Svasti Occupational Hazards Policy
Svasti is committed to providing a safe and secure work environment for all its employees. To this extent we assess the occupational hazards and risks faced by our employees from time to time and the management takes necessary decisions and actions to mitigate them.
You can read more about our Occupational Hazards Policy below:
- Occupational Hazard: At work, a hazard is anything that may cause harm to the employees or the organization, such as lighting conditions, poor sanitation, employee safety while on motorbikes, traveling to customer locations, accidents, cash handling, theft or robbery, long stressful working hours etc.
- Risk: A risk is the chance, high or low, that employees could be harmed by these and other hazards, together with an indication of how serious the harm could be.
- Risk Assessment: A risk assessment is a careful examination of what, in the workplace, could cause harm to the employees. It identifies the hazard and the required control measures.
- To provide a framework to assess the occupational hazards, employees’ health and safety risks and takes steps to mitigate them in compliance with the local laws.
- To help Svasti lay down a process to document, report, and investigate all occupational accidents, injuries or diseases.
Svasti conducts a workplace risk assessment at the head office and for all the branches at least annually using the template in annexure 1
Based on the findings from the workplace risk assessment and our understanding of the workplace occupational risk hazards, Svasti has put in place the following broad measures:
1. Facilities at the premises: safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, well – ventilated office and branch setups, adequate lighting facility and well-designed workstations.
2. Building and Fire Safety: at the time of selecting any office premises (Branches/HO/ CDL) the checklist for selection includes:
a. Stability of the building
b. Proper exit plan in case of emergencies
c. Proper drainage facilities to prevent water logging in front of the offices
3. Staff Training: Staff training on preparedness for natural or manmade disasters.
Employee Personal Protective Equipment and Benefits: All employees are mandated by Svasti to travel on motorbikes with a helmet. Svasti provides all its employees with a medical and life term insurance benefit as well.
4. Theft or Robbery: All branches have locker facility for maintaining petty cash. All other cash collections are deposited in the bank on a daily basis either by Cash Management Services or employees of the respective branch. A key management register is to be maintained at the Branches and Head Office on a daily basis and should be audited by HR/Admin on a periodic basis.
5. Cash in Transit:
a. Scheduled Cash Collections: Are ones in which the cash collection is scheduled on a weekly or monthly basis as per the fixed schedule. A collection sheet is generated one day prior for all fixed collection schedules. The schedule is shared with the respective employee responsible for collection.
- It is necessary for the employee to carry the company ID card during all cash collections
- The employee is expected to collect the cash and bring it back to the branch. In case of any cash misappropriation/ mishap, the matter gets raised and investigated by the Internal Investigation Committee (IIC) and the same gets resolved accordingly.
b. Unscheduled Cash Collections: All those cash collections which are not scheduled are considered as unscheduled cash collections. For e.g. any default collections, advance collections. We also have certain cash movements such as: main cash movement between Svasti Branches or from Svasti Branches to bank. The employee is expected to collect the cash and bring it back to the branch. In case of any cash misappropriation/ mishap, the matter gets raised and investigated by the IIC committee and the same gets resolved accordingly.
6. Substance Abuse: There is a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of substance abuse at the workplace. A Do’s & Don’ts poster to be displayed in all branches, CDLs and HO.
7. Under COVID–19 Circumstances: Employees are mandated to wear a mask and follow social distancing both at the branches and in the communities that they operate in. We have a detailed COVID–19 policy and procedure in place. This has been detailed out in the HR Manual for further reference. This has also been circulated to all the employees and Do’s and Don’ts have been displayed on the notice board in the Branches, CDL and HOs.
Implementation of the Risk Assessment: Svasti will undertake an annual occupational hazard and risk assessment by nominating a team (i.e. employees from head office and at a branch-level).
Monitoring of the Risk Assessment: HR and Admin will be responsible for implementation of the occupational hazard and risk assessment survey. The Audit team will monitor the implementation of this policy as a part of their internal audit process and checklist.
Communication of the Policy: All employees at Svasti will be provided a training on the occupational hazard policy once upon joining and further during the refresher training sessions. The policy shall also be documented in the Svasti Human Resource Manual.
Disciplinary Procedure in case of Non-Compliance: In case of non–adherence to the policy the employees will face sanction as per the disciplinary procedure mentioned in the Svasti HR Manual.
