Championing occupational safety: Awareness engagement key to change

Celebration of the 53^rd National Safety Week at Allcargo’s CFSs and ICDs

India witnesses about 48,000 deaths of workers annually owing to occupational accidents, according to an international report.

As per available information until before the covid-19 pandemic, out of India’s strong workforce of 465 million, only 20 percent was covered under the existing health and safety legal framework.

In such a situation, promotion and awareness about safety concerns in every sector must take centre stage in the dialogue about occupation safety, and Allcargo Group is in step with the National Safety Council’s efforts to increase such awareness.

Every year, India celebrates the National Safety Week starting March 4 to create awareness about occupational safety in all sectors. March 4 marks the day when National Safety Council of India was set up by the Ministry of Labour. The theme for the 53^rd National Safety Week for this year – 2024, was “Focus on Safety Leadership for ESG Excellence.”

Allcargo Group celebrated the 53^rd National Safety Week between March 4^th and 10^th at all the Container Fright Stations (CFS) and Inland Container Depots (ICDs), which started with a safety pledge made by all staff members and workforce.

Safety a top priority at Allcargo

Safety is a top priority at all its sites for Allcargo, with strict compliance for all requirements and more. To ensure this, weekly Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSSE) reviews are held. Detailed HSSE initiatives begin with weekly safety update calls with location heads and operations heads of all CFS and ICDs.

Several knowledge sharing ventures are also carried out, starting with regular communications. A WhatsApp group is operational for regular knowledge sharing and urgent reporting.  Monthly training ventures are also undertaken for safety awareness, such as reach stacker safety, forklift safety, crane safety, fire safety, evacuation drill, and first aid training. Information is dished out using various other methods such as safety posters about life saving rules and techniques, and safety hygiene.

Regular fire and electric safety audits are conducted at all these locations. For monitoring and surveillance, these are covered with an extensive CCTV network of over 850 cameras. Additionally, a surprise night supervision schedule is also planned out routinely.

The impact

Analysis of year-on-year figures shows a 7% decrease in safety related incidents in 2023-24, in comparison to 2022-23. Barring one or two incidents where first aid is required and other injuries take place, incidents are about damage to property and near misses. A 30% increase has been noted in reporting near misses at the facilities.

National Safety Week celebration

While the celebration of the National Safety Week took place in full measure, safety initiatives take place beyond the week. Between March 4^th and 10^th, Allcargo held several initiatives daily, including emergency mock drills followed by practical demonstrations of firefighting and rescue, essay/slogan/poster making competitions, Safety suggestion schemes with suggestion boxes placed at prominent locations to enhance participation, ESG training programs, meeting with staff and workforce to analyze past incidents and draw out learnings and improvements, along with talks by business heads.