Although the industry is largely apathetic to the safety issue, India’s leading construction firm L&T is setting an example by providing safe working environment to its workforce. KV Rangaswamy, L&T’s whole time director & president - construction, shares his company’s safety initiatives with Syed Ameen Kader
How much importance do you give to the issue of health and safety of workers?
Safety, quality, timely completion and cost effectiveness are the mantras for our success. We believe that it is our obligation to provide a safe working environment for the employees. It forms a vital aspect of our corporate social responsibility initiatives. We follow industry best practices in safety comparable to any international standards.
What’s your company policy on safety?
We are committed to provide a safe and healthy workplace for all our employees. We ensure that our operations are carried out in a manner that protects the environment and community in general.
We believe that all accidents are preventable and no task is so important that risk of injury to people or damage to the environment could be justified.
Our safety policy asks for promoting a positive culture based on improving HSE (Health, safety & environment) performance. It emphasises on indentifying and eliminating hazards and pollution that could cause accidents or environmental harm. We provide training and resources for employees to maintain the HSE systems. L&T employs contractors who aspire to adopt the same safety standards in their works.
Can you share little bit about your safety history and achievements?
We established a separate department for safety way back in early 1980s, well before any one in the Indian construction industry would have thought off, and well before any legislation was enacted. In 1999, our HSE management functions were certified to ISO 9001 standards.
Now the B&F operating company is certified for OHSAS 18001 (Health & Safety Management System) and ISO 14001 (Environment Management System) too. Several of our sites have achieved prestigious international awards from the Royal Society of Prevention of Accidents-UK, British Safety Council and American Society of Concrete Contractors.
What do you think about India’s approach towards safety in comparison to rest of the world? Where we stand?
As far as organised sector like factories and mines are concerned, India’s approach towards safety is comparable to many forward looking developing countries.
But in the case of construction industry, a lot needs to be done. Even today we don’t have a central agency to collate authenticated data of accidents in construction and the other service sectors. Though the act on construction safety was enacted way back in 1996, only a few states have made the rules for enforcing the act.
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