DuPont Helps Promote Workplace Safety In India While Being Sensitive To Cultural Change

http://www.sustainablesolutions.dupont.com
Title: Safety on the Subcontinent -- To support their families, many women in India have taken jobs with Tata Steel. Traditionally, women in India wear saris while operating machinery. DuPont worked with Tata Steel on industrial workplace safety to improve employee and contractor occupational safety, while remaining aware of the sensitivities of the Indian culture. The results were positive.

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INDIA

P. GANESHWERI
OPERATOR, TATA STEEL LIMITED
My husband was killed in an accident and died on the spot.
We had three small children to bring up.
So I joined Tata Steel.

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SAFETY ON THE SUBCONTINENT

H.M. NERURKAR
MANAGING DIRECTOR
TATA STEEL LIMITED
Steel was not considered as a very, very safe industry.
Unless we make the company very safe our people will not be safe and the families will not be safe.
So we approached DuPont.

K. GANESH
INDIA BUSINESS DIRECTOR
DUPONT
DuPont believes that if they really want to make a difference they ought to really go through the cultural change process.

RAGHUNATH PANDEY
PRESIDENT, TATA STEEL
WORKERS UNION
We don't want to produce steel stained with blood.
Since we started working with DuPont many changes have taken place.

K. GANESH
We were seeing woman employees coming to their site wearing the traditional saris that could lead to major injuries.
Going and talking to the woman about changing their dress is a sensitive issue.
So we assembled them in a room and then we talked to them about safety.
And their response was, "If this is something which we need to change, we are willing to change."

P. GANESHWERI
We were the first group of women to switch from saris to wearing shirts and trousers.
Bulldozers, trucks, and locomotives are difficult to drive if we're wearing saris.
But in uniforms we can drive them more safely.

K. GANESH
If you influence the woman it has a lot of influence on the society.

P. GANESHWERI
We take these safety lessons from the job to every part of our lives.
We even teach our children about safety in school.

H.M. NERURKAR
You need to consider society as a part of the business and you need to give back to the society many times more than what you get from it.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• dupont
• tata steel
• saris
• dss
• organizational culture
• safety training
• workplace safety
• organizational change
• industrial safety
• work uniforms
• sustainable solutions
• steel industry
• occupational safety
• cultural change
• culture change
• safety awareness
• safety programs
• employee safety
• organizational culture change
• collaboration
• global collaboratory
• mining metals
• contractor safety
• protection
• owner operator
• lost time injury