changing idler. Three
company employees and one more contractual employee of M/s RC Engg. were also present at
the job site.

At 9.40 AM, control room operator (who was at a distance and had no visibility of persons at site)
started the belt. As a result, Mr. Tamsoy and Mr. Mahanta, who were working on the belt, got
pulled along the conveyor. People present at site stopped the belt by using the pullcord (a safety
device installed along the length of the conveyor belt for emergency stop). Both persons were
rescued from the conveyor at about 50m distance from the incident site.

Mr. Tamsoy and Mr. Mahanta were sent to Tata Steel Limited Hospital, Joda and were later
referred to Tata Main Hospital (TMH), Jamshedpur for further treatment. Mr. Tamsoy succumbed
to his injuries at around 1:55 PM on 28-01-2024 at TMH Jamshedpur.

The other injured person, Mr. Mahanta, is recuperating from minor injuries.

Preliminary Findings:
1. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the job was available.
2. Positive isolation of the belt was not done before starting the job.
3. The job was being done under the supervision of Tata Steel employees.
4. Mr. Tamsoy was working under M/s RC Engg. at Dry Plant since May 2022.

Immediate actions taken:

1. The job was stopped, and the incident site was barricaded. A cross functional team has been
formed for detailed investigation.
2. The incident was communicated to all the employees. Importance of following standard
operating procedure and positive isolation process was reiterated.
3. Audit of similar sites across Raw Material Division has been initiated.

Family Details:

Mr. Motay Tamsoy is survived by his wife, daughter and son. All assistance, as per company
norms, is being extended to the family.