How to improve safety culture - an example

Be a Roman in Rome, is a proverb i.e we should behave the way others do. Similarly, the attitude of the employees for safety reflects its culture, the thinking and will power of the top management and efforts put into it. If accidents are viewed as part of the work and that the injured can be compensated, then the accidents will continue to occur, because it is cheaper to pay for an accident rather than investing in safety systems. It appears costly to change the designs, incorporate safety features, provide training, provide PPE, etc. This is the reason why in many sites, accidents recur. However, if there is strict enforcement of regulations of the land, then there will be a sea change in the attutude of the management towards safety. Now, they think it is cheaper and rewarding to invest in safety rather than pay penalty and worse, go to jail.

Such a change is possible. Suppose, we go to a new place where the language spoken is different. Then, we try to learn or atleast try to find ways to communicate. The need forces us to find ways to communicate and get what we want. Necessity / need forces a person to chage.

Similarly, if regulations are enforced, then factory mangements though feel like fish out of water for sometime, soon they will understand and follow the safety principles prescribed under rules and regulations.  Can we term this as cultural change. I think this is a cultural change. And it happens because someone somewhere is monitoring with a whip in his hand, ready to punish the erring managements.

Compensation for victims of industrial accidents

There is discussion on deciding the quantum of compensation for victims of industrial accidents. The compensation amount should be fixed for every person injured / died in an accident instead of fixing the liability to the company for an accident.

In cases like Chernobyl, Bhopal and Seveso, the impact was immediate and is still continuing. In such cases, we can't decide compensation and cleanup costs immediately. The company has to pay for all victims. If the total compensation is limited to some amount, then in the cases like above, the amount received by the individual victims may become peanuts, whereas companies whose sole aim is to make profits will simply escape. When a company is in the business to make profits, then we can't allow them to make those profits at the cost of human lives, environment and property damages by following unsafe practices and procedures.
In fact, the certifying auditing agencies for quality, environment and safety practices of companies should be made accountable like financial auditors so that certificate can't issued / renewed without compliance with norms.

Now-a-days, the victims of road / rail accidents get Rs 2-10 lakhs from various agencies of the government. Sometimes, jobs are also offered for the next kin of the victims. Similar amount should be paid to the victims of industrial accidents apart from health treatment costs.

When the compensation will be decided for each victim instead of lumpsum per accident, then I am sure, companies will follow international safety practices everywhere and ensure safety of employees and public.

A tale of compensation payments by two companies - Union Carbide & BP

Bhopal accident that caused more than 15000 deaths and injuries to thousands of persons lead to payment of US$ 470 million (1997 ?) whereas oil spillage by BP in USA (2010) is leading to demands by President and his team to BP to keep aside of US$ 20 billion for cleanup, compensation, etc over a period of time. Had a Bhopal accident occurred in USA, it would have lead to its closure and go bankrupt. Such compensation awards show why companies earn huge profits at the cost of human beings in developing / underdeveloped countries. Many companies cry foul that countries like India cause lot of environment damage but nobody cares about ethics followed by the companies of advanced countries. It appears rules are different for different countries with least regard to deaths by organizations of advanced countries in other countries.