February.21.2023

SUEZ in India: Focusing on Safety First

Prioritizing a healthy body, mind and spirit has been ingrained in the ethos of SUEZ. We are known to have an absolute no-tolerance policy against lapses in following the Health & Safety protocols. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that around 2.3 million women and men worldwide succumb to work-related accidents or diseases every year; this corresponds to over 6000 deaths every day.

Worldwide, there are around 340 million occupational accidents and 160 million victims of work-related illnesses annually. That’s a staggering number of deaths that can have been easily prevented with timely and adequate checks in place. Back in 2017, the British Safety Council reported nearly 48,000 workers die every year in India due to accidents at the workplace. However, the figure only takes into consideration the reported accidents which means countless more go unreported.

It has been widely recorded in numerous studies, the value of investing in employees’ wellness. Organisations with strong health & safety protocols outperform their competitors. From both the ethical and strategic perspectives, it offers numerous benefits like improved health & well-being, greater productivity, high performance, more resilience, increased job satisfaction, lower absence and attrition rate, less workplace injury and compensation rates.

SUEZ as a trusted partner in circular solutions for water and waste, from day 1 has ensured the health & safety of its workforce remains its number one priority.

Keeping in line with the same spirit, SUEZ India conducted a 3-month long dedicated Health & Safety campaign, this year across all its sites. The objective was to reiterate the central messaging of Safety first. As part of this campaign, an all-staff survey was conducted, wherein more than 65% of the workforce responded. The survey was intended to set a baseline understanding of the organisation’s Health & Safety culture.

The follow-up through an end-line survey towards the end of the campaign showed a marked difference in terms of how staff felt about the need to prioritise not just their own Health & Safety but that of their colleagues & other stakeholders and how dedicated campaigns can reiterate the message in a more constructive and impactful way. The overall participation also went up from 65% in the initial survey to around 80% in the end-line survey, an overall positive spike in terms of workforce response.

This was followed by a stream of events, workshops, activities, training around significant issues like Manhole entry / sewer line cleaning hazards & risks, fire hazard prevention, road & traffic safety, and risks in confined spaces, Health & nutrition awareness, Work at height, stress management, along with blood donation camps across sites in Delhi, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Davanagere, Mangalore and Lucknow.

All these were conducted not just for the SUEZ India staff but also for other stakeholders like subcontractors, Client & Consultants / municipal body representatives, RWAs, members of the LGBTQI+ community, youth, women, representatives from law & order and more.

We at SUEZ promote and implement responsible behaviors. Our Health & Safety campaign was one such dedicated endeavor in this regard.