Chirag is thankful to two of his colleagues who helped him during his early days and to his CEHSM. “He has mentored me a lot, taught me how to identify hidden hazards, developed me into a trainer, and gave me the opportunity to prove myself. All my Project Managers have given me a free hand to drive EHS,” he smiles contentedly.

A native of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Chirag is married to Nirali, who works from home as a Senior Bookkeeping Accountant for a UK accounting firm based out of Gurgaon and looks after their son, Nachiket. He unwinds by travelling, trekking, and reading.

Like many of his EHS colleagues, Govind too faces issues related to a high attrition rate among workmen. “Another challenge is to work with NSC and other client-nominated contractors whose EHS standards are low,” he says with a long face. “In fact, workmen and subcontractors sometimes try to violate safety norms and we must always be vigilant.”

What is, however, helping him and other EHS Managers like Govind, is digitalization. “All the required data is available in the system with different kinds of analysis thanks to the digital Safety App,” he says with a note of relief, “and this information is used to make action plans to achieve our targets when compared against status.” Since records are automatically maintained in the system, there is no need to prepare them, that saves time. “The Project Manager, Cluster Manager and the top management can review the data to verify EHS implementation at site,” he informs. “Seniors and our other team members are co-operative for they understand our EHS requirements and come with ideas to make it successful.”

A Mumbaikar, Govind is married to Ashwini, a homemaker, and their little family is complete with their daughter, Manjiri. He loves reading in his spare time.

“Each one of us is a
Safety Champion.”

Certainly, the news about his Government Medical College & Teaching Hospital Project, Jajpur, winning the coveted Sword of Honour must have sounded just as melodious to his ears as the Kishore Kumar songs that Manoj Bhadra loves to listen. A veteran of 13 projects after joining L&T in April 2006, he says, “We must first understand and make Safety a part of our daily life to make others understand its importance which means that safety starts from us only.” His focus at all his sites has been to make the workforce understand the many challenges, educate, and sensitize them to the importance of safety. “We need to motivate them to enhance the EHS culture at site as the majority of our workforce is from non-construction industries, with low literacy levels and speaking different languages,” he points out shrewdly.

“Our EHS culture compares very favourably with that of our competitors which is what has made us India’s Number 1 construction company,” he shares with immense pride. “I love the freedom to make decisions and the encouragement from all levels to implement new initiatives at L&T,” he says with a wide smile, reflected in the company’s adoption of digitalization. “We must adopt all new changes, for today we are living in an era of AI, and digital solutions are helping us to make predictive analysis,” he remarks, mentioning the Safety App dashboard data that helps monitor the site EHS performance and identify pros and cons, and the IB4U App that monitors P&M, equipment, tools and more.

A true EHS veteran, Manoj appreciates the value of teamwork and maintaining a positive mindset to achieve Mission Zero Harm, especially mentioning Project Manager, Subrata Chakraborty, and Cluster EHS Manager, Sujit Saha. “Not only have they encouraged me, but they have also given me complete freedom to implement all initiatives. At L&T, we are one big family, our seniors walk the way with us, and I want to thank them all, including my team members, for their support and guidance,” he shares with great sincerity.

Although born and brought up in Rourkela, Manoj is a native of Jagannathpur, in Odisha’s Kendrapada district. He is married to Ranjita, a homemaker, and they are blessed with two children, 13-year-old Sikha and 7‑year-old Rudransh.
A cricketer of merit, Manoj was in the Odisha U‑19 team for two years. “I was a standby for the Ranji Trophy for 2 years and captained the Ahmedabad Cluster team that was Runners Up in 2007 in L&T’s V B Gadgil Tournament.”

In conclusion, he shares, “Handing over the Knowledge City Project in time and meeting all the Board Members including AMN Sir and SNS Sir is my most memorable moment at L&T.”

EHS success at project sites is undoubtedly the success of teamwork, about precisely identifying right risks in high priority areas and taking real-time action to prevent accidents. Bijay acknowledges the role played by his seniors. “By offering their experience and knowledge, they have guided me, helped me navigate challenges and take informed decisions,” he remarks with gratitude. “My team members too with their specific skills or expertise have contributed to enhance my overall capabilities; their feedback has helped me to improve the quality of my work and contribute to continuous improvement.” He refers to healthy competition among the staff to score more marks in PPMS, that helps to create a more robust safety culture.

Hailing from Odisha, Bijay’s better half is Susmita, a schoolteacher, and they are blessed with two daughters, Tanima and Jashashree. His loves watching the news too when free.

PSN Reddy is an extremely proud man. Proud that he is leading the EHS function so early in his career at the large and prestigious super specialty, multi-disciplinary hospital project at Warangal, the largest and tallest government hospital in nonmetro cities and prouder that his project has achieved 5 million safe manhours with zero LTI, a Five Star rating from BSC and the coveted Sword of Honour. “I am also proud to work in L&T,” he adds with a broad grin, “primarily because of our Company values, based on respect, integrity and accountability, and the way we treat our employees.”

Having started his career journey with L&T in June 2012, PSN Reddy is at his 5^th project having had a stint in between as Cluster EHS Coordinator in Kolkata. About his present project, he elaborates that it is divided into 4 sections to create positive competition between the teams. “The team leaders of each section are empowered and motivated to achieve their EHS goals and combined team leaders’ weekly EHS walkdowns have helped to monitor progress and improve EHS standards to meet the EHS benchmark requirements.” Weekly functional interactions called ‘WIFI’ help to develop a culture of proactive planning and improve interaction between the operational and functional teams, like EHS, finishing & MEP.

High turnover of the workforce is one of PSN Reddy’s worries that makes providing safety training and instilling a safety culture difficult especially given the diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of workers drawn from different parts of India. “Ensuring fall protection in a 24-storey building is a significant challenge which we address by continuously inspecting for unprotected edges, windows, floor openings, and shaft openings with the help of a daily fall protection tracker and maintaining seamless co-ordination between the various departments for effective compliance.”

Being the junior-most In-charge, he sometimes finds it tough to persuade others to adhere to EHS systems and SOPs but is working on it by building credibility and trust. “Even so, my seniors believe in me, and I have proved myself by meeting international EHS benchmarks,” he states with confidence, mentioning his Project Director, V. Venkat Reddy, CPM, A T Lakshmanan, Head – EHS (HRC SBG), P Nagarajan and Cluster EHS Manager, R Rajkumar for their support and encouragement.

Hailing from Konkuduru (Andhra Pradesh), PSN Reddy’s better half is Sudha Rani, a homemaker, a strong pillar of support throughout, and looking after their children, 5‑year-old Jayasri Sanvika and 6‑month-old Mahasri Vinay Karthik. His hobbies are volunteering, community service, sports and using social media to share information and spread awareness.

Receiving his first salary cheque is his most unforgettable moment with L&T but what thrills him more is facing challenges and finding solutions to overcome them.

SUCCEEDING BY ALWAYS
STAYING POSITIVE

He has completed a dozen years with L&T but as Vijay Verma declares, through all the ups and downs, he has always remained positive. “Not a single negative thought has crossed my mind, and I am always proud to wear the L&T logo on my chest,” he says. “I have always found our organization caring of their staff, giving us confidence to work freely without any fear and the management has always supported if the points are raised through the proper channels.”

With this mindset, it is not surprising that Vijay did not have many fears when he faced the BSC Audit at his Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) project at Sonipat, which is his 6th with L&T. “This was my third Five Star Audit and consecutively for the second year after successfully completing it at my previous DP World project in Mumbai where we won the Sword of Honour too,” he says triumphantly. “Although I was confident about this audit, the only issues were that our MSIL project was at a very initial stage and had to deal with 2,000 workers.” Taking these in his stride, Vijay set about planning for the audit and briefing all the stakeholders. “We received very good support from the team,” he says with a thumbs up.

This audit was scheduled in the last week of June, during the monsoon. “We had lots of deep excavations and piling works going on, but I was confident that the team would properly barricade all the pits, including the small ones, as per our SOP requirements. All my EHS team members worked together to achieve this goal, with full commitment.” Vijay is appreciative of his Project Manager, G M Mir, for participating in all the walkdowns, attending review meetings, and motivating the team during the morning meetings. He also acknowledges the support and leadership of CEHSM, Dr Sanjai Srivastava and EHS Head – PAF, Mohd. Moizuddin in winning the Sword of Honour Award.

During the Audit, the Auditor asked for the training and induction details of one of the workmen he had interacted with. “The details were presented to him within a minute as all the data was available in WISA,” smiles Vijay, mentioning that the BSC Auditor praised their presentation and even he took with him a copy of it.

A native of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Vijay is married to Sushila Patel, a homemaker. He shares that during the time of the audit she was pregnant and since he was too busy, had to shift the whole family to his native place. “She supported me a lot and took care of our daughter, Jeeva,” he says with feeling. They are blessed with a son too, Jeevansh.

His first project with L&T after joining the company in 2017 was the prestigious, yet challenging and fasttracked REDLMTRO (MPS6) 132/33 kV Substation Project which Mohamed Bava Shinoz and team completed clocking 995,624 safe manhours, without LTI, implementing international safety measures and meeting the expectations of the client and end-users Dubai RTA (Roads and Transport Authority) & DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority).

“My second was the UMMDAMAN 132/11 kV Substation Project which again we completed on time and safely achieving 934,324 safe manhours,” he says with a proud smile. “In fact, it was for the first time we formed an in-house scaffolding team and executed works safely with proper design, and load calculations.”

Shinoz’s present assignment is the new 132/33 kV DSTA Substation Project in Dubai located inside the Jebel Ali Power Station. “We should be completing 1 million safe manhours without LTI by mid-November 2023,” he states with quiet confidence. “It is another challenging project,” he nods, “but we are overcoming the hurdles by adopting a pro-active approach, observing and forecasting issues according to the work trends, and maintaining proper communication with the execution team about legal and contractual requirements to prepare them in advance,” adding that avoiding a blame culture, teamwork, and strong coordination with all the stakeholders are also helping them to drive the project safely.

While L&T employees are aware of the EHS requirements, Shinoz’s challenge is to make the new sub-contractors and their employees understand and follow systems. “Differences in backgrounds and constant change of people make training difficult,” he moans, “hence we have prepared an EHS code of practice that is included in the subcontractors’ work agreement.” He additionally mentions kick-off meetings with their senior management team before engaging manpower, awareness building and strict monitoring to ensure compliance.

Shinoz attributes a lot of his success to Selvam N, EHS Head UAE. “He is a good mentor, understands, encourages, supports, and guides me. My Project Manager, Mr. Ramakrishnan Selvaraj, has given me full freedom to ensure EHS implementation while our Safety Steward, Mr. Santhosh George, is my biggest support to control site activities.” He is grateful too to his colleagues who help him to rigorously implement EHS at site.

Born and raised in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Shinoz is married to Fathima. “She has a degree in Mathematics and is currently a homemaker, taking care of me and our kids,” he says. Their elder son is Farhan, studying in grade 4 and Shahzad, the younger, in KG. Playing basketball, watching sports on TV and tracking news on the internet is how he keeps himself busy when not busy at site.

After a dozen years with L&T, Sanjeev Kumar is delighted that he has already completed four projects, all of which different in nature, demands and EHS challenges and is now at his 5^th, the KRCL PDS Package for Tunnels T1, T2, T8/9 & T10 for the UPD BU. “One of my most memorable moments was winning the EHS Rolling Trophy for best EHS performance at my first project, the 765/400 kV Substation in Lucknow, and the other was to win the Special Merit Award for EHS Implementation at the KRCL project.”

SOPs are essential for a good EHS management system that protect lives, reduce risk of accidents and injuries with clear and concise instructions on how to safely perform tasks. “Since currently I am executing a tunnel electrification job, I have developed SOPs for tunnelling activities,” he shares, pleased with his contribution. Identifying and tracing a working gang in a 5 km long tunnel is difficult, especially if they need to be rescued in an emergency. “To make things easy, we have introduced a tunnel token system to monitor and record all those who enter and exit the tunnel. It even helps to maintain working distance in the tunnel portal, gang wise,” he informs.

Innovations certainly make work easier, and Sanjeev shares how they have evolved a method to ease the transportation of concrete for columns & wall castings. “Manually, the task was time-consuming and energy-intensive and therefore we introduced a concrete bucket using a pick & carry crane for the task.” He smiles for the ploy helped the team complete column casting with less manpower and in lesser time. Another of their initiatives has been to introduce a rail-mounted trolley for material transport in the tunnel that saves both time and labour.

Executing in a hilly terrain is always challenging and it is no different for Sanjeev and his team. “To construct the GIS building, cutting the hill and excavating a ditch for the retaining wall is one of the most hazardous tasks I have executed,” he says, shaking his head, “which involved many risks like landslides, falling rocks, and more but we completed the task safely due to proper training and very close supervision.”

Sanjeev attributes his success to several of his seniors and colleagues naming a few: Krishna Kumar former Segment EHS Head, N&W, Rajkumar Singh Kushwaha Segment EHS Head, N&W to whom he reported, and Project Manager, Dileep Kumar Verma.

A native of Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur, Bihar, Sanjeev’s better half is Puja Kumari, a homemaker, who loves dancing. They are blessed with two children, son, Shreyan Arya and daughter, Divisha Singh. “Whenever free, I love watching movies, playing with my children, reading, going on outings with my family though cricket is my favourite game,” he grins.

ENJOYING HIS MOMENT IN THE SUN

Hariprasath R

Engineer (Civil) – EHS, PT&D IC

Currently at his eighth solar plant project at L&T, the 35 MW Solar PV with 57 MWh BESS Project in Kutch, Gujarat, Hariprasath R is enjoying his moment in the sun. “Successfully commissioning all my projects without incident has been the highlight of my career,” he begins with a satisfied grin. “I joined L&T on 2^nd September 2017, and over the past 6 years, what has impressed me most about the Company is its dedication to social responsibility and sustainability that makes me proud to be a part of this fantastic organization.”

At the Kutch Project, Hariprasath mentions the introduction of a safety park and a green park as his EHS initiatives. “The safety park recreates real site scenarios, offering workers safety training that turns hands-on exercises into an enjoyable and memorable experience,” he explains. The safety park has safety mannequins, a PPE display board, a ‘safety mirror’, awareness posters on good practices, fire extinguishers, VR devices, and more. “In our green park, every visitor, be it client staff, L&T employee, or workman, plants a tree with their name on their birthday, wedding day, or any other joyful occasion.” Speaking of going green, the project team planted 1,100 saplings as a part of the organization-wide Project GreenHands, playing their part in nurturing a better planet.

“One of the main EHS challenges is making local workers understand the importance of safety and follow our safety guidelines,” Hariprasath moans. “We take steps to imbue behaviour-based safety in their minds to ensure that they work safely.” He expresses his gratitude to his seniors for celebrating his successes: “They have shared their guidance, expertise, motivation, and evoked in me a sense of belonging. Thanks to their support, I have improved my performance and can confidently reach out to them.”

Hariprasath and team have been making full use of digital tools like the EHS mobile app and virtual reality. “It stands to reason to say that the quicker an issue is dealt with, the lesser the chance of injury, which in turn increases the speed of reporting and the pace at which changes are made to avoid near miss incidents,” he comments smartly. “Virtual reality is immensely useful as it creates a new immersive training experience. Using VR, you can simulate dangerous situations and experiences while also immersing trainees in the scenarios, so they feel more connected to the action.”

A native of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, Hariprasath is still a bachelor. He loves to play classical music on his violin. “But I don’t get much time for that these days!” he smiles ruefully as he signs off.