Safety is our business

For APM Terminals Inland Services, safety is synonymous with business and is the most critical function in the company. Since commencement of operations in 1994, APM Terminals Inland Services has not only established itself as a prominent inland services provider in South Asia, but also as a leader in developing a robust Safety Culture and Best Safety Practices within the industry. Pioneering this essential culture, it has been able to minimize accidents in its container freight stations, empty depots and container maintenance and repair facilities, thereby providing a sense of security to both Employees and Stakeholders for smooth operations. APM Terminals Inland Services, South Asia’s best-in-class safety performance is reflected in consistent reduction in accident statistics -- more than 80 percent reduction in LTIF (Lost Time injury Frequency) from 2011 to 2014. Safety is synonymous with business for every single person at APM Terminals Inland Services and is the most critical function in the company. The common belief that runs through the organisation is that while they are indeed in the business of providing inland logistics services, they truly are in the business of safety. You enter the facility and what comes out stark is the manner in which it is all happening. As soon as one visits the facility, whatever be the purpose, a visitor safety card is handed over to the person and a safety induction enabling them to stay safe in the facility is provided. You find barricading across the facility, designated walking zones and safety marshals preventing individuals from entering the yard or non-designated areas. Even a truck driver entering the facility is given a safety induction through an animated safety video. There are safety instructions sprinkled across the facility, a separate examination and despatch zone, high mast induction lamps for near perfect visibility at night. Well, the list is endless. Safety at APM Terminals Inland Services was not always the way it is today. A few years back safety was the sole responsibility of the safety team and rest of the teams saw it as an additional burden, an alien activity. At that time, global minimum standards on safety set by the organization at the centre were imposed upon, and executed rigidly. This too was new to the organization and its people - given the fact that prior to this there were no defined specific action mandates and employees and stakeholders were used to conductin business the way they had been doing in the past. This is when the seeds of a safety culture were beginning to be sown, involving a high degree of enforcement, controls and audit. The introduction of Global Minimum Requirements (GMRs as they call it at APM Terminals Inland Services, South Asia) involved multiple challenges including stakeholder and employee resistance and existing ageing infrastructure. It was an uphill task for the safety team and the organization as a whole and to achieve the desired outcome, various tools like training, demonstration of safe behaviour, administrative controls, penalizing mechanisms and monitoring were activated. At this time, existing infrastructure underwent drastic changes — some facilities closed and some upgraded to ensure that safety requirements were met. The relentless efforts started to pay off as higher levels of safety were reached across their facilities and the employees started to believe in the significance of safety and their duty towards ensuring highest levels of safety. But that was just an improvement and there was far more work left to be done. The aim was to weave safety into the fabric of the organization — every employee and every stakeholder. Seems to be an unreal world but that’s what’s truly the optimal state and that’s where the real challenge was. The responsibility of safety lied still with the safety function. This mind-set was changed by adapting an inclusive approach where the business units and individuals were asked to conduct gap assessments and identify risks in their facilities or functions. No more was it about simply following instructions from the centre; it became a far more personal agenda and everybody’s responsibility. It was in a way a shift from the global culture to a local culture - while adhering to the global standards.

“Every individual here is a custodian of safety and we have ensured that we constantly innovate, improve and engage with all employees and stakeholders to ensure that they are on the same page as us when it comes to safety of people, cargo and container. We expect every employee across levels and roles to look in the mirror and ask the real question: what can I do to change this situation or make it safer? Am I willing and capable of taking on this relentless challenge called safety?” shares Chandarsingh Mehta, HSSE Head, APM Terminals India Pvt Ltd. The safety model at APM Terminals Inland Services, South Asia is a congregation of HSSE System, Culture and Technical Integrity. Here is an account of some key defining moments during this transition that transformed the safety fuction and led to some pioneering initiatives and innovations. One interesting and key underlying concept that has been a guiding factor is that of man-machine separation — a situation wherein at no point of time men and machine work in the same environment thus drastically reducing chances of accidents.

Transformation Through Processes There are trying times and challenging situations on the path to safety. As Ajit Venkataraman, MD, APM Terminals India Pvt Ltd. says “I know that we are closer to our destination when our safety consciousness has shifted from: Safety is a requirement for doing business to Safety is a pre-requisite for doing business.” Over the period, individuals and teams have proactively looked at existing processes, identified gaps, made risk assessments and accordingly adjusted and modified those with the aim to reduce risk or exposure of activities that are undertaken. Some key aspects include mechanization of processes, safety inductions for visitors and safety being the starting point of any project and incorporated at the planning stage. Some unique aspects of safety @ APM Terminals Inland Services, South Asia

• A unique and effective Risk Calculator was developed that can help assess the risk levels under the Risk Management system
• A comprehensive one page Permit to work format that caters to all risks ensures that it is easy to identify and process the grant of permits without any loss of key information. That includes confirmation on adherence to safety practices followed during the execution. This also ensures contractor reliability
• Customized solutions for working at heights – horizontal as well as vertical. Fall arrest systems specific to the business have been developed
• Flooding System to prevent reach stacker fires
• A well established, effective and efficient Incident Management Tool well tested over time, ensures reporting of incidents across locations by any employee also thereby ensuring the same is investigated and addressed within a stipulated time. This is applicable for incidents, near misses, observations, audits. Corrective actions and preventive measures are utilized to reduce future injuries and losses
• Contractor Management: Every potential contractor/supplier is audited on Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) related performance before and after contracting
• Audit Programme: A standard internal and external professional audit program is developed or identified, installed and accepted as a standard. It covers ‘system’, ‘people/behaviour’ and ‘technologies‘
• Science of Stacking containers in case of expected storms
• Inclusion of safety at the design stage for any new infrastructure or project. Also weaving emission controls and carbon footprint consciousness right into the procurement stage
• Tyre cage for stored energy in tyres – for the purpose of storage as well as inflation

With this commitment came some of the firsts in safety of the inland logistics industry:

• One of the firsts to set up RFID System to enable people locate and track their containers instead of having to search for them in the yard on feet
• Creation of a Haz Bund – to prevent negative impact from leakages in containers carrying hazardous material
• Animated safety video created for inducting the truck trailer drivers

Having achieved the above, the other side of the challenge has been achieving the buy-in of various stakeholders right from the Customs House Agents who generally preferred walking into the yard to spot containers, to truck drivers wanting to get down in the yard amongst others. But when they see the value of safety and the company’s commitment to their safety, conducive behaviors have been observed. If not all, but quite an encouraging number of stakeholders now, have slowly but surely started, if not embracing the culture of safety, at least respecting the same and somewhere adhering to the same.

A truck driver said: “When I come to an APM Terminals facility I feel safe. Their safety procedures and processes don’t bother me. I value them.” From a Top-Down to a Bottom-Up, from an Exclusive to an Inclusive and from a Reactive to a Proactive approach: APM Terminals Inland Services, South Asia with its continued focus and well thought out efforts, has come a long way when it comes to safety. Today, there is a visible change in the working environment and safety is a holistic, in-depth and never ending function in itself. As Wouter De Gier, Head of HSSE, Asia Pacific, APM Terminals sums it up beautifully, “Safety is our business. It’s the way we are. It’s the way we conduct business. It’s us. Safety is our license to operate. If we would not do safety, we would be out of business”.