Zero Accident Vision: Literature Review and Future Directions in Indian Context

Abstract

Industrial accidents are grave mishaps that result in injuries and fatalities to people and damage to property as well as the environment. The impact of the accident is exorbitant and society has to pay for decades. In most of the developed countries, the wellbeing of people and the environment is a top priority. The noble mission for every nation should be to reduce the level of the accident to "Zero" by adopting the Zero Accident Vision (ZAV) to prevent the same. The Zero Accident Vision is the spirit and commitment to create and ensure a safe workplace and prevent significant accidents in order to achieve safety excellence. This review paper aims to explore the research work performed towards ZAV and to study the status of present safety regulatory mechanisms in detail, safety culture, and awareness in the Indian context. In the first stage of the study, a systematic review approach was adopted using the Scopus database to explore past research on ZAV. In the second stage, various policy documents available from government regulatory bodies including their functions and adequacy of accident prevention, have been studied. The literature revealed that no significant research has been carried out on ZAV in India. From the study of various policy documents, it is evident that the country is far behind to achieve the ZAV and it will require efforts from government, private and non-government organizations to reduce the same. The planned and phase-wise efforts are needed to reduce the accidents and finally to achieve the ZAV. The Changes in national safety policy, various acts regulating occupational health and safety need to be amended suitably to incorporate the core values of ZAV. The mechanism of motivation by giving suitable grading to the industries adopting ZAV as a vision in their safety policy needs to be devised and followed.