Adequate availability of trained and skilled manpower will help the chemical industry achieve efficient production levels | By RS Pandey |
Skills and knowledge are the driving force of economic growth and social development of any country. It also helps in faster employment generation. In the last 50 years or so, India has seen tremendous change in the requirement of skills. At one time, computerisation of railways reservation system was one of the greatest challenges. Most of the trade unions were fiercely against it fearing unemployment/ redundancy of the existing work force. But proper training of the people not only improved the systems efficiency but also made the life of all concerned much comfortable.
As per a publication of the Planning Commission, 80% of new entrants to the work force have no opportunity for skill training. Against 12.8 million per annum new entrants to the workforce, existing training capacity is only 3.1 million per annum. Only 2% of the existing work force has skill training against 96% in Korea, 75% in Germany, 80% in Japan and 68% in United Kingdom.
Looking into the above challenges, the Government of India has set up a National Skill Development Mission comprising of: Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development, National Skill Development Coordination Board and National Skill Development Corporation.
The National Policy on skill development has set a target for training 500 million people by the year 2022. Number of state governments, accordingly have also set up their own skill development missions/boards like the Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission, Skill Development Council of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh State Skill Development Mission, Kaushalaya Bardhan Kendras in Gujarat etc.
Training and skill development programs differ with every industry/sector. For example, training in the chemical industry has its own set of rules. Today’s chemical industry is fully aware of its obligations to its employees and the society at large. Every care is taken from the design stage to manufacturing, storage and transportation for its safe handling. Periodic hazard identification, technological up gradation and implementation of recommendations has become a routine feature of operation and maintenance systems. Teams are properly trained throughclass rooms, mock drills, exposure to similar industries, seminars, workshops etc.
Most of the companies today are system oriented and have documented well what they say and what they do in the form of total quality management system or ISO 9001. Different quality tools like Quality Improvement Projects (QIP) and Six Sigma are applied at each stage of manufacturing, handling and transportation to optimise the process with respect to minimising the wastages, recycling and reusing. Besides training towards hazards, the other areas where the chemical industry is concentrating these days are: Quality Management System (ISO 9000), Environment Management System (ISO 14000) and Occupational Safety and Health (OHSAS 18000).
A Quality Management System (QMS) is a collection of business processes focused on achieving quality policy and objectives i.e. what the customer wants and needs. It is expressed as the organisational structure, policies, procedures, processes and resources needed to implement quality management. QMS has tended to converge with sustainability and transparency initiatives, as both investor and customer satisfaction and perceived quality is increasingly tied to these factors. Of all QMS regimes, the ISO 9000 family of standards is probably the most widely implemented worldwide.
Today’s chemical industry is fully aware about its obligations towards environmental protection system. At the process engineering stage itself all care is being taken to make the system fully safe guarded. Be it air, liquid or solid waste generations, zero discharge is the common practice. Periodic environmental audit, environment statement in the form of total material and energy balance, EMS through ISO 14000 in addition to regular monitoring by state and central pollution control authorities are helping the industry to continually improve its systems. Responsible care movement of Indian Chemical Council (ICC), formerly known as ICMA is also contributing to the industry in this direction. The benefits of using ISO 14000 include: reduced cost of waste management, savings in consumption of energy and materials, lower distribution cost, improved corporate image among regulators, customers and the public.
Occupational health and safety is another area where the industry needs to train and educate its employees. Periodic health checks, job rotation, taking steps for minimising occupational hazards are some of the important steps. These standards include limits on chemical exposure, employee access to information, requirements for the use of personal protective equipment, and requirements for safety procedures.
The author was working with a company during the early nineties where within the first six months of his joining, there were three fatal accidents. It was a night mare for a person heading the safety department. But the company bounced back with an action plan and within two years it got rated the ‘Five Star’ by the British Safety Council, the world leader in auditing and rating of safety standards. With measures taken to remove all the unsafe conditions, educating and training all the employees, enforcing strictly the safety work permit system and with total management commitment the company achieved a ‘zero accident’ record for three consecutive years.
To conclude, with constantly changing business environment, there is a need to ensure that the knowledge and skills of staff keep pace with these changes. Investing in training and skill development benefits both employees and the business. Also, for sustaining the business, there will have to be a constant need to train the employees in the areas of quality, environment and, safety, health and managerial skills.