“Make safety a line management responsibility and accountability. Safety is better served when it is so ingrained into every activity that it becomes impossible to ignore it.”
Introduction
It is considered that the health and safety performance of the cement industry as a whole is lagging behind may be because we are not as advance as other heavy manufacturing industries in the implementation of occupational health and safety management systems.
However one of our clients a Cement giant as an organization have tried to take several sustainability Initiative & demonstrate that if we consider the design of inherently safe plants & follow certain prevention processes, it is possible to minimize potential mishaps. Most importantly, our priority for this year in context to OH&S is to primarily focus on “The Safety Initiatives in the #Logistic Operations”.
We always emphasise on: “If we can’t measure it, we can’t manage it; if we can’t manage it, we can’t improve it”. There is little talk of doing things the safe way with more checks & balances through automated systems and more talk of doing things the right way. We constantly assess our process to determine if they are adequately controlling risk. Ours is a comprehensive solution to provide awareness about the #Cement co.s policies & guidelines to the drivers and transporter. Here we would like to highlight-
- There are around 871 trucks, 1039 drivers and 56 transporters which are frequenting the Cement Plant falls under umbrella of Safety initiative.
- Along with Rules and Regulations enforcement we also provide induction training to every vehicle entering the premises so that they clearly understands what is expected.
- Use of #RFID technology enables the Cement Co. to capture driver eligibility, attendance, identification, truck eligibility etc. It is then further integrated with #GPS to capture speed violation within & outside the Cement Co. premises there by reducing the accident cause due to lack of safety awareness.
- System provides visibility & control over truck/ driver’s licence, expiry date and renewal. It also trigger email/SMS alerts on regular basis.
- Driver Profile & scorecard can be generated to verify compliance towards achieving target that is- “zero tolerance against safety breach”.
- Real time alerts allows the authority to counsel or warn the concerned depending on the repetition of non-adherence.
Need for the Safety Initiative
We consider employee/workplace safety as a success factor, bringing along numerous strength and skill sets. However, we felt the need to identify and develop a culture which contains a comprehensive security program that fulfil our security requirements.
“The Safety initiatives in the Logistic Operations” was introduced to create awareness among Driver and Transporter about the Cement Co. OH&S Policies. It complement the policies, procedures, and measures that form robust #OH&S system. It also constitutes the "Standard Operating Procedures" relating to physical and procedural security for everyone frequently visiting plant.
In the past, when safety data bases were not integrated into the operational data base, there was no means of validating basic safety compliance requirements on a real time basis. By this integration we have managed to check for 100% compliance of the driver and truck eligibility for each and every transaction in the cement operation.
Planning the Safety Initiative rollout
The entire initiative was taken up after several dialogues within the Cement Co. Logistics Team and our IT Consultants to discuss the necessary checks and balances that were required for the safety compliances and adherence to the Cement Co. guidelines. It also lead to change management exercise and behavioural change and instil the adoption of regulations by the Truck Drivers and the Transportation companies.
The success of the “Safety Initiative” was complete exercise of team effort and perseverance. A core team of a Project Manager(HOS) , 2-3 Logistics Team members, the Cement Co. Safety Team, sponsored by the HOD as core committee member and our IT Consultants conceptualised the framework and developed the solution in a span of 2 months and carried out several trial runs and workshops to educate the Teams, Drivers and Transporters.
Implementing the Safety initiative
To avoid any surprises all the details regarding driver/contractor / anyone visiting the Cement Co. premises are captured in a comprehensive database to ensure security check, also it only regulates right trucks/drivers into the Cement Co. premises for #Safety Protocols. It provides a single platform for Truck Diver identification / Truck eligibility / Driver eligibility / Permit / License verification and highlighting non- compliance.
Under this Initiative all the Driver/Truck/Transporters have a Identification and Eligibility profile in the Webbased System with their Photo and Permanent RFID cards with compulsory details including but not limited to driver’s photograph, Regulatory Authority Vehicle Inspection, Road Tax, and Gross Weight Carried etc. On scanning the RFID card system will validate License detail and other Driver/Truck Eligibility parameter to confirm compliance before truck enters in the Cement Co. premises.
“The safety Integration initiatives in the Logistic Operations” provide information, send training invitation, capture Goods Delivery License (GDL) and Induction/ Training attended and maintaining a high level of security checks inside/outside the premises to avoid any unwanted adventure. It empowers the Cement Co. to send automated SMS’ to transporters as well as to Drivers, which helps to run Safety Campaign.
If any of the safety parameter is breached, driver would be detected and automatically stopped at Register In and system trigger Email/SMS notification and escalation to relevant teams. This will help respective personnel to take necessary actions
- Safety Breach covers speed exceed outside/Inside the Cement Co. Plant, PPE breach, wrong Parking, Drink and Drive breach. Here there is provision of capturing speed violation using GPS. Also the Cement Co. personal can key speed violation manual.
- On request, System generate scorecard for selected driver which will have details of Driver Profile, Obstructive Behaviour, Co-Operative Behaviour
- Action Taken - On basis of scorecard, the Cement Co. personal have right to take action on driver which can be in a form of warning, counselling, termination, released.
- In plant speed adherence – Link of in plant speed violation with Driver Eligibility. Again over here speed violation is captured through GPS.
- Defensive Driver Training – In this module, the Cement Co. personal create training program either for transporter/driver and send invitation using automated SMS. On invitation Transporter acknowledge driver availability for the training program. On completion of training, there is facility to capture driver attendance using permanent RFID card assign to him.
In the next phase which is currently under implementation, truck traffic movement will be integrated with the dispatching operation using display and queuing system. This will ensure proper regulation of traffic inside the plant and timely alerts to the drivers considering the traffic load within the plant and alert the Cement Co. Operations staff of any congestions.
Measuring Tangible results and benefits
The success of the “Safety Initiative” could be measured on the basis of the Safety Initiative Scorecard which has several parameters.
Quantitative Parameters: Driver PPE Breach counts, In-Plant and Out-Plant Speed limit violation counts, mandatory Safety Driver Induction and Training Program attendance counts, Driver and Truck Licence validation checks and expiry status alerts made available through the Scorecard and web reports for verification.
Qualitative Parameters: covering profile checks through Driver & Truck eligibility, change management and safety practice adoption among Transporters and Drivers, Driver Behavioural change, Counselling Sessions, ensuring safety Compliance and enforcement through high degree of the Cement Co. Staff involvement.
The “Safety Initiative” led to several tangible benefits to the Cement Co. Logistics Operations as follows:
1.) Qualified Drivers/Transporter engaged to carry the Cement Co. Finished goods
2.) Reduction in Truck Speed violations (In-Plant and Out-Plant) and behavioural change
3.) Ensure Trucks follow Malaysian Road Transport Authority norms and guidelines.
4.) A single platform for Truck Driver identification / Truck eligibility/ Driver Eligibility/ Permit/ License verification and non-compliance.
5.) Visibility on Drivers/Transporters Attendance to Training programs organised by the Cement Co..
6.) A comprehensive information dissemination platform for informing/confirming drivers/transporters and integrated with Transporter Web.
7.) Automated realtime information flashing on to the LED systems deployed at various locations of the plant to redirect and control the traffic flow entering and within the plants.
8.) Enabling reports for Counselling sessions and smooth adoption safety compliances and bring in Behavioural changes in Truck Drivers and Transporters associated with the Cement Co..
9.) Overall reduction in accident rates due to high standards of safety compliances and enforcements for Own Truck fleets and 3 Party fleets under the purview.
Conclusion
With the “ Safety Initiative in Logistics Operations” No manual intervention is required to track and maintain the data which in turn achieve high level of accuracy, auto alert to Truck drivers/ Transporter if license / permit expiry for their truck and also to the Cement Co. Teams for further actions or counselling. This ensure only the right and eligible trucks and driver are carrying the Cement Co. stock and adhering to transportation law which ultimately reduces issue with Transportation Authorities and also adhering to compliances at the Cement Co. premises.
We are looking forward to overall behavioural change in the organization regarding safety in our logistics operations.
The group companies might be using proactive health and safety measurements as per their standards & requirement, however even the best have room for further improvement. It is a need of Cement industry to encourage work safety standards and the Cement Co. fosters partnerships and collaborations with a high level of involvement from the Transporters, Drivers, the Cement Co. Safety committee who are part and parcel of the “Safety Initiative for Logistics Operations” that extend beyond traditional boundaries of disciplines, Departments and geographies to address the critical issues of our time. The sustainability of the initiative's work is carried out under two cross-cutting themes: the Cement Co. premises as a living laboratory and the Safety Committee as an Agent of Change. This goes hand-in-hand with our investments in Training programs, deployment of innovative solutions that promote sustainable practices, constructive engagements with best practices and policy makers.
I believe that this kind of Safety solution can be replicated to other Industry verticals as and when required. We believe not only for us but as an industry, if such solutions can be deployed, it can bring a remarkable reduction in the number of accidents and avoid fatal mishaps.
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