Thai government enforces strict safety standards for factories nationwide

BANGKOK, May 9 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered all concerned agencies to implement strict measures to ensure safety standards at industrial factories nationwide. Thai Deputy Public Health Minister Doctor Surawit Khonsomboon said that Premier Yingluck made the instruction to the relevant agencies, including the Ministries of Industry, Natural Resources and Environment and Public Health, as well as the Ministry of Interior's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, at the Cabinet's weekly meeting on Tuesday. Doctor Surawit acknowledged that the relevant agencies have been ordered to report progress on the issue to Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, covering updated information on the amount of harmful chemicals possessed by all the industrial factories and their response plans in case of an emergency. Doctor Surawit revealed that the prime minister has only assigned the governor of Rayong Province to report developments of last Saturday’s blasts and fires at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in the eastern Thai province in order to minimize public confusions. According to the deputy public health minister, a government team dispatched to the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate has confirmed that water and air quality at the major eastern Thai industrial site and its vicinity remain safe, following last Saturday's incidents, which killed about nine people and injured some 120 others. (TNA)