Are Safety Officers in India Truly Valued, or Is It Just a Management Facade?

Hi friends, happy to be part of the CITEHR community. This is my question for all the safety officers in India. Are you really satisfied with your profile? Do you all really think that the companies in India give importance to the HSE system, or is it a management trick to save them from the government and other social organizations?

Dear Vineeth, Warm welcome to CiteHR. Nice to see you here. Hope you will be actively participating in the forum discussions. Now let me try to give my comments on your query:

Satisfaction with Job Profile

Are you really satisfied with your profile? Yes, no doubt, because I have a good platform for working where the management gives first priority to safety. Over the last one and a half years, I have had the opportunity to work in association with M/s. DuPont.

Importance of HSE Systems in Indian Companies

Do you all really think that companies in India give importance to the HSE system, or is it a management trick to save them from the government and other social organizations? In 80% of the companies, safety is just for the name's sake or to satisfy the minimum statutory requirement. In such a situation, what you said is exactly correct.

However, openness and seriousness towards safety are yet to come in Indian industries. Let's hope for the best and do our best to make it better.

Keep in touch and keep participating in the CiteHR forum.

Thank you.

Though for some time I had no posts, quite often I was watching through the interesting discussions. I am sorry to say that of late, we lack professionalism, and quite often unrelated issues are also being brought into this useful forum. All of a sudden, I felt like involving in this particular post on safety management.

Am I not seeing some kind of frustration with the safety officer friend? I realize and with my experience, I can very well say that most of the safety people are somehow frustrated because they are not able to achieve what they dream of ideal safety management. Quite often they are put through conflicting situations. They are unable to take safety through to the top management's priority. It somehow doesn't work - but why?

I feel I am a good teacher for safety. Because of that, I do not want to give a straight answer to the post from Mr. Vineeth Krishna but want him convinced and not to get frustrated with the present situation he faces.

Today's Safety Officer

First, I have a presentation here on Today's Safety Officer. In time, I will also have another one on the History of Industrial Safety. Let us see where we can reach with the issue at hand.

Regards,
Kesava Pillai

Dear Vineeth, First of all, welcome to the family. This is not only a CITEHR community but also a CITEHR family because we discuss, we fight, and we learn here. Are you really satisfied with your profile? The answer to this question is a big YES. Look, I am a security officer but also playing the role of a safety steward. I find this field very interesting. There are lots of things to learn, and there is a lot of space for innovations too. I am actually enjoying this job more.

Importance of HSE Systems in Indian Companies

Do you all really think that the companies in India give importance to the HSE system, or is it a management trick to save them from the government and other social organizations? Again, my answer is yes. Whatever Dipil said is also fine, but my views are a bit different because:

• Companies are forced by law to ensure the proper safety of their employees.
• No company wants its image to be maligned because of frequent accidents due to unsafe acts, conditions, etc.
• No company wants to get involved in needless legal obligations.
• Yes, there are small industries that are not serious about safety, but big companies are taking it seriously.
• Somewhere, I do agree with DIPIL too that "seriousness towards safety is yet to come in Indian industries" because we are comparatively less serious than other countries.

Anyways, "Together Everyone Achieves More." Let's work together to achieve that level. Someday we will surely LEAD in this field too.

Regards,
Inderjeet Singh "Born to lead."

First of all, I welcome you on behalf of all our members in the forum. Never think about your profile or work culture in your company. Think only about one thing in your work: that you are providing a service to the workers in society who are underprivileged. There are so many organizations and people working for the rich to make them richer. However, we have chosen to serve the bottom level of the lower-class people in our society. That's why we have opted to work in the Safety, Environment, Health Department, and Industrial Relations Department.

When going to sleep at night, you can feel that with your advice and guidance today, you have saved someone from an accident/incident. That means you have saved someone's life and, in turn, their family's livelihood. If you have that satisfaction, then you need not worry about others' comments, job profile, etc. Always keep in mind that, along with your job nature, you are also providing a social service to mankind.

All the best.

The Reality of HSE Policies in Indian Companies

The naked truth is that 99% of Indian companies have no clear-cut policies on Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE), including the majority of reputed companies and the top 15 companies of Nifty. The remaining 1% of companies are trying to enforce HSE.

Regards,
Pon

Dear Sir, Thank you for the reply. It's really a very impressive presentation. I agree with you on this. But there are a few things I want to discuss with respect to the given presentation.

Area Which Is Not Part of the Core Business

Good Safety Management Is Crucial to the Bottom Line of Any Business

The above sentences are extracted from the PowerPoint. What I want to ask is why safety is not a part of the core business. In my organization, we are marketing safety. As all of us believe that the same should be ensured right from the grassroots level, but the hierarchy starts from the top management. Please elaborate. In my earlier thread, I just wanted to have feedback from other professionals. And to be honest, I am satisfied with my profile.

Thanks & Regards,

P. Vineeth Krishna.

Dear Vincent,

First of all, sorry for the very late reply. Our team members have already provided sufficient explanation regarding your question.

Dear KSP, Dipil, Inder, Bhaskar, and Pon,

Thank you for your input on this thread. Mr. Bhaskar, the excellent explanation you provided to Mr. Vincent was exactly what I had in mind. Thanks a lot. Keep on sharing.

Importance of Safety Management

Safety Management is a very important topic. Even though you have a good platform to work upon where management supports the implementation of safety initiatives/norms, sometimes as Safety Professionals, we fail to implement the same. This may be because we don't know how to manage it. Herein lies the importance of Safety Management.

Structure of Good Safety Management

My concern now is: what should be the structure of good Safety Management for:

• Project - Construction Activities
• Plant - Running Manufacturing Factory

Let's have a fruitful discussion on this topic to gain a better understanding of the same.

Thanks in advance.

Dear Vineeth, I agree with you 100%, except for refineries and some dangerous chemical plants. I have observed that there are very few companies in India that are genuinely interested in implementing a safety management system on-site. Management often perceives safety personnel as being unnecessary, not realizing that safety is crucial for every project.

I believe that achieving comprehensive safety in construction in India will require a significant amount of time.

Thank you,

MANISH ANAND