By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 25 Apr: A two-day Management Development Programme on ‘Occupational Health, Safety, Fire & Environmental Issues in Indian Industries’ on the theme, ‘Fire Risk in Industries and Solutions’, was organised at UPES under the aegis of ‘Department of Health Safety & Environment Engineering’ (HSE), School of Engineering (SoE), at its Bidholi Campus. Dr Naranjan Bagchi, former Director – Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MOEFCC), inaugurated the event.
According to Arun Dhand, Sr Director, Public Affairs, UPES, the programme witnessed a conglomeration of Middle Line Managers from various reputed educational institutes, research institutes and industry including IOCL, HPCL, OIL India, HUL, ITC, HERO MOTOCORP, EMAMI, GAIL, etc., as participants. They deliberated upon the relevance and contemporary issues on the subject including legislation to extend Occupational Health Safety (OSH) coverage to all sectors (including the unorganised sectors), spreading awareness about OSH among stakeholders, development of OSH, infrastructure and OSH professionals. Accidents, pneumoconiosis, musculoskeletal injuries, chronic obstructive lung diseases, pesticide poisoning and noise induced hearing loss, etc., are some of the major occupational risks prevailing in the Indian industries.
Delivering his address, Dr Bagchi shared his insight on various environmental issues and solutions and stressed upon organising more such programmes regularly so that their outcomes could help in developing policies in the domains of occupational safety and health and public health and render their services to the society and the nation. “Occupational Safety & Health scenario in India is complex. The national policy on OSH at workplace that was adopted by the Government in 2009 has still not been implemented,” he shared. A ‘Study on Occupational Health’was presented by Dr Mushtoq – former Chief Medical Officer, IOC and a session on ‘Fire Risk & Control’ by Dr Bikrama Prasad Yadav – Associate Professor, UPES, were amongst the other sessions held. Dr Yadav’s session focused majorly on identification and characterisation of fire risk at workplace including importance of fire audits in an organisation, while Dr SM Tauseef, Assistant Professor, Department of HSE, spoke on risk assessment tools, and Dr Nihal Siddiqui, Head of the Department, HSE, spoke on indoor air quality and its solutions.The event was conducted under the supervision of Dr Nihal Anwar Siddiqui, who was assisted by his team comprising Dr SM Tauseef, Dr Bikrama Prasad Yadav and Dr Neeraj Rawat and was supported by faculty members of the Department of HSE & Civil Engineering.