Tata Housing signs a MoU with NSC to Promote Environment, Health and Safety in the real estate sector

New Delhi June 2013: Tata Housing, India’s fastest growing real estate development company, has signed a MoU with the National Safety Council of India (NSC) to create awareness and promote the cause of Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) in the Indian real estate industry. This agreement represents Tata Housing’s persistent efforts to make EHS rules and regulations a priority for the real estate industry.

The MOU was signed between Mr. Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO Tata Housing and Mr. V. B. Sant, Director General – the National Safety Council of India. The key objective of the MoU will include streamlining exchange of technical expertise between two organizations and to collaboratively work towards making EHS a norm for the real estate industry.

Mr. Brotin Banerjee, MD and CEO, Tata Housing, said, “The Tata Group being a pioneer of Employee Welfare approach in India, EHS naturally ranks on top as one of the Group’s core philosophy of doing business. In line with the group’s ethos, we at Tata Housing are looking at building the most effective approach for building an EHS-conscious industry. We are partnering with National Safety Council of India (NSC) to institutionalize occupational health standards which will help to inculcate a safety culture within the real estate sector.”

Mr.V. B. Sant, Director General – the National Safety Council of India, commented, “Construction is considered as one of the most risky industries when it comes to occupational safety, and the rate of fatal accidents is about 4 to 5 times than in manufacturing. A recent research suggests the average Fatal Accident Frequency Rate (FAFR) in Indian construction sector is 15.8 for 1000 employees as against 0.23 in the USA.

He further added, “Through this MOU, National Safety Council of India along with Tata Housing Development Company Limited intends to ensure that compliance of health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) regulations is on a sustainable level and not one-time practice. We endeavour to achieve these objectives by
propagating these messages through training modules and educational elements such as training videos, onsite physical training, etc., amongst lakhs of construction workers working across construction sites all over India.”
Some of the initiatives which will be undertaken include: co-production of Multilingual High Impact EHS films & other training aids customized to workforce requirements, development of an EHS Audit Rating System for the real estate projects etc. In addition to this, the importance of environmental health and safety will also be propagated through various events and forums.