#69
It has been good three months since I posted anything here. Business travel, Mother’s adverse health and other aspects kind of kept me tied in all sorts of situations that posting HSE blog was the last thing on the mind.
With my 9 months EHS Special support assignment at “Clariant Hyderabad” that has come to an end yesterday, I hope to get more time to post my thoughts much more frequently. 150+ days of active, challenging engagement that kind of made go in to deep end to chemical process engineering basics linkage to safety and work the way I did 25 years back was immensely satisfying. It was pleasant surprise when facility team members huddled for a quick meet up and expressed their gratitude. 
- One of the pleasant surprise for me was that few of Indian companies who were leaders in pollution, unsafe acts and conditions have realised that they no longer can afford to let things happen. In my visits to such clients, the overarching sense I got was with the new generation of leaders taking over the organisation ( Grand son/Son of the founder viz III or II generation taking over with their overseas exposure etc) they feel things can not just go on the way that has been the case. These young gen folks are more focussed to grow their business beyond Indian shores which calls for establishing global best practices in business. EHS being integral part of business with going beyond compliance is the way to go. I agree that such Indian entities are far and few as of now, but I am positive that this number would keep increasing.
- I am concerned with the fires that are happening so routine in chemical / Manufacturing / Chemical storage facilities. I recollect no less than four to five incidents at Boisar, Ankleshwar, Hyderabad in which chemical plants have been gutted down in the past 2 to 3 months. While incident investigations may be confidential within the organisation, people close to the action who were involved in the process of fact-finding have indicated “Static Electricity” along with uncontrolled storage of Solvents/flammable near the operating area as the possible cause of such incidents. Storage of flammable is critical aspect that is mostly overlooked by organisations.
- Rob Long whose Blog I follow actively, posted thought provoking posts on Ball tampering issue and its linkage to brain freeze and stupid decisions that come out! Group think can undermine independent thinking/ questioning attitude thus leading organisations to disaster. It is very essential for EHS folks not to nod their head for everything that is being said by leadership. But in a power distance culture like India, this is easily said than done.
Take care, Stay Safe. God bless
Regards
Karthik
1/4/18
1530 Hrs.
Health, Environment, Safety, Sustainability (HESS) 