TMMOB Kocaeli İKK: Offers Recommendations on Measures to be Taken Before a Possible Earthquake

TMMOB Kocaeli Provincial Coordination Board Secretary Murat Kürekci made a written statement and made suggestions on the determination of risks and measures to be taken in factories and production facilities before a possible earthquake.

In his statement, Kürekci said, “17 years have passed since the 1999 August 21 Great Marmara Earthquake, which was among the biggest earthquakes in our country and in the world. Necessary and sufficient lessons have not been learned from the painful consequences that still hurt our hearts.

As TMMOB Kocaeli Provincial Coordination Board (İKK), we would like to draw attention to the importance of a few warnings below regarding the relationship between Production and Earthquake.

• First of all, the Labor Law No. 6331 and the relevant secondary legislation should be implemented and adequate audits should be carried out by the relevant public institutions.
• Despite possible earthquake scenarios, potential danger points should be determined, detailed risk assessments should be made and necessary measures should be implemented.
• In different parts of production (manufacturing, office, warehouse etc.), at different times (day, night, working time, resting time, return to work, shift changes etc.) Exercises regarding scenarios involving potential earthquake intensities, in which institutions such as the Fire Department and Disaster Coordination Center participate from time to time, should be applied more frequently and this situation should be audited by the relevant public institutions from time to time.
• Earthquake resistance checks of all buildings, machinery and equipment should be carried out, if necessary, building reinforcement and machinery fixing should be done.
• The earthquake resistance of raw material and product storage areas and shelf systems should be checked. The strength and periodic controls of the shelf systems should be carried out by expert institutions and organizations in line with the relevant standards.
•  Intermediate stocks in the production area should be reduced, and escape and aid routes should be kept open in case of an earthquake.
• In areas where flammable, flammable-explosive products are stored, possible risks after an earthquake should be evaluated, and measures should be taken against explosions and fires.
•  Stock pools should be established against overflow for risky and polluting liquid storage tanks such as acid. Storage tank levels of these fluids are at safety levels (If not specified in the standard, at most 80% occupancy) should not be.
• Information should be provided about the facilities adjacent to the facilities where the suffocating gas is stored and the regional settlements and the risks and actions to be taken in case of a possible disaster. New building use permits should not be granted to the areas where smothering gas is stored such as ammonia, and emergency evacuation plans should be prepared for these areas.
• Sufficient number of personal protective equipment such as emergency escape masks should be kept in facilities where suffocating gas is stored. What to do in case of a possible leak should be explained practically to the staff. Leak detection and automatic shut-off systems should be kept in operation, if the security system is operating with compressed air, the compressors should be automatically fed from the generator in case of possible power failure.
• There should be valves on the main natural gas lines that detect seismic movements and automatically close the natural gas lines and their effectiveness should be checked periodically.
• In order to prevent possible pipeline leakage due to earthquakes, necessary pipe fixings should be made, and the lines should be given flexibility with the use of compensators.
• Measures should be taken for possible power cuts after an earthquake. Generators should be kept running and personnel escape routes should be automatically illuminated. Portable lighting equipment should be kept in working condition.
• Pumps in fire extinguishing systems should be supported with alternative energy sources (such as Generator powered or Diesel fueled pumps) against power failure.
• In port facilities, scaffold cranes should be fixed when they are not working. Emergency disconnection coupling should be used against transfer line hose ruptures at ports where liquid loading and discharging operations are performed.
• After the earthquake, the radios should be kept working for internal communication at the factory site. It should be evaluated in which parts there should be a radio, and it should be ensured that there is a radio in the infirmary, security and dangerous goods storage areas.
• If there is an ambulance belonging to the factory, a shift pattern should be established so that there are at least two ambulance drivers per shift.

The suggestions and demands of Organized Industrial Zones (OIZ) and Small Industrial Site (SIS) should be evaluated, OIZ and SIS managements should be included in earthquake coordination meetings.

Apart from the issues and measures highlighted here, each company needs to make an assessment of its own special situation. However, it is important to expand the measures according to other production facilities and production issues in its vicinity and in its region, and if possible, it is important that the factories located in the same region apply common measures against earthquakes together.