Ceylon Oxygen wins Transport Sector Safety Award at 2016 National Occupational Safety & Health Excel

Ceylon Oxygen Ltd. Managing Director Radesh Daluwatte (right) accepting the award from Labour and Trade Union Relations Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne

Ceylon Oxygen Ltd. (COL), a subsidiary of leading gas and engineering company The Linde Group, was adjudged the sectoral award winner for the ‘Transport Sector Safety’ at the recent National Occupational Safety and Health Excellence Awards – 2016 held at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre. 

The award was presented by Labour and Trade Union Relations Minister W.D.J. Senevirathne in the presence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the Chief Guest at the occasion. 

COL Managing Director Radesh Daluwatte accepted the award on behalf of the Ceylon Oxygen team. 

Excellence Awards are presented by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NOSH) in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations and the Department of Labour to encourage Sri Lankan industries to maintain a healthy and safe workforce while improving productivity. 

Occupational safety and health are important in protecting human rights among the working population the world over. The objectives of the NOSH Excellence Awards include inculcating a safety culture in the industry and the workforce while promoting productivity and minimising occupational injuries. It is a prerequisite to becoming a world-class business.  

“Winning the Excellence Award gives us great pride and demonstrates that the hard work and investments we are making are effective in keeping our people and the community safe. We believe that with the right training, equipment and work culture, every incident is preventable. We will continue to uphold stringent safety standards in our day-to-day operations, and invest in safety training and technologies from globally industry best practices to ensure the safest operations and sustainable business practices,” commented Daluwatte. 

COL is the leading industrial and medical gas supplier in Sri Lanka, operating an extensive fleet of vehicles delivering their customers gas products, mainly medical gases, liquid gases and compressed gases in cylinders, totalling almost 100,000 km of deliveries a month. 

COL Head of Safety Sanjeevi Jayathilake said: “Sri Lankan roads have an average of seven fatal road transport accidents a day. At COL, we employ the best practice standards in driver training, scheduling of delivery routes and maintenance procedures. Transport safety responsibility does not rest solely on our drivers, but is an agenda that everyone in the company is responsible for, to stay safe and keep each other safe.”   

Transport and Logistics at COL Manager Anura Rathnayake explained: “Safe, incident-free journeys do not happen by chance. Behaviourial training is one of the most important tools in shaping safe driving techniques and behaviours. Every one of our drivers is trained in applying defensive driving techniques. In recent years, we equipped our trucks with in-cabin cameras and on-board computers. These technologies monitor our drivers’ experience on the roads and their driving techniques. At the end of every trip, we use the data to coach our drivers on what they are doing right, and where they can improve. We also use the data to monitor road conditions and make adjustments to delivery routes or send out alerts should there be hazards. These are some of the best practices that have raised our transport safety standards.”