“این عکس یک پسر کوچک در حال بازی با گربه است.”

This picture shows a little boy playing with a cat.
Samuel Bakhtiari

Short and rapid news spread: Shahram Mohammadi, a young worker at Maroon Mahshahr Petrochemical Company, rushed to the site of a dangerous gas leak to save the lives of hundreds of his colleagues. He tried to close the valve to prevent the explosion, but unfortunately, he suffered severe burns and passed away after a week. This worker from Maroon Petrochemical Complex, who had suffered over 50% burns, passed away at Shahid Chamran Hospital in Tehran due to vital organ failure.

Shahram Mohammadi, on the ninth of Tir this year, at the moment when the Lion Square opened its single lane line, due to the closure of the lion’s boundary to the point of obstruction, which contained trapped gas, at the moment of release due to the heat and some environmental factors, this gas became ignited and suffered severe burns.

During this fire, partial equipment of the factory including electrical cables, precision tools, and a crane were also caught in the fire. When the release of hexane gas trapped the heavy polyethylene unit of Maroon Petrochemicals, not only did it endanger the lives of hundreds of workers, but it only needed a small spark to cause a devastating explosion and claim the lives of hundreds of people.

Death had trapped the workers. Shahram Mohammadi was far from the scene, but the screams of his colleagues pulled him towards it. In a moment, he put his 13 years of experience to work and rushed himself to the main valve of the hexane gas release and struggled to shut it off.

The workers had escaped. Now it was Shahram Mohammadi’s turn to escape from the refinery, but suddenly an explosion occurred and threw him into a corner. The workers transferred him to the oil hospital, but the severity of his injuries caused him to be transferred to the burn unit at Shahid Chamran Hospital in Tehran. His vital organs were severely burned. More than 50% of his lungs and chest were burned. Shahram Mohammadi, one of the three thousand workers at Maroun Mahshahr Petrochemical Complex, lost his life after 10 days.

“Now that days have passed since this incident. The images of Shahram Mahdavi have been shared on social networks and his sacrifice has elevated the pride of his hometown, Izeh. His family, on one hand, bears the pain of losing him, and on the other hand, the meaningful gaze of the families of hundreds of workers who were saved by his sacrifice fills them with joy.”

On the other hand, a group of journalists in the oil industry are also trying to create a media campaign to provide financial support for Shahram Mahdavi’s family and change the name of Maroon Petrochemical Company to his name. Their efforts on Twitter have received a high response, but it seems that this sacrifice remains hidden from the eyes of Maroon Petrochemical Company officials. They refrain from responding to the details of this incident in a way that the managers of this company decided four days after the incident to talk to the media.

On July 4th, Esfandiar Salahipour, the public relations manager of Maroon Petrochemical Company, spoke to the media about the incident, saying: “The cause of the incident in the polyethylene unit of this complex was the ignition of hexane gas, which was trapped inside a pipeline. Hexane gas is flammable and explosive, and the pipeline was blocked due to chemical compounds. During the blockage, the valves before and after the route are closed by the responsible officials, and the area where the connection is made is opened and the blockage is removed.”

According to Salahiatpour, the moment the milk worker opened the valve, the space between the closed valve and the blockage point contained trapped gas which ignited due to the heat of the air at the moment of release. After this incident, efforts were made to prevent the fire from spreading, during which one of the workers suffered 50% burns.

The words of the public relations manager of Maroun Petrochemicals come at a time when the severity of Shahram Mohammadi’s physical condition, while hospitalized, was not hidden from anyone. However, none of the officials of this petrochemical company made any effort to publicize this incident and determine its main cause.

While the officials of Maroun Petrochemical see this explosion as a minor incident with limited damages, eyewitnesses have focused their attention on the sacrifice of Shahram Mohammadi.

One of them speaks of peace: “In petrochemicals, such incidents can always happen. The safety protocol is to close the gas valves and evacuate the area. Sometimes the washers of these pipes get damaged, which is an immediate problem and cannot be predicted. If an explosion does occur, it can also cause other pipes and tanks to explode. The gas released into the air after the explosion creates a state as if the air is on fire.”

He describes the day of the incident as follows: “As soon as the warning signs appeared, everyone fled. Shahram was screaming at his colleagues to run away, but he himself went to the main valve and turned it off. Suddenly, the leaking valve exploded and fire engulfed his hands and body, burning him.”

Aside from the topic of self-sacrifice of this hardworking laborer, the disregard for safety regulations in Iranian work environments is concerning. Almost every day, news of Iranian workers losing their lives and suffering severe physical injuries and disabilities is reported.

However, what is worth considering is the occurrence of this incident in the overall context of Iran’s oil and gas industries, which is a vast and lengthy complex. In addition to the IPS standard, other standards are also used in Iran’s oil industry. The purpose of implementing these standards is to improve work quality and, of course, increase safety in the workplace. But are these standards truly being followed? According to some activists in the oil and gas field, the use of these standards is more for show and they are not given any real value. Especially in recent years, with the increase in organized corruption in regulatory bodies and the influence of mafia-like networks, paying attention to standards seems ridiculous. Many private contractors, who have entered the field with extensive connections, also bypass these standards using their connections. This profit-driven behavior not only endangers the lives of workers, but also distorts the concept of work. Furthermore, most contractors have resorted to using new technologies to reduce their implementation costs.

The absence of labor unions in the Iranian Oil and Gas Industries has also seriously affected the primary rights of workers in this complex. Unfortunately, in our country, especially in lower industries such as oil and gas or automotive, despite the intensification of privatization and deregulation policies, workers are deprived of even the most basic right to organize. In fact, workers whose trade unions have a history of more than 50 years and their strikes and protests during the struggle to nationalize the oil company have been a valuable part of our contemporary history, are now without their own unions.

In colloquial language, work is defined as what a person does as a job to have an income; but more precisely, work is the use of one’s body and mind to do or create something as long as it does not involve rest or play. It is natural for humans to strive for achieving better, more and higher quality results in their work. When the human mind and body are used properly and correctly, the result of the work will be better, more and more desirable. If the equipment and tools used by humans to speed up the work and make it possible to do great things are well maintained and always ready to provide services, the result of the work will be sustained for long periods of time and its increase will be possible. Attention to the selection and quality of materials and supplies used in the work, as well as the quality of self-work and the resulting product, increases the demand and acceptability of the product. For this reason, today various issues and topics such as labor

But one joke worth mentioning is that when a person deviates from the correct way of doing things by a very small amount (which in many cases is unintentional and sometimes due to compulsory reasons), it can lead to a significant damage to the outcome of their work. Or when there is not enough attention paid to the selection and quality of raw materials (which can be due to economic, geographical, political reasons, etc.), it results in a decrease in the quality of the product and the outcome of the work. In cases where tools and equipment are not properly maintained and used, they may break, wear out, or become obsolete prematurely, causing damage to human goals. All of these events lead to a decrease in the quality of the product and the outcome of the work, and a decrease in it compared to the effort put into it from the very beginning of human work. This is why another important issue that has received attention is work safety.

The most successful organizations have shown that work environments designed based on proper principles of ergonomics, safety, and occupational health have the highest sustainability in terms of production and efficiency. In general, achieving a healthy economy, high quality production and service delivery, and long-term efficiency in cases where the workforce is exposed to safety and health hazards, will be challenging. The first principle of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro-1992) states that human-centered development is essential and includes having a productive and healthy life in harmony with the environment. Sustainable development is defined as a strategy for “meeting the needs of current generations without causing negative impacts on health and the environment, and without depleting global resources or threatening future generations’ ability to meet their own needs.”

From a occupational health perspective, the mentioned principles mean meeting material needs through work and production without posing any risks to human health, the ecosystem, and other resources, as well as promoting community health, both in the short and long term. Occupational health is considered an essential dimension of the socio-environmental principles of sustainable development.

Occupational health can serve as the center and core of sustainable development. Preventing occupational accidents, injuries and illnesses, protecting workers against mental and physical pressures by proper use of resources, as well as minimizing human and financial damages and defining safety and environmental health goals for the safe use of technology with less energy consumption, less distribution of toxic substances, and less production of excess materials (green technology). In many countries, occupational health regulations have made it mandatory to use the best technical production methods.

Therefore, the issue of ensuring the health of the workforce, in addition to its individual aspect and its role in productivity and economic growth, is also very important socially. By creating a healthy and sanitary work environment and ensuring the preservation and promotion of the health of the workforce, who often play the role of head of the household (the smallest unit of society), attention to this matter has a significant impact on social health and achieving social welfare. It is necessary for policymakers and officials, especially those involved in the health sector, to pay more attention to this issue and involve all influential factors in this sector, and for it to be pursued by officials and planners.