ecchelmet Safety Month inaugural held at Manapakkam HQ
“We should constantly look for innovative technologies and solutions and adapt to the changes in the EHS ecosystem to excel and deliver our projects without compromising on EHS,” Whole-Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Buildings), M V Satish (MVS), exhorted the 2,000+ employees of L&T Construction, including senior leadership, who had gathered at the Manapakkam HQ to celebrate the inauguration of the ‘Safety Month’ on the first working day of the New Year, in his welcome address, after Anila Manoharan, Head – Dams & Bridges, L&T GeoStructure, had led the safety pledge.
Against the backdrop of the EHS theme for the year ‘Innovate. Adapt. Excel.’, MVS agreed that there was a decreasing trend in the number of accidents though there was still a lot more to be done to achieve Mission Zero Harm, highlighting the prestigious EHS awards won by L&T Construction projects in 2023 including 11 Swords of Honour from the British Safety Council and 50 RoSPA Awards, out of which 35 were Golds. “As part of a campaign to reinforce safe behaviour, B&F IC has released a video series on top risk activities for the benefit of workmen, in Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, and English,” he shared. Noting another positive trend, he mentioned that the Safety Innovation School was being increasingly utilized and urged the other ICs to benefit from its facilities.
Taking the podium next, S V Desai (SVD), Whole-Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Civil Infrastructure), pointed out that it was crucial to capture at-risk behaviours & potential close calls proactively and act upon them to minimize the probability of accidents. “Always ensure that the workplace is safe from any hazards and, only then, allow workmen to commence their work,” he advised. “With more than 3 lakh workmen being deployed in L&T Construction projects, their retention is key to improve EHS performance at an organizational level and we should focus on improving their well-being and thereby their quality of life.”
Apart from being a tech-savvy Company, it was important to be a ‘safety-savvy’ one too to improve EHS performance, stated T Madhava Das, Whole-Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President (Utilities). “We must focus more on enhancing the safety culture,” he stressed. “A huge amount of data is being generated from our digital apps; imbibing this year’s theme of ‘Innovate. Adapt. Excel.’ we should strive for analytics to help us take decisions that will improve our Safety compliance.”
In his first address as IC Head, E P Sajit, Senior Vice President & Head – WET IC, shared that the digital journey of Safety had accrued several benefits. “We must proactively monitor compliance and use data to implement a ‘carrot & stick’ strategy,” he said. “If an accident takes place, we must observe the area meticulously and develop SOPs to mitigate the risks. A proactive approach towards EHS is a sure-shot way to minimize accidents.”
The Safety Month events & activities planned at HQ and project sites including EHS leadership training programmes, behaviour-based safety, EHS quizzes, and tree plantation drives were shared by Sudheesh Kumar, Head – EHS, WET IC, followed by a Vote of Thanks from T Prabhakar, Head – EHS, PT&D IC, bringing a short and focused programme to a close that was ably compèred by Swathi Neelakantan, Assistant Manager – HR, Divisional Corporate.