| DuPont's initiative, called the World Safety Declaration, was launched in 2005 to provide companies with a framework to find common ground in improving workplace safety globally. About 46 around the globe, including India, across a wide range of industries had signed up for the initiative as of May 2007. |
| Any company that is committed to workplace safety, both in its organisation and the world at large can, join the initiative. |
| Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries are among the seven companies who have joined the campaign. |
| These companies have already signed up with DuPont, which is known globally as a pioneer in workplace safety, to develop and implement safety models at their workplaces. |
| In 2005, the International Labour Office (ILO) estimated that over two million lives are claimed annually by job-related accidents and illnesses and the number appears to be rising. |
| Some 268 million non-fatal workplace accidents occur each year, causing people to miss at least three days of work, while 160 million new cases of work-related illness arise. |
| While the human cost is incalculable, the economic cost is almost beyond comprehension as the workplace accidents and illness are responsible for the loss of four per cent of the world's GDP in compensation and absence from work, according to ILO estimates. |
| "The initiative is a voluntary sharing of information for creating action networks for safety in workplaces," S Mani, senior vice-president and head of corporate safety, health and environment, Orchid Chemicals, said. |
| He said industrial accidents nowadays tend to have huge economic impact with significant cost to companies and nations. |
| "DuPont has found that 96 per cent of industrial accidents happened due to unsafe behaviour. These accidents create damage to products, people and factories. One of the objectives of the DuPont campaign is to bring a change in culture towards improving safety perception," he added. |
| Signatories to the World Safety Declaration have to make a public commitment to improve workplace safety and collaborate with other companies to enhance safety at the workplace and home in ways that can be defined, evaluated and measured. |
| The signatories will report their challenges, progress and successes at the 18th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work to be held in Seoul, Korea, in 2008. |
| Mani said Orchid had been working with DuPont for the past two years and "has entered into an alliance with them to develop safety standards at par with the best in world". |
| Orchid has committed about Rs 8-10 crore over the next two years on improving safety measures. "Time will come when safety will make equally good business sense," he said. |
| A Srinivasan of Kone India said the World Safety Declaration helped Kone to share best workplace safety practices with other organisations. |
| "Safety is embedded in all of our day-to-day operations. For instance, in the solution creation processes, extensive effort is given to optimise design for the improvement of workplace and user safety," he said. |
| Protective equipment is an integral part of each business unit's operational costs," he said. |
| Kone measures Industrial Injury Frequency Rate (IIFR): the number of injuries resulting in absence from work for a day, shift or more, per million hours worked. Annual targets are set out by each business unit and monitored to continually drive down these values by following clearly defined actions, Srinivasan said. |
| Many companies are yet to recognise workplace safety as a competitive strategy. As a country, Japan pioneered quality improvements in the industry, and its automotive sector became very competitive after World War II. |
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