Industries to benefit from 3M’s focus on workplace protection

3M Sri Lanka recently hosted a series of events for National Safety Week in a bid to raise awareness on occupational safety and health to provide safety solutions for the relevant industries in Sri Lanka. The Industrial Safety Division of the Department of Labour conducted a forum for insurance companies and Safety Inspecting Engineers to discuss legislative frameworks for this sector.

Vinay Pathak, an industry expert from 3M India’s Occupational Health and Safety division was at hand to highlight the importance of respiratory and hearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and its importance on legal claims, as well as the changes in legislative practices which have taken place in India and internationally.

Commenting in this regard, Vinay Pathak stated, “Based upon studies done in the past, reduction in injuries will reap substantial economic benefits from prevented injuries. Lost work time injuries can be particularly expensive. PPEs are uniquely effective in preventing injuries. These injuries tend to be very devastating. They can have a severe impact on the patient in terms of health, and the costs are phenomenal.”

It is estimated that the costs of hospitalisation do not include lost work days and compensation costs. This is a very significant problem, and very preventable.  

“The whole idea of my presentation on preventing injuries is to inform the audience of the changes in legislation that have taken place elsewhere in the world and how Sri Lanka can benefit from the learning of the world and implement the same in their upcoming legislation changes so that we have a safer work environment and that the injury cost, and indirectly the insurance premium costs, can be kept to a minimum,” he explained.

3M Sri Lanka’s Occupational Health and Environmental Safety division collaborated with the Department of Labour to conduct the week-long series of events in a bid to educate relevant industries and the public towards and occupational risks in the workplace. The events took place from 5 to 12 October.

3M is an innovations-focused company with a portfolio of over 75,000 products developed using the latest innovation in science and technology.  With subsidiaries in over 65 countries including Sri Lanka, the company works on 46 central technology platforms from which the majority of the products are developed.

3M drives much of its business in Sri Lanka through a network of over 30 channel partners. The company’s solutions are available in a wide range of industries that include health care, occupational health and environmental safety, industrial and transportation business, electronics and telecommunication, consumer and office, and display and graphics.