"There's life where there's protection…" That's
the key message of the Essar 'Safety Anthem', an easily hummable rendering
of an organizational maxim, allowing for common recall.
It's not surprising then, that Essar companies across the board have excellent safety records.
Essar Bulk Terminal at Hazira has had almost 700 injury-free days to date; Essar Projects reported 365 injury-free days at its Jurong Aromatics Complex in Singapore (i.e., from the time it was launched); Essar Steel (Visakhapatnam plant) recorded 13.37 million work hours without any reportable accident; and Essar Oilfield Services has achieved 365 days with zero lost-time incident (LTI), while Essar Heavy Engineering Services (EHES) achieved 14 million LTI-free work hours (as on April 13, 2012).
Hazardous situations
Such records are all the more remarkable as they measure successes in operational
safety in some of the most hazardous industries — oil exploration, steel
manufacture, handling of dangerous chemicals and petroleum and petroleum products.
These projects also involve vast operational areas and huge plants; the Jurong
Aromatics project, for example, includes storage facilities (a total of 30 fuel
oil tanks, each 31 meters in diameter and 16.45 meters in height), jetties and
interconnecting pipeline between jetty, plant and rock cavern, and other ancillary
facilities.
| Safety at Essar Projects |
Considering the commitment of the company towards safety, a slew of initiatives have been taken up without any constraint of budget or resources.
| Safety at Essar Power |
Essar Power believes that a healthy workforce with confidence about its safety delivers its best. Hence the company aims to ensure safety for all, all the time by developing and implementing world-class safety systems through active involvement and participation of line management. Essar Power aims to keep safety at the core of every business decision.
| Safety at Essar Shipping |
ESL aspires to be in that segment of companies with sound HSE philosophy, procedures and practices.
| Safety at Vadinar Oil Terminal (Essar Ports) |
VOTL handles crude oil at SPM and evacuates a large chunk of refinery finished product from the berths. Since VOTL is critical to the Vadinar Refinery supply Chain, it assumes a great importance to manage, operate and maintain facility in a safe manner. Towards this end, significant investments have been made in:
Training to be safe
The 'Safety Anthem' is not just a musical token to safe operational
practices at Essar. Safety is one of the key concerns at every operational,
administrative and project site for Essar. All new recruits have to undergo
rigorous training in safety measures, while specialized training in health safety
and environment (HSE) specifications are imparted as per need. All workers engaged
in critical jobs — staff and contract employees — have to undergo
further training in specific HSE measures for competency assessment and certification.
Creative training sessions have been organized, such as the 'Tool Box Talks' at Essar Heavy Engineering Services, where HSE team leader JC Patel devised an imaginative way to impart training on how best — and most safely — to use, store and maintain tools; till mid-April 2012, close to 3.6 lakh personnel had benefited from this specific safety training.
Safety management systems
Essar companies ensure that contractor safety management systems are in
place. And all contract workers undergo the same training in safety systems
as do regular staff. Regular health check-ups are also conducted periodically
for all employees and contractor workmen engaged in crucial sites. As Essar
Projects CEO (Pipelines & Terminals) Amit Gupta commented, "No matter
what job you pick, safety is one of the primary expectations that we seek while
we are at work. Workplace safety is the utmost responsibility of the management."
All Essar companies offer incentives to workers to observe safety practices by giving awards such as 'Best Safety Personnel'. This culture of 'safety first' has evidenced results across the company, even in newly acquired plants. Expectedly, after Essar Steel acquired its Pune plant from Shree Precoated Steel in 2009, there has been an 85 per cent reduction in overall accidents. One of the first actions Essar Steel undertook at the plant was to establish a permanent HSE Training Centre within the plant complex. Almost simultaneously, it set up a fire control room and emergency medical services.
Essar Steel's Hazira plant has issued 'Safety Mandates' for all operations, covering safety measures to be observed in various situations: while working at specific heights; electrical work; working in a confined space / vessel entry; driving / road safety; working on roofs; excavation jobs; lifting operations; portable hand tools; movement of heavy equipment; permit to work; and while handling gas. The plant has also established safety standards and appointed 'Safety Marshals' to ensure that these practices are being followed diligently. As one safety auditor at the plant emphasized, "Safety has been described as a cheap and effective insurance policy."
Beyond plant gates
Some Essar companies also take their commitment to safety to the community beyond
the plant or project gates, educating people about safety measures in the home,
fire and other hazards. The Essar Steel Pune plant imparts safety training to
schoolchildren and villagers in the vicinity of the complex. The Health, Safety,
Environment and Fire (HSEF) team at the Essar Vadinar refinery, together with
the Essar Foundation, organized traffic and fire safety programmes at the primary
schools of Vadinar and Zakhar villages. The initiative by the HSEF department
was part of the Gujarat government's Traffic Safety Awareness Month.
Awards
It is not for nothing that Essar companies have been repeatedly recognized
for their initiatives in safety — from the ICC Award for Excellence in
Management of Health, Safety & Environment to the Greentech Foundation's
Gold Safety Award. Essar Power has won the Safety Award from the British Safety
Council several times. Essar Shipping has been conferred the prestigious international
AMVER (Automated Mutual Assistance Vehicle Rescue System, which promotes safety
at sea) award. And, recently, Essar Steel's Hazira plant won four awards
at the ISPAT Suraksha Puraskar 2012 event.
But the bottom-line is not about awards; it is about saving lives – because rigorous adherence to safety practices can often make the difference between life and death.
