Seminar on industrial safety held

A day-long seminar on 'Industrial safety and occupational hazards' was organised by the Godavari Environment, Health and Safety Association and Department of Factories here on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, R Koteswara Rao, director of factories, said, safety should be made an integral part of the manufacturing process.

New channels of processes have brought along with them new challenges with regard to occupational safety, he said and called upon the industries to play a proactive role in creating safety awareness for sustainable development. He also stressed on training employees to deal with any unforeseen incident.

R D Mall, vice-president (works) of Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL), emphasised the need to implement the safety management systems in industries to avoid hazards.

Mall felt that workmen should have complete knowledge about the hazardous chemicals and substances they are surrounded with. According to him, timely safety audits would help improve the safety standards in the industries.

A Suryanaraya, deputy chief inspector of factories, too urged the industries to train workers in safety systems.

Godavari EHS Association president Jagadish Rao, who is also the general manager of GSK Consumer Products, said that ensuring health and safety was the challenge and added that with continuous sharing and learning about various preventive measures, one could achieve the goal of safety.

The seminar, which saw the participation of 44 industries in the district, was supported by NFCL.