ecchelmet DO IT RIGHT. DO IT SAFELY.
DO IT EVERY DAY.
Dear Colleagues,
It is great to be able to address all of you first up in the new year 2022!
The aspects of Health and Safety have been at the center of our attention, and we will certainly remember 2021 for, on one hand, we had the devastating second COVID wave that affected many, including some very unfortunate fatalities. On the other hand, to assist the national efforts towards mitigation, we were able to put together 40+ oxygen generators, showing organizational agility and resilience to combat any crisis in a mission mode.
On the national front, vaccination numbers picked up substantially after a slower than desired pace. Even as other variants are being added to the list with each passing day, Safety and Health continue to remain our focus – our personal safety, that of our families, and our extended families: colleagues, friends, sub-ordinates, and stakeholders. Obviously, this is affecting all of us psychologically, but we must move on. Man has conquered a lot, and we will most certainly overcome this virus.
A look at 2021 – the year that was
During the year, L&T geared up for the second COVID wave with COVID response teams set up in all regions where the Company has a presence as nodal agencies to implement all pandemic-related responses, including arranging hospital beds for our employees and/or their families, creating quarantine facilities in many of our campuses, and having quick response teams of doctors handy at many project sites and office locations.
For those employees who unfortunately passed away due to the pandemic, all their medical expenditure, free education for children up to graduation, jobs for spouses if required, etc. were all managed thanks to the quick action of the respective HR teams and my colleagues in the ECom.
Throughout the year, at the management level, we focused on vaccination of all our employees. More than 90% of our employees are vaccinated with both doses now, which is an encouraging record. Even amongst workmen, 70% have been given their first dose and 40% have taken both doses, although this activity needs to be speeded up.
Safety protocols and precautions were put in place at all sites / offices, and by ensuring full adherence to them, we have continued to be operational and productive while remaining safe.
Health, Safety & Environment (HSE)
Safety is multi-dimensional and incorporates aspects of Health & Environment in it. Safety of individuals working for the organization is of utmost importance, because organizations have:
- Contractual & moral obligations
- Push from investors & the community – for example, agencies like Dow Jones, whose Sustainability Index has environmental and social dimensions with weightages that will soon be adopted in India, in the Middle East and even in Africa.
There are 5 common underlying causes for incidents that we, as an organization, should focus on:
- Inadequate training/compliance: this needs to be tracked at an organizational level. Non-compliance to safe working is one of the reasons for some of the safety incidents we have seen during the year.
- Improper decision making, lack of judgement
- Inadequate standardization of work/procedures: procedures are in place at all sites, but these should not become cumbersome, rendering the process unbearable to follow. Very often, safety incidents are attributed to improper SOPs, and that is unacceptable.
- Poor supervision: this can only change if proper supervision is inculcated in our safety culture.
- Empowerment: this is another deep-rooted aspect to intervene in unsafe acts and decisions. It must be mandated that everyone, right down to the workmen, is empowered to raise a flag if they see any unsafe act or situation.
Demand for a safe workplace should also be bottom-up
Safety will not take root if it is only top driven; it must be bottom-up too, with the widespread realization that everyone needs to get home safe every single day. Please demand that the systems and procedures that are being followed are safe, and do comply with them. All HSE & responsible personnel should drive this message to all our workmen, including those of our sub-contractors as well. However, for things to change, everyone needs to feel that we are a company with a difference, and create a culture that is different which should also be imbibed into new people joining the organization from Day One.
Some observations from my various site visits
- The need to standardize the appearance of an L&T workman: there is a need to benchmark and standardize the PPE our workmen wear – the color of the helmets, the florescent jackets, the goggles, the type of footwear, etc. Ideally, it must be possible to identify an L&T workman from afar. This must be taken up at an organizational level.
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At overseas fabrication & manufacturing facilities: like in Saudi Arabia and other geographies, workmen should wear proper gear, gloves, helmets, safety glasses, uniforms, etc. It will help to keep them safe as well as set a benchmark and communicate our standards amongst our clients.
There is a perception that Safety is a boring topic, but that must change. Safety must be made more glamourous and serious. This is a change that we must bring about in our ethos. As Chairman of the National Safety Council, I am trying to popularize these thoughts, but it is important that they take root within our organization too.
Project sites are presently struggling due to labour churn, lack of adequate training & skill availability and workmen who follow best practices. These problems are even more severe in these days of COVID. To combat this churn, is it possible to create a core set of workmen who can form a nucleus at each IC, at least in some of the key trades? While it is not possible to make them permanent, they could be persuaded to stay longer and thereby offset the disruptions due to the churn.
Data, the new oil
There is a lot of data being generated from the RFID-connected workmen in hazardous or geographically critical areas. While this data is good, there is need to get more such data, analyze it, do root cause analyses, and thereby be better equipped to handle safety situations at site. There is also a refreshing increase in the use of AR & VR tools. PT&D and B&F ICs have done a lot of work in this area, and the other ICs should follow suit. It is also important to learn from safety incidents: bucket them according to the causes, understand the acts or conditions that triggered them and then draw up SOPs to prevent recurrence.
Human response to any situation is most important. It is not only in an emergency, but every safety situation at site must be addressed like an emergency situation, which is possible only if there is clarity of roles and responsibilities. There should be no personal indifference or apathy towards safety or the feeling that ‘nothing can happen to me’.
Finally, create an attitude of safety, not just procedures. Watch your back and those of your colleagues and co-workers too. Do it right. Do it safely. Do it every time.
As you all are aware, we are going through some tough conditions at our project sites, but it is important to have a positive attitude, be positive and see how we can push the boundaries to improve ourselves as an organization.
All the best!
In conclusion, a few forwardlooking thoughts:
- Recruit people with the right safety knowledge
- Cross-functional transformation of ideas to be emphasized
- Safety interactions across sites / ICs
- Proper induction and training, usage of PPE, keeping workplaces tidy – that should be imbibed into employees & workmen from Day One
- Not to put yourself or your coworkers at risk – ensure proper rest and recuperation
- To avoid working in unsafe areas
- No tampering with equipment
- Ask for help – not everyone can do everything
These are excerpts from SNS’s safety address at the Safety Month inauguration event held on January 3rd, 2022.