VISAKHAPATNAM: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)-Visakh Refinery executive director G Sriganesh has highlighted the importance of adherence to standard operating procedures for safety.
Delivering a welcome address at the valedictory of the 44th National Safety Week here Tuesday, Sriganesh said that in a process industry like refinery, three elements were very vital for sustainable safety performance - ingraining of basic safety concepts in all employees, strengthening and upgrading the SOP with respect to the new changes in technology and continuous vigil and alertness in operations in the field.
Joint chief inspector of factories D Chandra Sekhara Varma stated that there was no place on earth, which was absolutely free from hazard. However, Nature took enough care to ensure that safety was ingrained right from the design stage itself. Despite taking the best inputs from Nature, due to man’s inability in replicating it to the fullest, there are some limitations in designing equipment. The limitations give rise to unsafe conditions and unsafe acts, which in turn cause accidents, he said.
“Despite the best efforts, no place can be made 100 per cent hazard-free. However, the ill-effects can be minimised by adopting the best safety practices and procedures. Mere adoption of a safety procedure or practice does not guarantee safety. The secret lies in adherence and implementation. Unless safety is ingrained as a part of culture, the dream of creating an accident-free workplace cannot be achieved,” Varma maintained.
Inspector of factories P Chinna Rao explained the significance of National Safety Day celebrations and expressed that a sustainable safety performance was essential for uninterrupted production in industry.
Later, prizes were distributed among the winners of various competitions held on the occasion. HPCL chief manager (fire and safety) SN Soman, department heads, division heads, refinery and contractor employees were present.