Vedanta Aluminium conducts Fire Mock Drill at D.A.V School, Jharsuguda

Helps inculcate fire emergency preparedness in over 1000 students and teachers

Bhubaneswar: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, recently conducted a comprehensive fire mock drill at the D.A.V School, Jharsuguda. The aim of the drill was to enhance the school’s fire emergency response capabilities and familiarize community members with fire mitigation methods,towardseffectively managing fire-related emergencies.The mock drilldrew active participation from over1000 students, in addition to teachers and school administrators. The eventprovided a comprehensivebriefing on fire extinguishing equipment and safety protocols. The mock drill commenced with a practical demonstration of fire extinguishers, followed by a simulated fire evacuation procedure, educating students about effective evacuation techniques.

Vedanta Aluminium frequently collaborates with community leaders, local organisations and govt. bodies such as the Directorate of Factories and Boilers, Government of Odisha, to raise awareness on safety practices. It has also deployed advanced Extended Reality (XR)-based technologies to provide immersive trainings to its employees, to closely simulate real-life scenarios and boost knowledge retention.Previously, the company also inaugurated a Fire Safety Training Park at its operations in Jharsuguda, to help the company’s Industrial & Fire Safety teams facilitate live, practical safety demonstrations of fire hazards, their prevention and mitigation, to employees and business partners at the plant.

Speaking on Vedanta Aluminium’s safety-first culture,Mr. Sunil Gupta, COO, Vedanta Limited- Aluminium Business said, “At Vedanta, we are committed to the holistic development of the communities we serve. Therefore, our commitment to ensure safety and well-being extends beyond our operations to ourcommunity members as well. Through initiatives such as the fire mock drill, we aim to create a culture of safety awareness while empoweringcitizens, especially the youth, with the knowledge and skills needed to respond effectively to emergencies, thereby bolstering safety preparedness in the community as well.”

Speaking on the occasion, P.K Panda, Principal of D.A.V School, Jharsuguda, said “I express my gratitude to Vedanta for organizing this mock drill on such a large scale. The school’s safety team and the studentsfeel confident andequipped with the required hands-on knowledge to effectively manage any unexpected firerelated emergencies.”

This mock drillisjust one of the many ways Vedanta Limited Jharsuguda is demonstratingits dedication in this area. Some other notable safety inculcating practices by the company are –

·         Sankalp, a Safety Culture Transformation Programme in progress across all of Vedanta Aluminium’s operations, which seeks to nurture an interdependent safety culture to instil a culture of safetyin partnership with DuPont Sustainability Solutions.

·         Visible Felt Leadership programme, as part of which the company’s leadership personally anchorssafety quotient at site through regular employee engagement activities and audits of safety practices at shopfloors.

·         All-women fire-fighting team ‘Agnivahini’ at Jharsuguda, who have been meticulously trained to act efficiently and effectively during emergencies, and is over 100 personnel strong at present.

·         Robust safety experts who display advanced safety skillsets, knowledge, and attitude, thereby encouraging greater adherence to safety in the overall team structure.

·         Safety Stand Down, an initiative wherein leadership teams engage with teams on maintaining a high degree of excellence in the areas of health, safety and environment

·         Extensive digitalization of operations and processes is helping Vedanta Aluminium minimize human interaction with machines, reducing chances for errors.

·         Manufacturing ExecutionSystem: to ensure 360-degree visibility of critical plant operations, allowing for remote decision-making through mobile applications.

·         Video analytics for immediate detection of fire events and monitoring of employee adherence to safety standards, ensuring continuous plant safety