1000+ Safety Officers Attend OSH India Webinar on The Future of HSE at Workplaces on 20th May, 5 pm – 6 pm
OSH India organized a webinar on ‘The Future of HSE at Workplaces,’ on 20th May. It was powered by Ion Science, headquartered in UK, with over 25 years experience designing, manufacturing and supplying gas sensors and gas detection instruments for a wide range of industries and applications. Being a key stakeholder of the Occupational Safety & Health Industry, it’s pertinent to note that each year 2.78 million workers die from occupational accidents and work-related diseases (of which 2.4 million are disease-related) and an additional 374 million workers suffer from non-fatal occupational accidents. Aside from the economic cost, there is an intangible cost, not fully recognized in these figures, of the immeasurable human suffering caused by poor occupational safety and health (OSH) conditions. These numbers are from the last year’s annual ILO report on workers’ safety. Add COVID-19 pandemic and we are already headed for turbulent times.
Organisations across the globe are preparing for a long haul of total or partial shutdowns, supply chain disruptions, missing employees, absence of physical interactions, newer safety challenges, etc. In these trying times, technology provides a beacon of hope to the HSE industry to connect and share ideas on the well-known and industry-appreciated OSH India platform. OSH India 2020 Webinar on 20th May is one of the steps in that direction.
The objective of this webinar was to dwell on all these challenges to HSE and more in the one hour of discussion followed by Q&A. The panel discussion was moderated by seasoned EHS professional, Gaurang Baxi, who is now EHS Advisor, DNV GL.
The other panellists included:
1. Uwe Georg Fischer, MD, Kern-Liebers India
2. Arvind Bodhankar, Jt. Executive President & Chief Sustainability Officer. UltraTech Cement
3. Josy John, Corporate Safety Head, Tata Consulting Engineers
4. Rama KrishnaRao G.M.S, General Manager-HSE, Afcons Infrastructure Limited
5. Hemant Sapra, President, Safety Appliances Manufacturers’ Association
6. A. Srinivasa Reddy, DGM & Head EHS Hyderabad Airport Expansion Project
7. B. Sateesh, Sr. Manager - Safety, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
8. Suvek Salankar, Head- Fire & Safety, Rustomjee Constructions
Topic: The Future of Workforce Safety and Health (panel discussion)
Discussion points:
• In India, laws related to OSH are not strictly implemented and global pandemics further add to the misery of workforce.
• There should be change in OSH laws to reflect the changed working scenario anticipated in future.
• Efforts need to accelerate to improve data collection and statistics on occupational health and safety incidents, and to create a safe and healthy environment through defined rights, duties and responsibilities to all concerned and by prioritising occupational safety, health and wellbeing of workers.
There were more than 300 questions asked by the audience and over 250 comments posted within the chat box by the attendees. Most attendees were satisfied with the quality of discussion and look forward to the next webinar in the series.
Profile of attendees
• Health And Safety Director/Group Manager/Head Of Health & Safety
• High-level government officials, high-level decision-makers in the public and private sectors
• Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and labour leaders
• Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) professionals such as safety engineers, safety technicians
• Occupational hygienists, scientists
• Occupational physicians and others dealing with occupational medicine
• Labour inspectors and safety and health inspectors
• Instructors, trainers and teachers in the field of OSH education
• Trade unions, workers and their representatives
• Manufacturers and importers of safety materials and safety equipment
• Building/Construction/Architecture
• Safety Consultant
• Safety Engineers / Experts / Officers
• Defence Establishments
• Disaster management experts
• Electrical Contracting/Engineering
• Fabricators
• Facility Manager/ GM/ DGM/ Head/ Director
• Maintenance Manager/ GM/ DGM/ Head/ Director
• Plant / Factory Manager / GM/ DGM/ Head/ Director
• HR / Admin/ Purchase Manager
• Health & Safety Manager/Advisor/Officer
• Health And Safety Director/Group Manager/Head Of Health & Safety
• Logistics Professionals
• Municipal Authorities
• Supervisory bodies, government
• HSE auditors
• System Integrators
• Town Planners
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