Monitoring Safety Performance

We are committed to provide safe working conditions and have effective management systems in place to ensure the well-being of all our employees and others who may be affected by our operations. We are committed to be a business without fatalities, serious injuries or occupational illness; and firmly believe that every unsafe incident is preventable. “Zero Harm to people” is our paramount health and safety goal. Our key Focused Work streams are:

Our Organisation is certified to the international health and safety standard, ISO 45001. We measure our safety performance by tracking the number of injuries per million hours worked. This is known as ‘lost time injury frequency rate’ or LTIFR. We are now working towards achieving Zero LTIFR 

Building Positive Safety Culture

Safety is the value and philosophy around which we do our business. Our Safety initiative. We are currently engrossed in redesigning our’ Safety Culture’ to ensure’ Safe Life’ for all. As we progress towards creating incident free workplace, we have taken the pledge to enthuse this philosophy into the lives of our employees. With this we are aiming towards making our Company the safest place to work.

The safety improvements over the past few years have been achieved by concentrating on improving our safety systems and continuing to build and strengthen our ‘safety culture’ through participation of employees and contractors in safety meetings and encouraging employees to intervene if they see an unsafe act/unsafe condition, near miss reporting. To strengthen the safety system number of such leadership and awareness programmes are conducted at our site. These initiatives have promoted safe behaviour among all employees including contract employees and reduced risks at our operations. 

Life Saving Rules 

We launched the ‘Life Saving Rules’ (Cardinal Rules) for promoting ‘Zero Harm’ culture. All our employees, contractors and contract workforce are expected to adhere to the Cardinal Rules with zero tolerance. Any non-compliance would lead to detailed investigation and it result in disciplinary action. 

Zone Owner Concept 

A new approach was taken to embed a safe working environment and practices at our work places to reduce safety incidents and near misses. We introduced Zone Owner concept wherein entire Plant was divided into different zones with a Zone owner and Zone observers for every zone. Both Zone Owners and Zone Observers were made accountable for carrying out inspections, safe execution of activities including Permit to work, implementation of Corrective and Preventive actions.    

The zone owner system has helped in better control and effective supervision on all hazardous work activities and improves employee participation in various safety activities.  

Contractor Safety Management 

Besides our own employees, our operations also rely on contractors to provide additional labour and for specialised skills and services. We expect the same standards and procedures from contractors as we do from our employees. They are included in our safety performance data and we make no distinctions with regard to their safety. 

We are standardising contractor management to foster contractor awareness, involvement and improvement. We are committed to ensuring that our contractors receive the same level of health and safety training as our own employees. It is mandatory for all to undergo safety induction training before a contractor can gain entry to a plant.  

Safety Ambassadors Concept 

True Cultural transformation will take place only when Front line persons ie workers also actively participate. With this thinking mind and extending it to safety, individuals working with our Contractors were taken in and placed within Zones owner concept. The Workers named as safety Ambassadors were trained in carrying out Site and Equipment inspections and are the strong arms in reinforcing Safety at workplace. 

Safety Trainings 

The safety culture is a suite of training courses, tailored to the needs of employees ranging from new recruits to senior managers and addressing personal safety, systematic failures and risk management. 

Our management standards emphasis the training of both employees and contractors based on role, risk and responsibilities. Training initiatives covers Managing Operational Safety, Boiler Safety, process safety, emergency preparedness, use of self-contained breathing apparatus, emergency management, emergency kit handling, fire safety and prevention, firefighting, general safety, material handling, first-aid training. Regular training is carried out during the year to raise awareness and encourage safe behaviour in all work-related activities  

Safety Learning Series  

Safety is about doing things “the right way”. Keeping this in mind we planned a learning series which has various safety themes based on day to day activities having inherent hazards performed by our workforce. The intent of this fortnightly initiative is to sensitise safety by revisiting the basics thereby reinforcing Workplace Safety. 

Safety Promotional Activities 

Various promotional activities are being organised to provide a platform for everyone to show case their passion towards safety and helps in enhancing skills and knowledge for transforming safety towards excellence. 

Safety Gatherings 

As an important step towards showcasing Visible Management Commitment and creating awareness among the workers on monthly safety Performance Monthly Safety Gatherings have been launched. This platform is also used for Proving recognition to the persons for their outstanding contribution towards safety. 

Healthy Work Environment

In our pursuit to have an ambient work environment, we emphasise on: 

• Source Control of Pollution: Fugitive emission control is one of our priorities and we have made improvements in our processes to make the environment conducive for workers. Special measures taken include, installing bag filters at emission sources; providing covering facility for the conveyor belts; installing water sprinkling systems at Coal handling and storage areas, carrying out periodic maintenance services for arresting leakage of dust and fumes etc. 
• Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs): We Provide all our employees and contractors, with good quality PPEs and ensure that they are not negligent in using them. 
• Workplace Hygiene:  Potable Water, Sanitation, Housekeeping and Hygiene are the focus areas at NPL.   

• Monitoring Exposure to Hazardous Substances: We have invested in technologically advanced processes that reduce possible exposure levels, including pollution control equipment, effluent treatment, sewage treatment, and the proper storage of hazardous chemicals. 
• Lifestyle Management: Despite having utmost faith in measures that we have carried out, we believe there is need to disseminate the right knowledge for good health. In keeping with that, we’ve started training employees and their families on stress management, Yoga, hypertension, ergonomics etc.  

Occupational Health Management

We aim to eliminate occupational illness by providing a workplace that is free from occupational health risk and hygiene hazard. We proactively work with employees and contract employee to contribute towards healthier lifestyles. This enables us to increase productivity, reduce absenteeism and enhance retention.  

Operations free from health risks have the potential to improve productivity. Knowing this, we have processes in place to manage and monitor health risks of employees.  

Health Services 

Health services commence with a pre-employment medical check-up followed by periodical medical Check-ups and other on-site tests to keep track of the occupational exposure limits of the employees. Specific examinations like Spirometry, Chest x-rays, Audiometry, Eye tests and blood profiling are the usual health parameters recorded for our employees as well as contractual employees.