The Hindu Business Line : Asia needs to improve work safety standards, says expert

THE Managing Director of Excel Marco Industrial Systems, Mr David Ong, has emphasised the need for improving safety and management risk standards in Asia.

According to him, Asia lagged in adopting work safety standards for industrial plants. Comparing how the West and Asia prioritised safety issues, Mr Ong, a certified functional safety expert, explained that many countries in Asia were being driven by overbearing economic growth, while the emphasis was different in the West.

"This drive is leading to higher industrial risks as well as environmental degradation," he told in an e-mail response to Business Line.

Stating that there were no corroborative figures on safety lapses and industrial accidents in Asia because of different levels of transparency in reporting, he said the safety standard lag could be due to a more conservative management style.

"The coal mine deaths in China as well as the recent fire at a Bombay High platform are only some incidents that made it to the news because of their dramatic nature. The more frequent but much smaller industrial accidents are seldom reported. Hence, the lack of statistics in this area."

According to Mr Ong, the three priorities that drive safety implementation include protecting the people, the environment and business assets. "In the West, the driving factor has always been protecting people first, then the environment and finally the business assets," he said and cited how the planned opening of the pristine wilderness to oil drilling and refining in Alaska was met with fierce resistance by concerned groups.

While conceding that there was no such thing as "completely risk-free and safe industrial plant or facility," Mr Ong said managements can reduce this risk level. "The phased, orderly shutdown of the process in the event of, say, a gas leak or fire outbreak can help in minimising the risk."

"To measure and implement safety measures of any sort, you need to know how much risk there is in a particular process. Safety measures are designed to reduce such risk to a tolerable level," he added.

Without citing any company in particular, Mr Ong said certain firms expanded their production facilities without applying the same rigorous levels of safety as they did during the initial construction of the plant.

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