PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, July 2: At a time when safety is paramount, Tata Steel has taken charge and started on the path of inculcating safety among young minds through its innovative initiative called “Safety Awareness for Everyone” or simply SAFE which was launched by the company in the early 2000s by Daisy Irani, spouse of former Tata Steel managing director JJ Irani.
About SAFE initiative
Initiated as a community initiative facilitated by the safety department of Tata Steel in response to the growing number of road accidents in Jamshedpur, SAFE later on covered relevant subjects related to safety for school children.
Once led by Sumathi Muthuraman, Surekha Nerurkar, from 2016 SAFE is led by Ruchi Narendran as Chairperson who is the guiding light for all these initiatives.
SAFE in Jharia, OMQ (Joda and Noamundi) and West Bokaro are led by Sunita Rajoria, Surbhi Bhatnagar and Raksha Dikshit respectively who review the deployment of annual activity plans in these locations.
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Each school has internal SAFE clubs where students are members. In FY24 1400 trainers were developed by SAFE for various topics which in turn touched 70,000 school children across locations with this training content.
SAFE with its emphasis on promoting safety awareness and education, is meant to empower youngsters in Jharkhand and Odisha with the necessary skills-set that will enable them to cope with potential hazards in their daily lives.
Safe practices to reduce accidents
The aim of this mission is to sensitize school-going children and youth on safe practices to reduce accidents that can be avoided within the community.
The SAFE Club also conducts targeted interventions that resonate with the participants and address specific concerns that are prevalent in these locations. As the steel giant emphasizes diversity, SAFE conducted sessions on creating SAFE spaces for children in school (LGBTQA+ awareness) which educated children to respect every identity and fellow being. As of now, over 77,500 children have been trained under the train- the trainer session during FY’24.
Experiential learning technique
One of the top features of Tata Steel’s SAFE is its unique approach in educating children about safety.
The SAFE Club does not depend solely on lectures and presentations but rather applies experiential learning technique that uses interactive simulations and hands-on activities to illustrate safety concepts.
Participants are actively involved in the learning process by doing things like practising CPR on a dummy (which is a digital mannequin) or navigating through a simulated disaster scenario thus making them enjoy and remember something about safety education.
