THE IMPORTANCE OF EHS AT WORKPLACE

THE IMPORTANCE OF EHS AT WORKPLACE

IN CONVERSATION WITH EHS MANAGER MOHSIN JAMIL.

What is EHS, for readers who don’t know?
Answer: EHS stands for Environment, Health, and Safety. It’s a general term used to refer to laws, rules, regulations, and workplace efforts to protect the health and safety of employees and the public as well as the environment from hazards associated with the workplace. In practice, EHS is a business initiative for companies that want to not only comply with regulations and industry standards, but also be better environmental stewards, and provide their employees with a safe and healthy workplace.

How is it different from any other function of the company?
Answer: It is completely different from all other function of company because all other functions are established for production or supporting the production directly but this is the only department that neither generates revenue nor supporting the production directly and still this department is the backbone of the company that could severely affect companies business in term of its image and future growth.

Are there any latest developments in this field?
Answer: Yes, there are many developments in this field. Previously all EHS data was compiled and analysed manually but now there are EHS software’s available in the market for this purpose. New courses have been introduced for EHS practitioners. EHS awareness campaigns are on the move, seminars are conducted time to time to make the people aware of the hazards around them and safety precautions that are necessary for their protection. Besides private and International organizations, now government agencies are working hard to develop and implement laws, regulations, and standards to protect public health, safety, and the environment.

Why is it so important to have a separate department for this?
Answer: Firstly separate EHS department is very important because every worker has the classification of tasks in his mind and he set the priority of those tasks accordingly. A project team member or an activity executor will prior his work performance and progress than the safety of workers and environment. Secondly, separate EHS is very important to build safer working environments and more sustainable businesses through a scalable, flexible and integrated EHS solution. In today’s fiercely competitive and highly connected world, brand and reputation mean everything. Organizations have to make a separate department to demonstrate a strong commitment to employee safety and environmental sustainability because they don’t want to lose the hard-earned trust of investors, customers, and stakeholders There is no price or alternative of human life, therefore, we have to establish a separate EHS department that will make sure of the safety of workers, visitors, company assets and the environment. Considering this is so important, how do you see the future of EHS as a function? Answer: As our world continues down its path of innovation and awareness, EHS will also continue to evolve and change the roles and responsibilities of EHS professionals across all industries. From Turnotech perspective, some trends and areas of focus will be: Technology: While technology has provided companies with the tools to refine operations and drive revenue, innovation can also be disruptive by spurring new regulations or the need to redesign EHS guidelines and processes. Materiality: In order to make the business case for sustainability initiatives, materiality will be increasingly important for getting buy-in from internal and external stakeholders. Global expansion: As our world becomes increasingly connected, companies will continue to seize opportunities for expanding their businesses to new geographies. However, EHS departments must be prepared for local regulations, cultural nuances and local considerations if they want to succeed.

Why are safety signs, an important part of EHS regulation?
Answer: If you want to make sure that your workplace is safe for employees, customers, vendors, and other visitors, then keeping proper safety signs out at the appropriate times is a great way to do just that. Safety signs can be very helpful in avoiding injuries or illnesses in certain situations, and even offer some degree of defense in litigations. No matter what type of business you operate though, there are always good reasons to have safety boards, whether it is for hazards at a construction site or a spill in an oil terminal to keep customers from slipping and falling in that area. Here is some necessary information about using safety signs in the workplace. Safety signs are important in the workplace for employees, employers and public safety. They are one of the most efficient ways to give warnings, safety, and health information. When we could not deploy someone in a certain area all the time to communicate dangers or safety concerns, there needs to be a warning system. Safety signs perform this function. Safety signs range from custom-made printed signs to explaining how equipment like fire extinguisher works in an emergency. Not only do the signs need to contain certain colors and fonts to be well read and understood, but they should be brief and make sense at the same time.

What are the most important EHS implications on the work environment?
Answer: EHS protects employees from injuries, deaths, and illnesses. It protects the well-being of employers, visitors, customers, and contractors. Good EHS is not only good for employees it is also good for business because it increases profitability and reduces direct and indirect cost. It increases the reputation of the company and morale of employees. A serious workplace injury or death changes lives of victim families, friends, and co-workers. Humans loss and suffering is immeasurable and the same time can cause the business closure. Compliance with safety rules and regulations can save us from a big loss nad same time non-compliance can put us in a big trouble. “Better Be Safe Than Sorry”

Turnotech was awarded best EHS Supplier 2016, from one of our clients, Congratulations on that, If you had to pick what would you think was one main reason for getting this award?
Answer: It is the result of teamwork but if you are asking for one main reason for getting this award, in my opinion, all credit goes to our CEO, Mr. Salman Azam. It was not an easy task to improve the overall company’s EHS performance but His continuous guidance and support make us all able to improve it and the result, we all can see, we are awarded The Best EHS Supplier 2016. Thank You.

IN CONVERSATION WITH IMRAN WAZIR DIRECTOR SAFE CITY.

IN CONVERSATION WITH IMRAN WAZIR DIRECTOR SAFE CITY.

Tell us about this project in a few words.

Safe City Islamabad Project was the unique project of its kind in Pakistan, inaugurated by Federal Minister of Pakistan; installed 1900+ surveillance cameras to provide the better & safe living to the people of Islamabad. Project was done by Huawei a chines organization & Turnotech was one of the major services partner of Hauwei on this project. The project aims at making the capital free of crime. Safe City Lahore project is also in progress to enhance the security of lives and property of the citizens of Lahore by employing smart technology and equipping Punjab Police with modern surveillance capability. The project will not only enhance Punjab’s security but will also boost economic development by attracting local and foreign investment.” Huawei also doing Lahore safe city project & Turnotech as here as well one of the major partner of Huawei.

What were the major challenges you faced while working on this project?
Safe city Islamabad project was the new project in Pakistan with zero expertise in deployment, resources were untrained, cash flow of the project was unexpectedly fast as compare to the other projects were in hand, ROW & other related challenges were also present. Safe City Lahore is more crowded, narrow streets was difficult to manage, land soil was hard & tough to manage than s1 with less pricess. Also customer was mature than s1 project with very less compromise on environmental factors that exist in Lahore.

How does this affect the overall security of the cities?
With 24/7/365 cameras surveillance help securities agencies to caught criminals earlier than manual systems, it will definatly increase the efficiency of law & order agencies & over all affect the securities system of cities.

How do you see the future of enterprise in the telecom industry?
Future of enterprise is very bright at least next 5 to 6 years will be the boom of enterprise deployment specially safe cities related project as complete Pakistan needed to be covered. Further managed services scope also exist.

Do the telecom companies need to evolve their business models to include enterprise in it?
Yes it is important that Telecom based organization have standalone enterprise department with separate teams as safe city project has bright future in Pakistan for at least few more years. but this scope exist

Please give us an overview of the enterprise market in Pakistan?
Government, Telecommunications, Banking and Schools are the major buyers of enterprise hardware & services in Pakistan. Government & schools contributed significantly more in CCTV’s camera’s due to law & security situation while banking are spending on networking & security devices due to the popularity & growth of internet banking & online banking.

TURNOTECH AWAY DAY DESCRIBED BY MUNIM SAGGU

TURNOTECH AWAY DAY DESCRIBED BY MUNIM SAGGU

Being a part of telecom industry, it’s always been very challenging to be active in your social life. Short timelines and multiple extra working hours are always assumed normal. In this tiring routine one needs a break and need to release the negative energies. For this purpose Turnotech arranged anaway day at Rana Resort Head Balloki on 18th Feb 2017. Balloki Headworks is located on river Ravi near Phoolnagar, Bhai phero, 65 KM (42 Miles) from Lahore in the south west direction. Rana safari park hunting and luxury resort at Balloki Headwork’s is full family resort where hunting, camping, night stays, fishing, tent village, bonfire parties, safari restaurant, safari resort and celebrations can be enjoyed. Park is located on right bank of the river Ravi by crossing the Headwork’s bridge from Lahore side. Rana resort is really beautiful place with a natural beauty. Being surrounded by nature, away from the city was calming in itself.

This event was open for all employees of Turnotech and customer was invited too.  Around 130 people were there for a fun day. Bright sunny day reminded me of the college days when we were always excited for excursion trips. Model town accommodation was as active at 6am as it was peak hour of the day. Guys were discussing plans for the day to make it more enthusiastic. After all preparations a fleet of cars left for Rana resort and journey itself was as entertaining as the whole event.

 

By 11am noon almost all attendees reached the resort. As soon as we entered the resort, cool breeze swiftly welcomed the whole crowd and the journey tiredness was gone at once. Rana resort is lush green bamboo forest, with a wild life zoo and a small canal inside. A small visit of the resort made every one so hungry that lunch was mandatory then. When it comes to lunch, credit goes to event organizers that buffet for 130 people was ready.

After lunch a safari train was booked for a complete round of bamboo forest and adjacent zoo inside that. Some of us choose not to use train but Bull and donkey carts and that was a great fun. Fun did not stop here; some cricket lovers were also in the field and tournament started. Teams were made as per project but that was just a division for sake of management, team spirit was one. Matches and matches and finally team Mobilink merger won the cup and team Ufone NPM was runners-up.

 

With all of this fun, day ended but memories didn’t. It was a day where we saw those employees active who were always shy in the walls of office. It was a confidence booster for those who were unable to handle crowd situations. Overall bond of senior/junior , subordinate/manger became more strong when they behaved more like friends than colleagues. This practice is very good and need to be kept alive to make the employees feel blessed. The feeling of being owned by the company is itself a satisfaction, while working in this corporate sector.