Essar Shipping is the first Indian Shipping Company to be awarded OHSAS 18001:2007 certificate

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Jun 2010

Sea Transportation division of Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics Ltd (ESPLL), an integrated logistics solution provider, today became the first shipping company in India to be awarded the OHSAS 18001:2007 certification. ESPLL has set a benchmark with this prestigious certification, underscoring the company’s commitment towards international standards in occupational health and safety.
OHSAS 18001:2007 is a standard for Occupation Health and Safety Assessment Series for health and safety management systems. It is intended to help organizations to control occupational health and safety risks. It was developed in response to widespread demand for a recognized standard against which to be certified and assessed.
ESPLL is committed to the health and safety of its employees without compromise and to the safety of all people contracted to work offshore and onshore. Safety is largely about culture. It aims at ultimately institutionalizing an effective and efficient safety system. Our goal is for Essar to be acclaimed as a leader in Safety.
ESPLL was the first Indian shipping company to comply with the IMO's International Safety Management Code and is also a recipient of ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certification to the sea transportation division by ABS Quality Evaluations Inc.
Capt. Anoop Sharma – CEO, (Sea Transportation) ESPLL, said, “It is a very satisfying moment for us to be awarded the OHSAS in the year when Essar is observing 2010 as the Year of Safety. It has always been our endeavor to benchmark our safety standards with International norms. We are pleased to be the first Indian company to have been awarded the internationally acclaimed OHSAS 18001:2007 certification, which has rapidly become the most widely used international OH&S management standard.”
Traditionally, very few shipping companies have adopted a proactive approach towards health-related matters for seafarers. The seafarers work in harsh environments, and often have only telephonic access to medical facilities due to the ship being far out at sea.  Hence, the management of ESPLL went ahead with the initiative to include health as an integral component of the management system. The implementation process started in 2009 and, over the year, ESPLL has implemented several measures to identify and control matters affecting seafarers’ health on board.
The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has awarded the certification. With this certification, ESPLL has gone beyond legal compliance to be on par with the international best. It has embarked on the health and safety journey to realize its mission of providing its employees with a safe and healthy workplace.

Source: Essar Group