AstraZeneca Pharma India secured the first place in "Best Safe Industry" in medium scale category at the 36th National Safety Day celebrated early this month.
The award is towards the recognition of safety, health and environment systems available in the plant and the efforts by the company towards corporate social responsibility. The award was presented by the State minister for Labour Iqbal Ansari at the 36th National Safety Day organized by the Directorate of Industries and Boilers, Government of Karnataka in collaboration with the Karnataka chapter of National Safety Council.
According to Bhasker Iyer, managing director, AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd. the award demonstrates our commitment towards Safety health and environment (SHE). We had no fatal accidents since the inception of the plant in 1981. AstraZeneca has invested significantly on safety systems in the plant and all employees are well trained on the safety aspects of the machines."
"We are proud and honoured to receive this award. At AstraZeneca we are also very concerned about protecting the environment. "Our manufacturing facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to treat all effluents and the discharge is used to maintain our greenery spread over 40 acres. Credit goes to all the employees at the facility who endeavour each day to ensure that the facility is consistently rated as one of the finest in this part of Asia," stated U.N. Misra, vice president, Operations AstraZeneca Pharma India.
AstraZeneca's manufacturing facility employing about 256 people is spread over 66 acres of lush, green environs at Yelahanka, Bangalore. The facility is ISO 14001 certified and has a full-fledged environment management system in place. It also has Swedish MPA approval for bulk drug facility.
In India, AstraZeneca's presence includes: AstraZeneca Pharma India Limited (AZPIL), the narketing company, with products in six major therapeutic areas - Cardiovascular, Oncology, Maternal Healthcare, Infection, Respiratory, Neuroscience and Gastrointestinal and a world-class manufacturing unit conforming to WHO current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP).
AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd. (AZIPL), the centre of excellence established in 1996, and an integrated part of the AstraZeneca R&D network, is the only MNC in India focused on discovering novel drugs or therapies for tuberculosis. A new, state-of-the-art Process R&D facility, employing over 50 scientists, will be operational by March2007.
National Safety Council (NSC) was set up by the Union Ministry of Labour, in 1966, as an autonomous body to generate, develop and sustain a voluntary movement on Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) at the national level.