Health and Safety

Disaster Management Preparedness – Chanderia, HZL

The drill was the first of its kind in Rajasthan and was conducted in the full view of media, external observers and state regulatory bodies. Each scenario was enacted sequentially and the disaster control machinery was put to test in order to control them.

  • First a leakage from the propane tank was announced to the control room. Immediately actions were taken and the situation was under control in less than 10 minutes. The mock drill also included ferrying injured ones to the nearest hospital.
  • This was followed by the announcement of leakage in the chlorine house. The neutralization system was immediately activated and the control room directed medical and fire units to reach the incident point. A water curtain was formed and sprinklers were deployed to dissolve the chlorine gas.
  • Finally in a scenario of SO2 leakage, evacuation plans for affected villages were enacted. Off-site emergency was declared by the State Authorities and all road and railway traffic to and from Chittorgarh was stopped.

The exercise got recognized as one of the best off-site exercise by the National Disaster Management Authority.

HSE Steward System

An innovative HSE Steward System was introduced at Tuticorin on an experimental basis in the year 2004-05 to improve HSE standards. The Tuticorin smelter complex was divided in 28 areas with each area owned by one designated HSE steward responsible for driving the HSE system in totality in his / her area. In addition, 6 HSE representatives from the unit HSE departments worked with these stewards to ensure the effectiveness of the system. The safety stewards were trained to identify unsafe conditions and unsafe acts of people, and in fire fighting and first-aid aspects. The system gained widespread acceptance from employees across the units and resulted in tangible improvements in areas of health, hygiene, housekeeping, safety and environment.
Riding on the success story of HSE stewards system at SIIL operation in Tuticorin, the same was taken forward to BALCO and HZL.

An innovative initiative on Safety Vigilance at Sesa Goa

Safety and precaution are not measures which can be just enforced upon people. Since safety at work starts with people, it needs to be recognized as a behavioral management issue also. At Codli mines of Sesa Goa, we have initiated an innovative safety measure, aimed at improving the attitudes of workers towards safety. The senior staff visits the families of the workers and explains the necessity of precautions to be followed to ensure their safety.

An interesting observation - most incidents and accidents occur during night shifts, as most of us are less vigilant during the night as it is against the human biological clock - led to an innovative idea for safety measure.

An innovative initiative started at the Codli mines was based on this observation. All the night shift workers are provided with wet tissue paper, so that they can use it to mop their face. This helps to infuse freshness in the worker and help eliminate feeling of tiredness, which otherwise could have made him less vigilant.