The chemical industry is expected to register about 9% growth by 2024-25 but we need to devise ways to address the safety aspects so that this growth rate isn’t hampered in any way, says Lalit Gabhane, Director General, National Safety Council of India.

Gabhane is confident that ongoing work on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code 2020 released by the government will help the industry in addressing the safety and environmental aspects.

“The work is in progress with respect to Section 18, 23 and 24 of the new OSH code. The 13 old Acts are being combined together and it is a well-documented process. I am sure this legislation will minimize bureaucratic red tape and rules get clearly defined for various stakeholders and a friendly approach is being adopted. The committees have been appointed for framing the rules and I hope it will be completed shortly. Moreover, every organization at its own level must ensure that safety is discussed adequately at the board meetings. NCE can play a role to improve the culture of safety and working conditions. The leadership has to play an effective role. The associations such as CII, FICCI and others could address the issues through a forum,” elaborated Gabhane.

Experts say the growth expansion in the crop protection industry has been adequately matched by advanced safety measures to rule out potential hazards. One such essential part of preventive studies is risk assessment that helps in preparation for new scenarios.

Pradeep Jain, President, Operations, PI Industries says it is very important to document the change management rightly and implementation of that system in the organizations which are having multiple production sites.

Jain outlines the way forward: "Challenges during operations include maintaining consistency and documentation. While the mindset is changing slowly, asking the people to follow it is still an issue. Hierarchy in the approval process is another challenge. People feel that change that has come has to cross functional senior leadership teams. In the industrial environment, this is the lagging area. Leadership feels that once the change is approved, it will happen automatically but it doesn't. Therefore, actionable changes are required in proper format, whether it is documents, SOP or checklist. Using the right language on the shop floor is also needed. Attrition too is a challenge. We often see 10-15% attrition on the shop floor and since people are coming from various cultures, they have to be trained properly with the right trainers and training modules.”

Sharing his thoughts on implementing sustainability initiatives, Alok Chandra, Vice President- HR & Corporate Sustainability (EHS & CSR), Rallis India opines, “When it comes to sustainability, it is important how management is driving it. Clarity on the roadmap is one part, timeline is other and most important is how we are moving on it. Social bottom line and environment bottom line should drive the economy bottom line and not the other way round. We made a decision to move towards a less toxic product line. This decision, however, can't be taken at the shop floor level or the unit level but at the top management level which would show its commitment to safety. Chemical industries are known for polluting. This is the right time at design levels to minimize the pollutants through technology. We must go for renewable sources of energy and find a way to move towards a circular economy by converting waste into wealth. If we do this, we automatically send a message to society and the country that we are moving towards a greener industry.”

Robert Stanton, Head Product Supply Crop Science APAC, Bayer says, “The companies that are manufacturing agrochemicals have commitment to sustainability. There is a need to raise awareness about the potential hazards and protection of employees as it affects many lives and families have to suffer. It means taking care of situations where there is unsafe handling of chemicals. The organizations need to appreciate such behavior and open-mindedness to speak up. We need legislation that practically works and we need a culture about safety and rules and regulations. Role of leadership is equally important for implementation. We drive many programmes but it is important to make it easy for people to follow.”

Dr. Roman Prochazka, Global Head for EHS, Agricultural Solutions, BASF stresses on the need for customized solutions to prevent exposure of contamination and potential hazards to the people.

“As a part of responsible care, BASF sets high standards not only at its EHS sites but also expects fulfilling those by external partners in our contract manufacturing business. Under this initiative, readiness of the management and plant systems to handle the hazards from the manufacturing process is monitored. This approach allows us to look at the shortcomings of different sizes and thus harmonize each system to avoid any big accident. At BASF, there is an evaluation on the need to eliminate or substitute certain hazardous chemicals. It may not always be possible to do so but we try to find technical solutions or organizational measures or finally provide PPEs to employees. This also means that risk assessment is the essential part of our work and it needs to be done for each single activity for all kinds of hazards. We have a similar set of mechanisms for our health studies to avoid any process incident to revalidate the studies and apply the safeguards according to latest incidents and scenarios,” adds Dr. Prochazka.