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duPont Prouct NdeSCRiPTOR
Chng
Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) has long considered the saety and health o
its people as a top priority in its policies and business strategy development.
The Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) accords a high priority to saety
excellence and considers it as a precursor to business excellence.
Over the years, TCL has continuously
strived to improve its saety perormance
by adopting the best saety standards and
practices. Prior to 2004 when TCL Mithapur
embarked on the saety journey with
DuPont, its primary measurement o saety
perormance was the number o Reportable
Accidents reported every year. As can beseen rom the graph on reportable accidents
between 2000 and 2003, maintaining a
consistent level o reduction was a challenge.
Besides the variations in saety perormance, atalities and near-atality incidents
were occurring indicating that the results were also not sustainable. There was
also a serious process saety incident in 2001 that caused the plant to remain
shut or nearly three weeks.
Until 2004 when DuPont was appointed to assist TCL embark on a more
sustainable and accountable saety program, TCLs saety culture had
been mainly reactive and dependent. The saety perormance measurement
system was not consistent with international standards and with those used
by companies with world-class saety perormance.
Saety was considered to be the sole responsibility o the Saety Department.
The line organization was not given any saety-related goals or responsibility or
saety, thus buy-in was minimal and impossible or one group to achieve on
its own.
TCl chv sty ructon n Tot Rcorb injury Frquncy Rt to 1.67 pr on n-hoursn 2009.
a sfty Journy Tt
Cng mnt n
iprov PrforncTaTa ChemiCals limiTed Case sTUdY
Saety is a core value. It needs to be
deeply ingrained in our structure
and corporate culture.
Mr R Mukundan
Managing Director, TCL
We must have strong saety
systems and culture as prerequisites
or uture growth.
Mr Prasad Menon
Managing Director
Tata Power Limited
(ormerly MD, TCL)
35
30
25
15
10
5
0
34
10
17
2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003
Years*
Reportable Accidents were defned as injuries that resulted in lost-time o two days or more, as per the legalrequirement in India during the years beore DuPont was appointed in 2004.
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How t strt
In 2004, TCL appointed DuPont with the aim o instilling a
saety culture transormation that would eliminate sporadic
incidents by changing the mindset and behavior o the
people involved with setting saety requirements and those
who were implementing the requirements.
DuPont developed a saety roadmap or TCL Mithapur
based on the results o the saety management assessment
ollowed by an action planning workshop conducted by
DuPont which encouraged TCL to assist in developing sae
alternatives in the workplace.
In the saety roadmap, Mr Prasad Menon, Managing Director,
Tata Power Limited (ormerly MD, TCL), committed to the
ollowing objective: To create a management culture that
demonstrates SAFETY as Missionary Zeal and a saety
culture that permeates through the organization and onto our
amilies.
Th ry ys o sty cutur trnsortonjourny
One o the frst priorities o the saety culture transormation
was or DuPont to conduct a saety management
assessment at the TCL Mithapur site. The assessment was
conducted in September 2004 and indentifed the key saety
leadership, structure and action elements that needed to be
put in place or strengthened to bring about a saety culture
transormation.
Following the saety assessment, an action planning
workshop was conducted to help TCL Mithapur develop
and establish a roadmap or implementation. The roadmap
included a series o training or enhancing TCL senior leadersdemonstration o their commitment to saety and their plan
and to get line organization and saety proessionals buy-in
and accountability. Great emphasis was laid on strengthening
line managements responsibility and accountability. A key
ocus emphasized the need to engage all TCL employees in
the saety eort. TCL also started working on establishing
systems or tracking o trailing, current and leading saety
indicators. The training series was ollowed with on-site
implementation assistance through one-on-one coaching and
hands-on experiences.
In addition to training and the implementation assistance,
DuPont also acilitated the visit o about 15 TCL leaders and
employees to the DuPont Savli plant in Gujarat, India. The
visit and training opportunity helped TCL gain insights into
the DuPont saety management philosophy and enabled TCL
to see DuPonts system in action in India.
Chngs ncountr - Gong byon
on-th-Job njurs
From the beginning o the saety culture transormation, TCL
had set a clear direction on saety priorities. Mr DK Thakur,
Head, Saety & Health, TCL Mithapur said: Our approach
and eorts are ocused on continuously strengthening saety
culture in the organization through behavior-based saety
observation; prevention o incidents through incident reporting
(including near-miss); investigation and communication o
learning; developing and implementing rules and procedures;
and identiying training needs and imparting training.
It also includes deploying Contractor Saety Management,
Ofce Saety and Process Saety and Risk Management
systems. We extend the emphasis on saety o the amilies
o our workorce with an o-the-Job Saety program,
Mr Thakur added.
On average, 4,000 TCL employees and contractors work on
the TCL Mithapur site each day. A major challenge was to
bring about a behavior and mindset change amongst these
people. Changing mindset in the words o Mr Mammen
Jacob, VP Manuacturing, TCL Mithapur was a tall order
due to a wide gap in saety behavior expectations when
an employee or contractor is inside the company premises
versus when he or she is outside the company premises.
TCL Mithapur took various saety initiatives to change
employee behavior within the company premises, including
A emale general worker at TCL plant site proudly showing her saety gear. A
rare sight in Mithapur site ew years back, especially involving emale workers.
TaTa ChemiCals limiTed
I am confdent that TCL Mithapur is on course to becoming a
world-class site. However, I would not like this to be a quick-
win process, but rather a slow-release one, so that the
culture o zero harm gets embedded in our sites DNA.
Dr Arup Basu
Chie Operating Ofcer
Chemicals, TCL
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putting in place a Behavioral Saety Observation process. TCL
also recognized the need to take specifc steps that address
the employees behavior o-the-job including setting up
a Township Saety Committee. This promotes o-the-Job
saety through several community initiatives. One example
was the distribution o saety crash helmets at less than hal-
the-market value to all employees using two-wheelers. Other
initiatives included involving school children to introduce them
to saety at an early age so they could assist their parents at
home with making wise saety decisions.
Sprng th sty ssg to contrctors
The other challenge aced by TCL Mithapur was to improve
the contractor saety perormance. Mithapur is considered
a remote location and the availability o contractors is
limited. There is also a high illiteracy rate and turnover
among contractors. To address these challenges, TCL
Mithapur developed a Contractor Management System
with a coordinated saety training program to improve the
contractors overall saety perormance.
The eort was urther expanded in January 2008 with
the launch o Contractor Saety Stewards to involve
contractors employees in the saety drive. Each month,
a Saety Steward was selected rom a group o 50
contractors. The Saety Stewards main responsibility
was to ensure that his/her team worked saely, and the
team adhered to all saety rules and regulations. The
role is rotated within the contractor group, and about
600 contractor employees have been trained as Saety
Stewards as o April 2009. The goal is to cover all contractor
employees.
Looking at the success o the contractor saety steward
initiative, TCL is also evaluating the possibility o a similarprogram or their own employees, such as Saety Stars.
Sustnng th ontu
By 2005, TCL had put in place an integrated saety
organization including an Apex Saety Council and six
standing sub-committees. The six standing sub-committees
addressed Saety Observation, Incident Investigations,
Saety Rules and Procedures (Standards), Saety Training,
Contractor Management, and Process Saety Management.
Eleven ad-hoc Task Teams were also established to address
and resolve plant-wide saety issues. In February 2009,
an o-the-job saety sub-committee was established to
complement the eorts o the Township Saety Committee.
Multiple communication avenues rom electronic
communication channels to newsletter and billboards are
currently used to keep the organization engaged on the council
and sub-committees saety goals and programs. Several ace-to-
ace orums/platorms have also been created or more eective
communication, in particular, during Saety Observation rounds by
the site leadership.
Several other programs are also in place to build capability,
motivate, involve and provide awareness about the saety
initiatives. Near-miss reporting is encouraged. Suggestion
and reward schemes have been introduced. Two saety awards
have been constituted to recognize outstanding group saety
perormance. The awards are: the Managing Directors Award
or the department with best saety perormance and Managing
Directors Award or the contractor with best saety perormance.
TCL has also put in place schemes to recognize individual saety
perormance. The awards are very important to boost employee
morale and provide motivation to improve saety perormance.
I liked the systematic approach towards improving saety
perormance. The upront, rank approach o the DuPont
consultants is also good. The consultants with their long
years in line unction were easily accepted and could gain
respect and belie.
I elt great when an employee recently commented at the
Tata Business Excellence Model orum that senior leaders
are teaching us good saety practices with their arms
around our shoulders!
Mr Mammen Jacob
VP Manuacturing, TCL Mithapur
Contractor Saety Steward in action.
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VISIT US TODAY
www.saty.dupot.om/asia
Copyright 2009 E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. All rights reserved. The DuPont Oval, DuPont and The miracles o science are registered
trademarks or trademarks o DuPont or its afliates.
Rsuts
TCL Mithapur has come a long way since it embarked on the
saety leadership and excellence journey with DuPont in 2004. The
Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR) showed a steady
reduction rom 12.55 per million man-hours to 1.67 per million
man-hours between 2004 and 2009 as can be seen rom the graph
below.
These improvement milestones demonstrate the act that when
saety is incorporated as a strategic business value it serves as
a catalyst or achieving excellence in business perormance. The
key to success is commitment rom the highest levels o theorganization to value saety on the same level as cost, productivity
and human resources, and wholly integrating saety into the ull
spectrum o business decisions and activities. TCL is on a mission
and continuous journey to achieve the goal o zero harm.
DuPont brought about a paradigm shit in the minds
o the leaders and employees to the understanding o
saety as a line responsibility. The Saety Observation
process also helped in changing behaviors. Incident
investigation, training and regular communication are
other key steps taken to improve saety perormance.
Mr T Radhakrishnan
General Manager, Operations
TCL Mithapur
TOTAl recOrDAble InjUrY freqUencY rATe
Tcl Mithapu
12.55
9.71
13.62
9.05
2.62
3.79
1.67
14
12
10
8
4
002-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09
Year (April to March)
TRIFR(PerMillionManhours)
Where it all
started...
TaTa CHemiCalS limiTed
Tt Chcs lt Prof
Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) is a part o the TATA
Group which is an Indian business conglomerate
operating around the globe. TCL owns and operatesthe largest and most integrated inorganic chemicals
complex in India.
TCL today is the second largest producer o soda
ash in the world with manuacturing acilities in India,
UK, Kenya and USA. It has the largest share o the
domestic market in India.