The health and safety of its employees is NTPC’s top priority. The ultimate aim is to have no incidents that harm its people, neighbours or put its plants at risk. To this end, NTPC management gives utmost importance to providing a safe working environment and creating safety awareness among its employees. The company takes all steps which are reasonably practicable to ensure best possible conditions of work.
The steps taken by NTPC towards the goal of “Zero Accidents” include:
- Generation of ‘clean power’ and ‘accident free power’ by using state of the art technology, cleaner fuel, world class operation & maintenance practices and excellent housekeeping.
- Creation of the concept of safety consciousness among its employees (own workforce and contractual), their family members and local villagers by means of various training programmes, awareness programmes and road shows.
- Using systems approach by adopting and implementing ISO-14001, ISO 9001-2000, OHSAS-18001, 5S, Six Sigma, Benchmarking as per International norms by world class certification agencies.
- Formal joint management – worker health and safety committees to help monitor and advise on occupational health and safety programmes are in place in all the plants.
- Regular plant inspections and review with Head of projects are undertaken. Internal safety audits by safety officers of NTPC as well as external audits by reputed organizations are carried out annually at each plant. Their recommendations are regularly reviewed and duly complied with.
- Height permit and height check list are implemented to ensure safety of workers while working at heights.
- Adequate numbers of qualified safety officers are posted at all units as per statutory rules and provisions. For strict compliance and enforcement of safety norms and practices by contractors, safety clauses are included in the General Conditions of Contract.
NTPC has an elaborate monitoring mechanism for all safety incidents across its operations. To mitigate on-site emergencies at all stations, effective engineering controls are provided to indicate and handle emergency situations. Regular mock drills are conducted as per statutory requirements to check the preparedness of the system and observations are complied with.
NTPC’s continuous efforts in matters of health and safety are paying off with the frequency of incidents coming down considerably over a period of time. Many of our plants have been awarded various prestigious safety awards conferred by various bodies such as the Union Ministry of Labour & Employment, National Safety Council and Institution of Engineers (India) in recognition of implementing innovative safety procedures & practices and reducing accidents.