Udaipur : Safety and wellbeing of employees and local communities is one of the core values of Hindustan Zinc. The company is committed towards smart, safe and sustainable mining operations. Onthe occasion of50th National Safety Day, the company spearheaded various activities like roadshows, trainings, campaigns, etc. for its employees and communities to create awareness about safety.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Arun Misra, CEO Hindustan Zinc said, “In Hindustan Zinc, the cornerstone of our operations and management is Health, Safety and Environment (HSE). Working towards achieving zero harm to employees at work is a goal deeply entrenched in the way we operate across all functions.We are committed to adopting global practices,focus on skill development of employees & ensure engineering design to eliminate safety hazards. We have empowered our employees by giving them the right to even stop work if they find something is unsafe and are proud that people are exercising this power responsibly. This has now developed into a safety culture at our company where each one of us takes responsibility for our safety as well as that of people around us”.
He further added, “I believe that as a CEO, I have tremendous responsibility and ownership to provide resources and right management to ensure that safety and safety review is always priority across all functions”. On this occasion, the company organized roadshows across its locations to spread awareness on road safety rules such as traffic lights, speed limits, pedestrian rules to name a few.
Hindustan Zinc also focused on spreading the message of safety through multiple initiatives in the local communities around its operational areas. The teams comprised Hindustan Zinc employees as well as Sakhiwomen and children to spread awareness on importance of personal safety, fire safety and road safety through role play, interactive sessions, Roko Toko campaign at roads, street plays and skits. These efforts were carried out across all the locations in the state:Zawar, Debari, Dariba, Chanderiya, Agucha and Kayad targeting various school students, youth, community women, elderly as well as bike riders.
Reinforcing its commitment to safe mining operations, the company recently developed India’s first underground First Aid & Ambulance centre at its Rampura Agucha Mine which is equipped with a fresh airbase dedicatedly and a rescue team along with a medical practitioner has been appointed under charge of a qualified Medical Professional & Rescue Head.
Health and safety of its employees is the top priority at HZL and continuous efforts are being made to make the workplace free of fatalities, injuries, or occupational diseases. As a safety initiative for underground mines, HZL has installed a Refuge chamber which provides a place of safe refuge (protection) and fresh air, in case of emergency situations like fire, rock fall and blockage of escape routes etc. The company has also installed Simulators at its Rampura Agucha UG Mine &SKM which enable to test operators on specific equipment without using actual mobile equipment or exposing the people to unnecessary hazards.
In order to ensure smart mining operations, the company has already undertaken various initiatives such as ‘Drishti’-Connected Mines: Real-time, ‘North Star’- Connected Workforce: Smart, Quick, Core, ‘Sarathi’- Connected Logistics etc. Also, endeavours such as turbine enclosure in all locations, wagon wheel clamper to reduce man-machine interaction, proximity switch in coal yard vehicle and locomotives to reduce man-machine and machine-machine interactions have been undertaken.