Nifty 50 firms record 92 fatalities at their industrial operations in FY24

Number of such incidents has risen from 75 a year ago at the same set of firms

National Stock Exchange Nifty 50 companies failed to rein in the incidence of fatalities at their industrial operations in 2023-24 (FY24), with 92 lives lost during the period, higher than those recorded in the previous year.

 

Of the Nifty 50 companies (excluding banks, financial services, and technology companies), continuous three-year data related to fatalities at work were available for 29 companies.

 

Data compiled from the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report show that these 29 companies reported 92 fatalities — employee lives lost in one or more incidents of accidents while undertaking their business operations — in FY24. These numbers include fatalities related to both direct and contractual labour.

 

This number for the same set of 29 firms in 2022-23 was 75, and 180 in 2021-22 (FY22). The higher number in FY22 was largely due to 86 lives lost in a cyclone-related accident at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation during that year.

 

Omesh Garga, partner of climate change and sustainability services at EY India, noted, “Safety risks in operations and projects in industrial workplaces remain a significant challenge for Indian companies, with the overall number of industrial accidents still high.”

 

He added, “While there are isolated instances of progress, with certain companies making relentless efforts toward continuous improvement, India Inc as a whole still has considerable ground to cover, and the industry remains far from achieving the goal of zero fatalities. In our dataset of 29 companies, 12 reported zero fatalities in FY24. Of those, just five had zero fatalities for all three years and operated less accident-prone operations such as the production of fast-moving consumer goods.”

 

Of the 29 firms, four companies — Tata Steel, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), and Coal India (CIL) — saw more than five lives lost in such incidents in FY24. All of these firms undertake infrastructure and energy sector-related jobs. 

 

Many of these companies employ personnel in hundreds of thousands, both direct and contractual. A spokesperson for Tata Steel noted that the company’s lower Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate is 0.28, well below the global steel industry average of 0.78.

 

The spokesperson added, “While we have made significant progress, recent safety incidents remind us of the ongoing challenges in achieving this goal. We take every incident seriously, with detailed investigations and corrective actions aimed at preventing future occurrences.”

 

An email query sent to APSEZ and CIL remained unanswered.

 

“Every incident strengthens our resolve to enhance safety measures through innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Safeguarding the lives of our workforce is non-negotiable and remains our top priority,” said a spokesperson for Larsen & Toubro.

 

Listing challenges in ensuring industrial safety, Garga added that while on the surface there are many suggested issues, such as lacking regulation, weak enforcement, poor infrastructure, and contractor manpower, “underlying root causes could range from lacking belief that all incidents can be prevented, inconsistent management commitment, changing priorities with production, cost, and schedule occupying centre stage, and variation in risk perception across all levels in the organisation, amongst others”, he said.