Industrial Automation Magazine India

MSMEs and Industrial Safety

Published on : Thursday 04-02-2021

Industrial accidents can be reduced through effective preventative measures, says Darshana Thakkar.

With the growth of industry and huge industrialisation across the world, negligence or little compromise in safety results in huge disasters. Every year millions of industrial accidents occur which result in loss of human life, loss of man-hours, machine hours and loss of production time. Additionally, huge financial loss in terms of repair and replacement of machinery, equipment, compensation for employees, and sometimes loss of revenue because of delayed delivery to the customer. One-fifth of production time is lost by those injured due to temporary and permanent disablement and the remaining production time is lost by fellow operators/people in helping the injured, in taking care of the damage caused by accident, etc. The loss to the industrial unit would appear much more alarming when death cases due to accidents are considered.
 
It is therefore essential to identify industrial accidents and need to take steps to minimise them. Industrial engineering is one of the fields which deals with design of efficient workplaces, layout design, and equipment. Other disciplines which can contribute to a safe working environment are psychology, sociology, and medicare science.
 
The role of SMEs
The MSMEs are an important sector of industry across the globe in terms of contribution to employment generation and economic growth. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in most economies, particularly in developing countries. SMEs account for the majority of businesses worldwide and are important contributors to job creation and global economic development. They represent about 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. Formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies. These numbers are significantly higher when informal SMEs are included. 
 
In India, the MSME sector contributes 30% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 48% of the exports. 
 
The number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across India in the financial year 2020, is about 63 million. The majority comprise micro-enterprises, with a higher number in rural areas than urban parts of the country. More often than not, these were run by the owners with little or no support and revenue earnings as a priority.

As per the data of the MSME Ministry, almost 89% of the industries are Micro Enterprises. These micro-enterprises are operating with very limited resources in terms of funds, facilities and space, with old and outdated machinery, limited manpower, awareness, and knowledge about safety. If I talk about my real industry experience, most of the micro-enterprises are not able to fulfil basic safety requirements. This is a big concern for human safety. Appropriate knowledge and financial support to these organisations is the need of the hour.
 
Industrial accidents can be reduced through effective preventative measures by hazard assessment, good housekeeping, training, and better personal protective equipment (PPE). To develop a good safety culture, the attitude of the workers needs to be reoriented by adopting best practices, good housekeeping, and changes in work culture and work practices. Industrial accidents are common in India, as in many other developing countries. Prediction of various types of accidents helps owners/managers to formulate organisational policies for improving safety performance.
 
In the organisational context, technology innovation may be linked to performance and growth through improvements in efficiency, productivity, better safety through proper human factor design, environmental quality, etc. Technology innovations in MSMEs are possible in the design of products, processes, supply chains, etc. Unlike the organised sectors, MSMEs are not equipped with sophisticated technology, structured environment, or safety and health practices. Often in an MSME, workers need to work in adverse working conditions. This leads to accidents, injury, and product loss.
 
Every employer has a responsibility towards each employee to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the employee is, while at work, safe from injury and risks to health. This will also help in the reduction of the loss of production, man-hour and damage to machinery/equipment also. Top management is often responsible for the implementation of safety-enhancing systems and the development of a safety-oriented culture. Periodic In-house safety programs with systematic assessment become helpful in improving the culture. Safety consciousness refers to an individual's awareness of safety issues. 
 
Safety culture is a subcomponent of organisational culture, which considers affecting members' attitudes and behaviour concerning an organisation's ongoing health and safety. Safety culture is fundamental to an organisation's ability to manage safety-related aspects of its operations successfully. Safety culture comprises attitudes, behaviours, norms, and values, personal responsibilities as well as such HR features as training and development.
 
General Recommendation to improve industrial safety in MSMEs

1. Employers should provide adequate PPE and encourage the employee to use the same even during small operations.
2. Preventive and scheduled maintenance practices for capital machinery should be adopted.
3. Reconditioning or replacement of the wear and tear spare part of the capital machine should be done on a timely basis.
4. Storage of material should be done properly to ease handling and movement of material and minimise the possibility of damage or accidents.
5. A proper material handling facility should be provided by the employer-based on the material category.
6. All material handling equipment should be checked periodically for fitness and the worn-out spare part of the same shall be replaced in advance.
7. Display boards with the lifting capacity of the handling equipment should be available on the equipment itself in the local language.
8. Crane, fork lift, pallet truck and other heavy lifting equipment should be maintained properly in line with the safety norms.
9. Adopting and maintaining the standard operating procedures for every operation carried out in the unit.
10. Adequate inspection and testing of electrical installations and equipment.
11. Proper housekeeping, such as removal of metal scrap to avoid any accidents. 
12. Adequate lightning and air circulation should exist in the place of work.
13. Sufficient tools and tackles to perform the task should be available with respective work station/operator.
14. Adequate space to perform the operations and to keep components systematically should be available on the shop floor.
15. In working sites, the safety and environmental policy must be written down and maintained regularly. It is important to display all the policy in the local language which is to be understood by the lowest level of employees.
16. Regular counselling and audits at regular intervals by the supervisor/managers.
17. As many individual units cannot afford Safety Officers; the complex consisting of many MSMEs can together fund a safety officer, to be made mandatory as per law.
18. Suggestions for improvement in the safety of Machine, Material, and human safety given by the safety officer must be taken into consideration for safe working in the unit. 
19. If possible to adopt 5 S practices, i.e., sorting (Seiri), streamlining (Seiton), systematic cleaning (Seiso), standardise (Seiketsu), and sustain (Shitsuke). 
 
On a lighter note for Indian context I recommend occasional cleaning as frequent cleaning is not possible. I observed many companies not able to maintain 5 S because of the cleaning part. But we can at least practice 4 S omitting 3rd S.
 
Of all the reported incidences of industrial accidents between 2014 to 2017, 8004 such incidents occurred in Indian workplaces killing 6368 employees. If we consider the latest information, between May to July 2020, there have been 30 industrial accidents in India, killing at least 75 workers, according to IndustriALL, a global union of workers.
 
During the last several decades there has been a growing awareness of the expanding risks and consequences of major industrial disasters. This is reflected in official statistics, mass media reports, and the appearance of new public institutions that address the problem. 
 
It is time to make a clear distinction between two types of industrial disasters – ‘routine disasters’ and ‘surprises’. Routine disasters are well understood by experts and susceptible to management using long-established principles and practices. Successful management of routine disasters mainly requires that society puts into practice the ample stocks of knowledge and experience about them that already exist. Surprises, which confound both experts and lay expectations, are quite different and much less understood. They include disasters like Bhopal and Chernobyl and Minamata events or their consequences or both – that lie outside the realm of previous experience. Because surprises are unprecedented events, it is difficult to design specific anticipatory measures of the kind that have proved successful in reducing routine hazards.
 
To sum up, optimum use of personal protective equipment, appropriate routine and preventive maintenance, sufficient light, and air circulation, following all the safety norms of respective industry/activity standards can help to minimise industrial accidents and the resultant consequences of loss of human life, injury, loss of production time and of course financial loss.
 

Darshana Thakkar is MSME Transformation Specialist and Founder, Transformation – The Strategy Hub. An Electrical Engineer followed by MBA – Operations with rich industry experience, Darshana is an expert in transformation, cost reduction, and utilisation of resources. She has invested 25 years in transforming Micro and Small Enterprises. Her rich experience in resolving pain areas and real-life problems of SMEs helps organisations achieve quick results. Her expertise in managing business operations with limited resources helps clients transform their business practices from person driven to system driven with existing resources.
 
Darshana has helped many organisations to increase profitability and achieve sustainable growth. She is passionate to support the start-up ecosystem of our country. She is associated with CED, Government of Gujarat as a Business Function Expert in the Entrepreneurship Development program, as faculty for industrial subjects in the Second Generation Program (SGP), and as a start-up mentor and member of the start-up selection committee in the CED incubation centre.