After drone explosion, IPO-bound ideaForge to issue additional safety guidelines for customers

ideaForge Q6 drone

Mumbai-based drone manufacturing company ideaForge will be issuing additional safety-related standard operating procedures (SOP) to its customers after one of its drones exploded in Chhattisgarh resulting in a few people getting injured, the company said.

On April 27, according to reports, an ideaForge Q6 model drone was used in a land mapping survey (under the Centre's Survey of Village and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMTIVA) scheme) at Kharsia tehsil in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district.

The UAV's battery reportedly exploded, injuring four people who were then taken to the district hospital.

Confirming the incident, the company said in a statement to Moneycontrol, "The details of the incident are being ascertained at this stage. Our manufacturing facility is equipped with high-quality testing equipment and our UAVs undergo stringent quality checks before it is delivered to the customer."

"While we are always cautious and inform all our clients on how to take care of their UAVs, in light of this incident, we will be reiterating and issuing additional SOPs for our customers. We have been in the industry for more than a decade and it’s the first time an incident of this nature has been reported to us and is really unfortunate," the company said.

The Mumbai-based drone manufacturer filed papers for an initial public offering (IPO) with market regulator SEBI in February. ideaForge is backed by Qualcomm, Infosys and Florintree Capital Partners, co-established by former Blackstone executive Mathew Cyriac.

While the statement from IdeaForge touches briefly on how they will address such situations, it does not address Moneycontrol's queries about the details and exact cause of the explosion, as well as how it is coordinating with regulatory bodies and law enforcement agencies to investigate such incidents.

Meanwhile, industry body Drone Federation of India (DFI) said it will be separately developing best practices and SOPs for the entire drone industry.

"As an industry body, we are looking to learn from such incidents to develop best practices and SOPs for the entire industry. We will recommend it to our members and other drone manufacturers to ensure that the level of safety in the drone ecosystem keeps improving," Smit Shah, president of DFI told Moneycontrol.

As part of a drone's quality tests, both the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and its batteries are tested in an operational environment, keeping in mind factors such as temperature and so on. Storage, preparation, operation and after that packaging and storage of the drones are taken up in these tests.

"It is important for a person using such a battery and conducting drone operations to ensure that it is stored in a dry and cool environment under conditions mentioned by the manufacturer. And the manufacturer too, should learn from these incidents and improve their SOPs and educate their customers for creating a holistic safety environment during operations," Shah said.