Occupational safety and health for India is a developmental tool and an empowering movement

Manoj Kumar, Director, Ecosafe Safety Products Pvt Ltd shares his views on the current OSH scenario in India and how it compares to global standards, their latest range of safety shoes to ensure worker safety in treacherous working environs, new innovations to be expected in their products in the near future and the OSH India show and the role played by it in connecting the OSH community on one platform.

What are your views on the current OSH scenario in India and how does it compare to global standards?

Occupational safety and health for India is a developmental tool and an empowering movement. Existing laws that could protect the rights of the workers to some extent are not rigorously enforced; reasons could be lack of sentience and professional training. Besides, paucity with regard to the knowledge in areas of occupational health and safety, dearth of research and availability of national institutional bodies to offer training and advisory service in this area are a matter of concern for the policy makers to interpose. Even though in the hierarchy of hazard control at the workplace, elimination, substitution and engineering controls are primary solutions, employees should be effectively trained to be able to recognize workplace hazards and to use safety measures, such as PPEs. Huge workforce in the unorganized sector, availability of cheap labour, meagre public spending on health, shortage of OSH professionals, apathy of stakeholders and lack of integration of occupational health with primary health care are some other reasons.

Please tell us about your latest range of safety shoes to ensure worker safety in treacherous working environs.

Our dedicated R & D centre that focuses on biomechanics for producing the best safety footwear for human feet! Our safety shoes are ergonomically designed with light-weight materials without compromising the safety so that it is fully functional and pain -free and thereby it avoids pronation. Our foot wears are designed with memory foam PU in-socks to offer a supreme comfort level that aids in correct posture and puts less pressure on the feet.

What are the new innovations to be expected in your products in the near future?

Modern safety footwear has made impressive advancements in the way of safety,material and comfort innovations. The PPE industry has also evolved to include a wide variety of versatile safety footwear. In Ecosafe , we are planning to introduce water-proof uppers, washable fabric uppers with aesthetic designs and vibrant and subtle colours of feminine interest without compromising the safety features.

What are your views on the OSH India show and the role played by it in connecting the OSH community on one platform?

It's a place where new ideas and thought processes are exchanged.