Only essential units operational in BSP
   Date :28-Mar-2020

BSP_1  H x W: 0
 
 
SAIL has already taken various preventive measures across all its plants and units in its fight against spread of COVID-19. BSP’s Officer Association and trade union office bearers appealed management to cut on manpower further for restricting movement and gathering at a place.
Keeping vital plants and equipment like coke oven batteries, blast furnaces in running condition is essential for large integrated steel plants. Taking swift action, the Management of SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) had already rationalised staff presence as part of its efforts to curtail 50 per cent manpower in all support service functions and continuing steel-making operations. With these measures, about 5,000 employees of the total manpower have been restricted from entering their place of work.
Blast Furnace No 6 had been taken for capital repair on Thursday. The process of keeping Blast Furnace No 7 in hot reserve has begun on Friday. The Plant will presently maintain minimum required hot metal production with only two blast furnaces -- No 1 and No 8 in operation. In coke oven area, five coke oven batteries will only be operational while two batteries will be kept in hot conservation.
The two steel melting shops with continuous casting process, SMS-2 and SMS-3 and the two sinter producing units, SP-2 and SP-3 will remain in operation, with emergency plant manning. The two rail mills, Rail and Structural Mill and Universal Rail Mill will operate in A and B shifts while Bar and Rod Mill will operate in General Shift only. The Blooming and Billet Mill, SMS-1 and finishing Mills viz Merchant Mill, Wire Rod Mill and Plate
Mill shall also be put down in a phased manner. Since all the canteens have now been closed, the management has also taken a decision to change the shift timings as 7 am to 3 pmfor A Shift; 3 pm to 11 pm for B Shift and 11 pm to 7 am for C shift so as to enable employees to bring their food through their own resources. G Shift employees will be distributed in A and B shifts to the extent possible. The women employees are being asked to work from home, except for those in essential services. Contractual labour will be regulated according to the operational plan. N K Banchhor, Chairman, SEFI welcomed the decision and appealed SAIL management to further cut on manpower considering increasing spread of pandemic COVID-19. S P Dey, General Secretary, CITU, Bhilai opined that in fight against COVID-19 management ought restrict movements of employees and their gathering at a place.
Meanwhile, the BSP management distributed 1,200 litres of sanitiser and 6,000 masks among employees, 2,000 gamchhas (small towels) and 2,000 soaps have been given to different shops for distribution among contractual workers and additional procurement is being done. Besides extensive fogging operations are being carried out in township area and pamphlets were distributed with message on Dos and Donts regarding COVID 19 virus. Management has been sanitising pulpits, cranes, control rooms, office areas of different departments. Daily sanitisation will be ensured in operational units.
The management has already asked employees for selfdeclaration of any travel abroad or inter-state travel on or
after March 24 by them or family members. In another step,to facilitate leave application for non-executives and to avoid physical movement of leave books, the management has issued a format for Email communication regarding entry of Leave in Time office module.