Report on environment, health and safety

During the year, we continued to work towards excellence in Health, Safety and Environment. The focus was on strengthening existing systems and seeking ways of introducing new measures in our journey of continual improvement. Our employees at all levels are committed to meeting the set goals and objectives.

OZONE – The Health, Safety and Environmental Management System (HSEMS) at Infosys

Our Ozone initiative aims at meeting and exceeding all the required legal compliance and targets that we have set for ourselves. Through the Ozone initiative, we aim to provide a secure working environment for our employees, protect them, our assets and operations against all risks of injury, loss or damage, from natural calamities and from any other hostile acts. The initiative also strives to keep employees, contractors and our stakeholders informed, trained and committed to our HSE process.

All our development centers in India were recertified as compliant to ISO 140001: 2004 and OHSAS 18001: 2007 during March 2010.

The various initiatives undertaken in the year 2009-10 include:

• Awareness: We launched an awareness campaign about our Ozone initiatives among employees, including contractual staff to ensure support and compliance.
• Energy: We initiated the implementation of efficient energy controls such as optimization of chillers and UPS. We spearheaded the adoption of best practices in energy conservation initiatives such as introduction of LED lights, installation of energy savers in lighting systems, installation of occupancy sensors. Periodic energy audits and use of energy efficient systems have resulted in conservation of energy to about 8% as compared to the last fiscal year on a per capita basis.
• Water: We undertook several initiatives and campaigns for optimal use of water across all our campuses. During the year, water consumption on our campuses increased because of the expansion of infrastructure space at our campuses and also due to the addition of new employees. We have our own sewage treatment plants to recycle and reuse wastewater generated at our campuses every day. Recycled water is used for landscape maintenance at our campuses.
• Paper: Paper consumption has been reduced significantly through various initiatives such as access password controlled printing, monitoring and control of printer utilization, building e-modules, and awareness campaigns like zero-print weeks.
• Carbon emissions: Our goal is to become carbon neutral. Several energy reduction programs have been initiated, such as campaigns promoting the use of mass transportation and car-pooling among employees. We encourage our employees to use teleconferencing and video conferencing facility to avoid long-distance travel, thus minimizing the impact on the environment. We are actively partnering with policy makers to promote renewable energy in India.
• Waste management: A focused approach to solid waste management has resulted in better disposal systems. We have worked on strengthening the process for effective e-waste disposal. 
• Campus design and infrastructure development:  Professionals have been commissioned to design and construct new buildings and modifications to existing facilities to ensure a secure, healthy and environmentally sound performance throughout their operational life. Our quality assurance and inspection systems ensure that facilities meet design and procurement specifications and that construction activities comply with the required regulations and standards.

Health and Safety

Safety is every employee’s responsibility and concern. Forums and help lines are provided to our employees to report security incidents and workplace hazards. They are actively involved in suggesting and implementing changes to the HSE policy.

• Health Assessment and Lifestyle Enrichment (HALE)
  The HALE program is a comprehensive and holistic health initiative, customized to an IT environment that innovates constantly in order to cater to the needs of the employees. Through this program, we launch employee engagement campaigns such as interactive portals and quizzes. The comprehensive health and well-being plan includes preventive healthcare options for employees and families, health checks, talks, consultations, fitness-related interventions, and health awareness campaigns. As part of our Safety Week and Health Week, we facilitated master health check-ups and stress relief workshops at all our campuses. We have also established a help line and an online tool, the HALE Tool to provide timely and expert support to our employees and their families on issues related to relationships, personal crises, stress and depression.

• Risk assessment, disaster recovery & business continuity
  The Phoenix program encapsulates our Business Continuity Plan that addresses three key phases – emergency response, business continuity, and disaster recovery. Periodic mock drills and exercises are carried out under this program to evaluate our preparedness in managing potential disasters. Careful observations are made and analyzed during and after these mock drills. New training material is generated based on past experience. 

• Assessments and reviews
  Periodic reviews and audits of the HSEMS are conducted for evaluating the HSE performance, suitability and effectiveness of processes and programs in achieving the set objectives and targets.

For more details, refer to the Sustainability Report available on our website, www.infosys.com.