Ambuja Cements, one of India’s most responsible cement makers, has recognized that road safety is a serious issue globally. As a result, the company lays equal stress on safety on the road and within the boundaries of the organization.
The company embarked on this journey many years ago and built strong systems and processes to ensure its people and material transportation adopts a zero-harm policy while on public roads. With a belief that road accidents are preventable and no home should be destroyed as a result of this undesired event, Ambuja Cements took upon itself the challenge to make a difference. The company came up with its India Road Safety Plan in 2017 with a 5-year strategy revolving around skill development and driving behavior management complemented by plans to upgrade vehicles gradually ensuring minimum safety fitments and focus on journey risk management. The idea was to make movement of vehicles safer— be it on the pathway inside its manufacturing plants or the highways across which cement is transported across the length and breadth of the country.
Onboarding the company’s transport partners was key to driving this change. Over the last 5 years, Ambuja Cements has invested in digital technologies, including Telematics, voice box, ePassport, driver management centers apart from setting policy and rules around road safety.
The next step was to set up key deliverables. To monitor and measure these parameters effectively, the company has set up its own control tower for data analytics. The Transport Analytic Centre (TAC) came into being towards the end of 2017 to support analytics and key performance indicator monitoring. In addition, Ambuja Cements introduced a skilling programme “InCab training and assessment” to train, assess and certify drivers using highly skilled and certified master trainers. So far company has certified over 20,000 drivers through this program.
All these efforts paid off well as the company was able to achieve its ambition of zero fatalities over the last two-and-half years. This has also led to consistent improvement in driving behaviour and skill measured by % safe kilometres, which increased from 14% in 2016 to 84% in 2022. In this period, the company also recorded a drop of 92% road accidents and 95% injuries.
Mr. Neeraj Akhoury, CEO India Holcim and MD & CEO of Ambuja Cements Ltd., said: “Road is a shared space and governments alone may not be able to stop the huge losses incurred through road accidents. Every responsible corporate must work towards road safety with all sincerity. It gives me immense personal satisfaction to see how we have saved lives while moving our material across the country. Safety is a core value for us at Ambuja Cements and we have been practicing highest level of controls thereby reducing incidents year-on-year. This has been possible due to our belief in the plan, commitment from the management, investment in technology and continuous efforts by a passionate team at our sites.”
The challenges, however, are not over. It’s a dynamic environment where the risk changes every moment. With better infrastructure and infusion of technologically advanced vehicles, Ambuja Cements is committed to continuing this journey with the same passion and energy to sustain its leadership in the area of road safety.
As part of its journey of Ambition “0”, Ambuja Cements also recognizes its truck drivers, who play a very important role in moving the country and its economic development. The company engages with their families and reward safe drivers to motivate them and spread the message of road safety. Ambuja Cements also plans to continue to invest in technology and resources while also working towards reducing carbon emissions as part of its promise to achieve ‘Net Zero’.
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