GM India's Halol plant bags safety award

General Motors India has won the prestigious National Safety Awards 2011, for its various safety initiatives and programmes undertaken by the company at its manufacturing facility at Halol. This is the third consecutive win in a row that validates the automaker’s continued commitment for implementing the highest safety standards. The company’s Halol plant has been selected for its best safety systems under the category of ‘Low Incident Rate’ & Runners Up in the ‘Highest Safe Manhours’ (Manufacturer of Motor Vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers). Commenting on the commendable achievement, P. Balendran, Vice President, GM India said, “The award being conferred on us for the third time in a row is a testimony for administering best industrial and safety practices at our manufacturing units and will also motivate us to further improve the benchmarks set by us on safety aspects. We have maintained a continued focus on encouraging accident prevention and implementing safety procedures across all our processes and management and remain committed in providing the best working environment to our employees and promote a culture of sustainable and equitable development, while promoting optimum utilisation of natural as well as human resources.” The government had instituted the National Safety Awards in 1965 to recognise good safety performance on the part of industrial establishments and to encourage accident prevention and safety promotion programmes. The annual honour is presented by the Directorate General of the Factory Advice Service & Labour Institute (DGFASLI), the country’s premier institution for safety under the aegis of Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India. General Motors India's manufacturing Plants and its products have bagged a number of awards in the past. These include the Three Leaves award from Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) for green car manufacturing plant, Quality Circle awards from Gujarat government, Energy Conservation awards from the Government of India and National Safety Awards instituted by the Government of India. All the company products like Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Beat, Chevrolet Aveo, Aveo Uva, Chevrolet Optra, Chevrolet Tavera, Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Captiva have also won several awards for product quality after its introduction to the market.