A poster from the 2010 Zero Harm campaign. This campaign highlighted six hazards that presented the greatest safety
risks in the workplace.
Tata Steel is committed to ensuring zero harm to its employees, contractors and the communities in which it operates. This is integral to the Company’s business process and is laid down in the Company’s health and safety policies, standards and working procedures.
Health and safety is a key performance indicator and one of the prime drivers of the Company’s corporate vision. One of the key goals of the Group is to achieve a Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF) rate target of 0.4, with zero fatalities by 2012.
Each of the Group’s four regional sectors has a well-established and comprehensive health and safety policy with supporting principles, standards and procedures. In January 2011, a health and safety policy was implemented across the Tata Steel Group with clear objectives for process safety, occupational safety and health. As part of the policy, health and safety is reviewed at all Board meetings of the Company. A Health, Safety and Environment Committee, incorporating senior executives and non-executives from the Board has also been established to carry out more detailed reviews.
GROUP-WIDE INITIATIVES IN HEALTH AND SAFETY
India: Safety committees have been established involving employees at all levels. This has contributed significantly to the formulation and upgrading of policies, strategies and standards.
Europe: Tata Steel in Europe has a Health and Safety Management System (HSMS) consisting of a comprehensive array of tools, standards and procedures. This highly structured system is based on industry best practices and was fully implemented in all European operations by the end of 2009.
South East Asia: In Thailand and China, a programme called Safety Excellence Journey was rolled out during the year at the Group’s wire mills, as well as some of Tata Steel’s associated companies. NatSteel embarked on a two-year DuPont-guided safety excellence journey in 2009. Measures taken to date include the continuous active involvement of senior management, safety training, establishment of a safety council and formation of risk containment groups to identify and contain high-risk activities.
MINING The Company constantly strives to improve systems for managing the significant safety risks associated with the extraction of raw materials. The Company has adopted the best mine rescue procedures at all mining units. The Tata Steel Safety Excellence Management and Review Process is used to proactively assess risks and hazards and control them through multi-level safety action plans. The process involves conducting detailed analyses of root causes of unsafe conditions and implementing corrective actions to make the workplace as safe and healthy as possible. Tata Steel also provides comprehensive health care services for employees and their families at its mines and collieries.
PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT AND HIGH-HAZARD FACILITY ASSESSMENT Process safety management relates to the operation and maintenance of installations and equipment to prevent major incidents, such as explosions, fire or the release of toxic gases and molten metal. The Company’s focus, at all times, is to identify the hazards, determine the risks and ensure that effective controls are in place to minimise the potential of a major incident. The Company assesses sites for potential risks and creates and implements effective process safety management controls at each of these sites.
RECOGNITION The World Steel Association recognised Tata Steel for demonstrating excellence in health and safety, particularly in relation to its contract workforce programme. The construction of the new blast furnace at Jamshedpur recorded 35 million accident-free hours. |
