Ceylon Oxygen shines at National Occupational Health and Safety Excellence Awards

Manager – Transport and Logistics Anura Rathnayake receiving the Excellence Award from Minister of Labour and Trade Union Relations Ravindra Samaraweera while officials, including Ceylon Oxygen Managing Director Radesh Daluwatte look on

Ceylon Oxygen Ltd. (COL), a member of world-leading industrial gases and engineering company, Linde plc, was recognised for its dedication to occupational health and safety at the recently-concluded National Occupational Safety and Health Excellence Awards – 2018, held at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre, Colombo. COL emerged the winner in the Transport Safety Sector and was also awarded a Merit Award for its safety standards in manufacturing processes. 

The awards were presented by the Minister of Labour and Trade Union Relations, Ravindra Samaraweera in the presence of the Chief Guest, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. 

The National Occupational Safety and Health Excellence Awards is organised by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations and the Department of Labour to encourage Sri Lankan industries to inculcate a safety culture, sustain a healthy and safe workforce, while promoting productivity and minimising occupational injuries. 

COL Managing Director Radesh Daluwatte said, “I am delighted to see COL’s efforts in transport safety being recognised once again at this prestigious forum. Our stringent safety standards in transport and the investments made to install highly sophisticated equipment in our fleet have helped us achieve our goal of zero accidents on the roads. We are also very happy to have our manufacturing site proving its worth as a safe place of work, a testament to the commitment to safety shown by each of our employees.”

“With the operation of an extensive fleet of vehicles, travelling over 150,000 km per month, we strictly believe that safe, incident-free journeys don’t happen by chance,” Manager – Transport and Logistics Anura Rathnayake said. “COL has adopted many modern technologies and best practices in the transport industry to help us excel. For the first time in Sri Lanka COL installed In-cab cameras with fatigue and distraction sensors for live monitoring of driver behaviour, with real-time alerts.” COL Head of Safety Sanjeevi Jayathilake said, “We are proud that COL takes initiatives in developing safety standards for the industry. Our safety principles are about setting expectations, clear accountability, empowerment and continuous improvement. We are deeply encouraged through this recognition and appreciation by NIOSH towards our commitment and focus on occupational health and safety.

The awards are an endorsement of COL’s continued commitment to ensuring world class manufacturing and distribution operations, while adhering to best-in-class quality and safety standards.