Inculcating a culture of safety through risk-based thinking and behaviour based safety

Our safety and health responsibilities are driven by a strong commitment to meeting our goal of Zero harm to our people, assets, the environment and to the society at large. This is being pursued through a robust Safety management system with clearly identified safety strategies and structure that puts accountability squarely in the hands of the line Managers.

The safety strategy which begins from the leadership team is cascaded across workers (own and contractual). A corporate safety and health plan with structured enablers are deployed and monitored through the defined review mechanism.

The safety governance structure has the Board at its helm to provide strategic oversight and it reviews the overall safety performances on a quarterly basis. The SHE Committee of the Board focusses on deeper aspects of interventions and enablers to help the organisation achieve the targets set by the Board. The Apex SHE committee, chaired by the Managing Director, reviews our Company’s safety and health performance on a monthly basis to develop plans and review performances.

There are internal Safety Committees for a) Incident investigation b) Contractor’s safety. Divisional Implementation Committee (DIC) are responsible for implementation of action plans and incident investigation. These committees and councils are chaired by the senior management team including Managing Director and Vice Presidents. A separate DIC has been created to address and emphasise safety management system of projects. Further, safety committees of both divisions have representation of shop floor workforce and union members.

A value-based safety culture to promote riskbased thinking is being reinforced through, six long-term safety strategic priorities. We are relentlessly striving to make safety a non-negotiable aspect of business and transition to the next level of maturity. The process of culture building over the years by various initiatives are substantiated by continued improved results. Personal commitment by leaders, at all levels is demonstrated by various actions, felt leadership and communication. Employees are also engaged on matters related to safety and health through Toolbox talk, mass meetings, Kaizens, projects, SHE month celebrations, Safety R&R, ‘Shabashi’ and instant rewards among others. Employees are duly empowered to raise safety and health related concerns and also empowered to stop unsafe work, if required.

As a result, we reported a reduction in incident frequency rate and improvements in various safety metrics. Moreover, the new DIP plant is being commissioned after taking into account safety considerations right from the conceptualisation stage.

Achieve zero harm to contract employees by strengthening deployment of contractor safety management standard

We have institutionalised a Contractor Safety Management Standard (CSMS), to oversee the aspect of contractor safety at our operations, with established policies and procedures on safety responsibilities for contractors and their employees. A robust six-step contractor selection procedure is mandatory to select vendors. Regular safety trainings, daily toolbox meetings and monthly mass meetings increase the safety awareness of the contract workforce. Equal participation in suggestion management, mass meetings, ‘Shabashi’ recognition improve the involvement in safety

Driving excellence in process safety management to enable better results

Our process safety management focusses on eliminating incidents with a potential to result in multiple injuries/fatalities, as well as causing substantial economic, property and environmental damage, both within the manufacturing unit and across surrounding communities. We have created a dedicated team to focus on process safety study and we have already covered multiple processes with action plans in both divisions. Other areas will be covered in FY 2022-23.

During the year, we rolled an out automated furnace top light up system and also automated day bin feeding at raw material handling system to eliminate process hazard risk.

Human resource management framework

We have a robust HRM framework that enables quality improvements, learning-curve acceleration, customer focus and desired organisational culture. There is a conscious effort to empower the workforce in such a way that it can rapidly and consistently translate new learnings into enhanced individual, team and organisational performance.

Talent management

TML’s endeavours for positive and thriving culture. Striving to being competitive with prospect of sustainable growth. HRM’s two-fold objectives: a) To be the Employer of choice in Pig iron and DI pipe industry and b) To develop processes which sustain a happy, positively engaged and socially sensitive workforce. We strive to maintain a dynamic fit between capacity and capability of our workforce by deploying structured Employee Category Wise Capability Assessment Methods. The cultural fit is also assessed during the assessment interview process, and the new recruits undergo training on value building programmes like TCOC, POSH and Tata Story.

We identify our workforce capability and capacity needs with a focus on targeted employee segments (e.g., high potentials, critical position successors, reverse mentors, digital champions, cadre recruits). We attract and retain talent through the four pillars of Organisational Engagement, Improving Productivity, Capability Development and Talent Management.

During the fiscal, we ensured seamless onboarding of new entrants for our ongoing DIP expansion and other vacancies. Our efficiency of talent acquisition process is measured by the number of new hires confirmed after completion of the probation period; more than 98% were confirmed. We also initiated competency-based interviews with AI-based assessment for all cadre and lateral recruits. Going a step further in our digital HR management framework, we upgraded our HRMS platform to digitise all our HR processes and taking data drive decisions with help of HR Analytics,. Our talent review forum (TRF) discussions include inputs on talent development and mobility along with 360° feedback for the leadership positions.

Equity and inclusion

We strive to create a workplace that exudes acceptance and empathy irrespective of race, gender, disability or other needs. This is an ongoing process, aligned with our commitment to providing equal access and opportunities and eliminating biases and discriminations. Dedicated policies and interventions are in place to foster diversity and inclusion. We have embarked on a sensitisation initiative across the organisation to induct LGBTQ+ in our workforce from FY 2022-23.

The Apex Affirmative Action (AA) Committee oversees the plan and execution of the Company's AA initiatives. We not only have initiatives for our employees, but it also extends to our contractors’ workforce. Counselling employees, working with the Contractors so that they have about 50% of their employees from Dalit and Tribal community on roll, and so on are some of the initiatives which are driven and reviewed throughout the year. Nudging and appreciating has helped the Contractors bringing many more members from Dalit and Tribal communities in their fold.

High-performance culture

A performance management system (PMS) architecture for officers and supervisors aligns individual goals with the organisation’s objectives.

For ensuring greater accountability, employees are encouraged to participate in the crafting of policies and guidelines that aim to address employee wellbeing, motivation, job satisfaction, involvement in decision-making, while being involved in the change process. The idea is to create a space for innovation and intelligent risk taking aligned to improving business performance. Senior Leaders empower employees to take intelligent risks commensurate with the responsibility and accountability of the job and/or scope of the improvement project. This has not only resulted in improvement in productivity, but has also enhanced customer satisfaction and business profitability. A 360-degree feedback for Senior Leadership is carried out for further assessment from a different perspective.

Based on employees’ performance rating, compensation revision and performance bonuses are calculated after factoring industry compensation benchmark, our business performance, the cost price index and the standard of living index.

Learning and Development (L&D)

L&D plays an important role across the broad spectrum of HR processes including recruitment, onboarding, performance management, promotion, and succession planning. Our L&D interventions cover the entire workforce in areas of skill and competency building, customer focus, innovation, health and safety, environment, business ethics and other relevant areas. Apart from meeting the current capability development needs, we emphasise strengthening technical and digital competency and development of target employee segments.

Learning & Development Process and People Development Architecture

Robust People Practices

In line with our objective of enhancing overall digital capabilities of the workforce, we have sharpened our focus on digital and behavioural capability building by launching a bouquet of e-learning courses. We have partnered with external experts to help in designing and deploying digital culture and capability development, to prepare for Industry 4.0. We use identified Digital Champions, Reverse Mentors and Change agents at the shop floor to create awareness and build a culture of agility and curiosity that in turn is able to help us leverage digital technologies. We have almost doubled our spend on L&D over last fiscal.

We evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of our L&D system through multiple means. Relevant KPIs are reviewed periodically as per ABP process. We use the Kirkpatrick Model to evaluate the effectiveness of training, and based on the outcome, future trainings are redesigned.

For external trainings, employees prepare a report and upload it on the knowledge portal, for it to be accessible to other employees. Officers also make a brief presentation about their learnings before the Apex Committee. L&D outcomes are indirectly correlated with the assessment of workforce engagement. The status of drivers relating to development and career progression in EES results and their impact on overall score is studied, analysed and corollary is drawn for action planning, wherever possible. As a result, we have observed a positive improvement in our training effectiveness over last fiscal.