DuPont Safety Resources (DSR), the strategic business unit of DuPont worldwide, concludes its national safety week for India today. Having roped in big clients in the pharma, oil and petrochemicals, steel and infrastructure sectors in the two years since the business was started in India, the company claims its India business is the fastest growing.
DSR deals with sustained reduction in injuries, which according to DuPont can result in 50 per cent cost savings, increase in productivity and substantial reductions in regulatory costs, liability and risk.
Roger Moore, president-Asia Pacific, Safety Resources, Dupont Company (Singapore) discussed the prospects of this business with Business Standard.
So, what are the big ticket clients has DSR tied up with?
We have got 15 clients and they range across vital sectors like FMCG, oil and gas, pharma etc. These companies are not big only in terms of their turnover or contribution to the corporate sector but also in manpower size.
For example, Tata Steel is our client which has over 60,000 employees. And our safety standards apply to each of these staff. This talks about the magnitude of this business. Similarly, with HLL we are in the second year of service.
But do you think 15 is a big enough number, especially in a country like India which has thousands of companies?
It is a service-based business and it takes time to inculcate the culture behavioural change. And I think we are doing just fine. Along with India, we started this business in Korea, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
And we have got tremendous response both in the Indian and Chinese business. But one must remember this kind of business deals with elimination of fatality and its success should be evaluated in terms of lives saved avoided rather than in terms of money raised.
And the larger the manpower in a company, the larger the fatal accidents which will be reduced.
So what is the number of companies you aim to make DSR's clients?
I will be happy if I get 100 clients by the close of this calendar. We have already approached several companies in the government sector, especially large public sector undertakings. We are also looking at several smaller companies and also the ones where chances of accidents are high.
And what kind of response is DSR getting?
The response is very good. Ten years back companies were conscious about quality and ISO 9000 was the most happening thing. Then corporates got environment-friendly and ISO 14000 standards were largely adhered to, and now we have companies getting safety conscious.
I am sure this concept will catch on very fast. Apart from the loss of lives, any accident in a company affects its bottomlines, makes its controversial and sends its share prices crashing down.
Besides, there are long legal battles which corporates have to fight. Imagine, both the Union Carbide case in Bhopal and the Uphaar Cinema fire in Delhi could have been averted had they tied up with companies like DuPont.
Worldwide, we see good potential in this business because of the cause it stands for.
Do you work with insurance companies as well to convince your clients?
We work with and without insurance companies. Sometimes it happens that clients either choose us or the insurance companies even though the trade-off is not justified. But in a lot of cases we have worked along with the insurance companies.
