7th edition of Indian Navy’s apex meeting on safety, conducted at Southern Naval Command, Kochi

The Annual Safety Review- 2024 (ASR-24), the 7th edition of Indian Navy’s apex meeting on safety, was conducted at Southern Naval Command, Kochi on 19 Jul 24. The meeting was attended by senior officers from Naval Headquarters and representatives from all Command Headquarters, Area Headquarters and Safety Class authorities. Adm Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff delivered the keynote address virtually and reviewed the Annual Safety Report. The CNS emphasized the need to build a robust safety culture by encouraging units to educate and train personnel to think and act safely. In this ‘Year of Promoting Safety, Security and Mental Health & Wellness’, he urged the senior leadership to examine effectiveness of safety programmes at every level and strengthen the safety climate of Indian Navy.

Further proceedings of ASR-24 were chaired by VAdm K Swaminathan, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, who is also the Chairman of Indian Navy Safety Committee. During the review, all three Naval Commands including Andaman & Nicobar Command presented a brief on the safety initiatives and challenges. Several agenda points related to safety were deliberated during the review. The ASR- 24 attendees also interacted with subject matter experts from Nuclear Safety and Aviation Safety domains to glean best safety practices. On this occasion, a safety exhibition was also held at Naval Base, Kochi, wherein eight firms exhibited their state of art safety gears and personal protective equipment. The stalls received an overwhelming response from the attendees.

The Indian Navy conducts the safety review at the apex level every year, with the objective of taking stock of all aspects concerned to operational and functional safety whilst identifying and institutionalizing steps to reduce occurrence of incidents and provide an organisational framework to strengthen safety culture.