Ensuring CIL employees’ safety from COVID must for continuous power supply: MCL CMD

• In this hour of crisis, when the entire country is facing the challenge of Coronavirus, we have to strategise our OSH plan in view of the COVID-19 challenge, said the MCL CMD

• Employees at CIL and subsidiaries getting infected with COVID-19 or facing other health issues could be a major bottleneck in ensuring coal supply, he said

New Delhi: PK Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), emphasised on the need for concerted efforts by Coal India Ltd (CIL) employees for continuous supply of dry fuel to power plants, which can ensure energy sufficiency in the country to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing a webinar on "Anticipate, prepare and respond to crisis: Invest now in resilient Occupational Safety & Health (OSH)" organised by MCL, Sinha said, "In this hour of crisis, when the entire country is facing the challenge of Coronavirus, we have to strategise our OSH plan in view of the COVID-19 challenge to ensure continuous and uninterrupted coal supply to power plants, as electricity is key to running the healthcare system and its supporting industry."

In the backdrop of the oxygen shortage plaguing the country due to the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases, Sinha said, "We have to be very cautious about the occupational health of our teams to ensure that supply of coal remains uninterrupted to the power plants across the country and the country doesn't face electricity shortage in want of coal."

CIL employees getting COVID infected may impact coal supplies: MCL CMD

While there is sufficient stock of over 20 million tonne (MT) coal at MCL alone, the CMD pointed out that employees at CIL and subsidiaries getting infected with COVID-19 or facing other health issues could be a major bottleneck in ensuring coal supply.

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Sinha, who is also the CMD of another CIL subsidiary Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), stressed that employees and contractual workers need to ensure COVID-appropriate behaviour at all times. "We have also spread awareness about COVID appropriate behaviour among peripheral population so that a healthy environment remains in place to ensure optimum productivity," he said, seeking coordinated efforts by all units of the company to check the spread of coronavirus.

The webinar, which was organised on the occasion of ILO's 'World Day for Safety and Health at Work-2021,' was also attended by all the functional directors, Welfare & Safety Board members, Executive Director (S&R), Coal India, General Managers in Areas and the heads of departments among other officers. 

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