Message from Founding Trusties

As Founding Trustees and Co-Chairs of the J&A Bharat HSE Foundation, we feel truly honored and privileged to extend a very warm welcome to you all to join and support the J&A Bharat HSE Foundation, being a Charitable professional organization, dealing with health, safety, and environment professionals in India.

The Foundation’s mission is to promote systems to protect human lives, monetary assets, environment, and reducing economic losses, production upsets and damage to environment. Over 700 deaths and nearly 4000 serious injuries get reported daily in India on the roads alone. Health related illnesses due to poor hygiene are rising exponentially. India is having the highest fatal occupational workplace injuries requiring immediate and on-going remedial actions. At the same time, infrastructure and construction industry in India has taken a leap among other sectors. This has created a huge need for HSE professionals. Many foreign companies are also involved in mega projects. To complete important projects on-time without any incidents, project management embeds best international HSE practices.HSE experts in India suggest that the main problem facing Indian industries is unskilled or semiskilled workforce that lack the required education and training in good HSE practices. The Foundation is also aware of the new emerging occupational risks caused by technical innovation, or social or organizational change. Nanotechnology has applications in health care, biotechnology, clean energy production, information and communication technology, chemicals, and electronics, military, and agriculture and construction industries. The risks associated with the manufacturing and usages of Nanomaterials are largely being assessed.

The vision of the Foundation is to promote culture of professional growth in India that will focus on the human and environmental issues as the core values. The Foundation aims for a safer and healthier India. It aims to enhance the occupational safety and health profession, collaborate to build strategic partnerships, and influence and strengthen impact nationwide.

Despite the significant progress in the regulation and management of chemicals, this is still an area of major concern for workers’ health in India as evidenced recently in A.P. Gas release case. Many pesticides can cause cancer, endanger reproduction, and can negatively affect the nervous, immune or hormone systems. Lead, mercury, and other heavy metals, remain poorly controlled in India and many other countries. Bhopal Gas Tragedy, involving Methyl isocyanides (MIC) killed over 16 thousand people and a quarter million people still suffering aftermath severely.
Patterns of employment changes in recent decades by restructuring work organization, downsizing, subcontracting, and out-sourcing, contributes to the emergence of new work-related stress and other forms of mental ill-health, which have, both, emotional and economic issues. The informal economy involves 60 – 80% of the working population, often associated with poor working conditions and poverty featuring lack of worker protection.

A safety culture is the one where governments, employers and workers actively participate in securing a safe and healthy working environment and duties where the highest priority is given to the principle of prevention. This is the prime focus area of the Foundation.
The Foundation is fully aware that India possesses highly knowledgeable and experienced HSE professionals. The Foundation would articulate their expertise and share best practices, develop their professional knowledge and skills, and advance the profession in India. The Foundation would support an improved safety culture throughout India through continuous safety improvement programs and training for the professionals. India loses over $20billion per year to road accidents alone, which is enough to feed 50% of malnourished children in the nation. The Foundation would take safety to roads, homes, recreation centers and much more. The Foundation would offer development and leadership opportunities to HSE professionals, in local and global conferences, training, and innovative research & consulting services. Activities would also be considered by the Foundation to help rural economic sector.

India, of late, has become one of the most attractive destinations for key players across the globe for Foreign Direct Investments and new ventures, under the able leadership of Honorable Prime Minister. The Foundation strongly feels that “Make in India” vision with manufactured goods having “zero defects”, must be supported and enhanced with the world class safety culture in India.

The Foundation is currently designed to self-govern by the Founding Trustees supported by a council of voluntary directors. who would establish and implement policies and procedures to advance the objectives of the Foundation! All levels of the Foundation’s operations would be supported by various Advisory Committees.

May we have the pleasure of inviting you to join us and support the Foundation in its exciting journey in making India a safer place to live and work. The mission of the J&A Bharat HSE Foundation is to protect people, property, and the environment by advancing health, safety, and environmental professional education and training in India.

The Foundation’s vision is to provide educational and developmental opportunities for all individuals aspiring to pursue a career in a HSE field. The Foundation has ambitious goals to provide scholarships or grants, mentorship, leadership, and a collaborative platform to share best practices across industry, academia, healthcare, R&D, and other public and private sectors. As a charitable organization, the Foundation intends to ensure underserved and underrepresented individuals with the desire to make an impact as a HSE professional will have access to the resources they need to succeed. The Foundation has plans to assisting the families of workplace accidents extending humanity.