Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani has written to all employees, asking them to report unsafe practices in the Indian Railways while assuring the cadres that they could do so anonymously.
In a letter to all employees, Lohani said that there was a need to ensure that railways maintains the motto of "safety first" in all its activities.
He said this can be done by encouraging all employees to report hazardous practices.
"To encourage railway employees to voluntarily disclose unsafe practices in the train operations so that corrective measures can be initiated much before occurrence of a disaster or become unmanageable.
"To encourage railway employees to voluntarily disclose unsafe practices, safety hazards, inadvertent errors, potential and hazardous conditions noticed by him/her during the course of their working, a platform has been developed as part of safety information management system (SIMS)," he wrote in the letter.
Lohani said that a whistleblower needs to log on to www.safety.indianrail.gov.in and select the hyperlink 'voluntary safety reporting' , select 'report safety hazard' and follow the instructions indicated therein for reporting any hazardous practices.
If the employee desires to provide contact details or email address, he or she could select confidential report or otherwise select 'anonymous report', the letter said.
Lohani said that the information provided by the employee through this forum will be used as a preventive tool and will be a 'non-punitive system' and no 'disciplinary action' will be initiated against the person reporting or an individual involved unless such a hazard is due to illegal activities or willful misconduct which are prohibited as per service rules.
"I also assure you that the identity of the employee reporting the hazard will not be disclosed without his personal consent," he said.
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