Developing a Sustainable Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Program at Multiple

Sites of Information Technology Enabled Services in India

K. Chandrasekhar, P. Kondragunta ,

M. Mehta, CIH, CSPInternational Safety Systems, Inc.

Washingtonville, New York; Bangalore, India

Agenda

• Introduction and Background• Methods• Results• Lessons Learned• Conclusions

Introduction and Background• About 25 % of the employment is in the

Information Technology• Potential Risk associated with occupational

health and safety exists• Importance of risk is not recognized as IT is not

industrial manufacturing• EHS risks do exist• EHS program was developed and maintained

over 2 years • Company background

• Employees ~ 30,000.• Cities 5• Sites 12• Professionals trained on EHS 2000 +

Potential Safety Risks• Motor vehicle safety• Construction safety and fall

protection• Electrical safety• Permits

Potential Industrial Hygiene Risk

• Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders– Working on computers– Call centers– Odd working hours

• Chemical, Noise exposures– Sewage treatment plants– Diesel generator sets

• Water and food-borne illness– Cafeteria, canteens

Potential Environmental Risk

• Air emissions from boilers, diesel generators• Sewage treatment plant• Environmental and water discharge permits

Methods

• 12 professionals were involved in establishing, implementing and maintaining EHS Program

• Set Goals and Objectives.• Conduced hazard identification and risk

assessment.• Practical and classroom trainings conducted

for 2000+ professionals in office safety.• Developed written procedures, permit systems

Methods

• Periodical audits– Fire safety– Base kitchen– Motor vehicles– Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), diesel tank

unloading, hazardous waste storage• All the finding and recommendation were

tracked by computerized tracker.

• Overall reduction in audit findings• Renewed certification for Occupational Health and Safety

(OSHAS) 18000 and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14000.

• Reduced incidences of occupational illnesses and injuries • Reduction in energy consumption by almost 10%• Most important significant increase in awareness among the

site employees

Findings

Site A Site B Site C Site D Site E0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

382

103

171

306

175

6131

5835

Q 2011 Q 2012

Comparison of Issues Identified in Q 2011 vs Q 2012

Trend Audits Findings

Comparison of Work Related Cases across PAN INDIA over 9 Quarters

Q1-2010

Q2-2010

Q3-2010

Q4-2010

Q1-2011

Q2-2011

Q3-2011

Q4-2011

Q1-2012

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Site ASite BSite DSite CSite E

Environmental Data Comparison

% change from 2010-2011

% change from 2008-2011

Increase Decrease

-8% 65%

2008 2009 2010 20110

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

2,015,403

964,488

743,605804,689

Diesel Consumption (in liters)

Environmental Data Comparison (cont..)

% change from 2010-2011

% change from 2008-2011

Increase by Increase by

-1% -9%

2008 2009 2010 201110,000,000

20,000,000

30,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000

60,000,000

70,000,000

54,178,387

59,870,648 58,692,855 59,246,933

Electricity Consumption in (kWh)

Impact of the Approaches

• Installation of LED lights and movement sensors reduced power consumption by almost 10%.

• Use of hot air blowers in washrooms reduced paper consumption

• Motion sensor based water taps reduced water consumption.

• Reporting of the incidents and root cause analysis helped in addressing causes and thereby reduce accidents

Conclusions

• Environmental safety and health hazards do exist in Information Technology sector

• Development and implementation of EHS program assist in creating awareness and reducing potential EHS risk

• Sustainability of the program will evolve over a period of time once – Systems and procedures are developed – Site professionals are trained– Periodical monitoring is conducted and assistance is provided.

Thank You