Inclusion of safety measures should be part of KRAs for all employees

Rupesh Kumar Verma, HSE Head, Lifestyle International Pvt Ltd. talks about how regular trainings and awareness are significant to promote safety awareness down to the junior most employees, and also how inclusion of safety measures as part of KRAs is addressed at their store level till now.

Interviewed by Adeesh Sharma and Nisha Biradar

Please tell us about your organization and its focus areas in HSE.

Lifestyle International Pvt. Ltd. mainly focuses on engineering controls and legal compliances.

What challenges do you face as a key HSE professional?

Safety is in inception stage in retail sector unlike other core hazardous industries like- oil and gas, construction. This causes lack of interest and awareness among the workforce prevailing in retail sector. The most critical is lack of backing from line management and reluctance towards implementation of process. Safety should be part of KRA and this is the area where it is limited till certain level.

What strategies/solutions you deploy to alleviate those challenges?

Regular training and awareness are significant and is being delivered as per calendar. Inclusion of safety as part of KRA is addressed at store level till now. Down the line employees are part of decision making, management of change, Risk assessment and are integral part of process review and amendments. This brings the ownership and helps in effective implementation.  Leadership teams are advised to address the entire group through webinars and videos while safety promotional activities.

What are your views on current HSE scenario in Indian industries and what more needs to be done to change it?

The formal laws for all sectors are to be formulated and implemented. There are many industries like- manufacturing, construction for which rules are already in place and has matured and accepted widely, the same is not the case for retail (example).  

What new HSE initiatives are you planning to implement within your organization in the near future?

Vehicle safety, road safety are few areas where the employees are exposed the most on day today basis, for which training is already in place, further it will be streamlined with safety gadget upgrades and processes like- promoting better quality helmets, reverse camera for 4 wheelers, free vehicle inspection vouchers through reputed agencies. Use of drones for warehouse inspections is crucial to have access to remote corners and have frequent and convenient monitoring.