India’s growing community of occupational safety professionals has announced that the India Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) will be launched in March of this year.

 With close to 70 occupational safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals currently a part of the proposed new chapter in India,  and many more expressing interest, ASSE’s India Chapter organizers expect the number of new members to grow quickly as news of its formation continues to spread.

ASSE president Terri S. Norris said the move allows the association to engage even more people in its mission. "While tools, traditions and
regulations may differ, our desire to promote and advance safety is the same in any language.”

Intended as a way to bring together India’s growing population of SH&E professionals, and hundreds of students currently enrolled in the
country’s SH&E university programs, ASSE’s India Chapter will provide members of the safety community with opportunities to network, share best practices, develop professional knowledge and skills and advance the profession while protecting people, property and the environment.

Jitendra (Jitu) Patel, CPEA, emeritus member of ASSE and recipient of the 2011 Society Fellow -- the highest honor granted by ASSE -- is one of the founders of the India Chapter.

With India's rapid technological and economic growth "comes greater SH&E need in the country’s many expanding industries including; oil and gas, automobile manufacturing and maintenance, electricity, nuclear energy, construction, information technology, agriculture and traffic safety," according to an ASSE statement.

“Management needs to introduce a greater culture of safety into business,” said Patel. “We must convince management of how valuable safety is and of its key role in their success.”

Those in the SH&E profession who initially join ASSE’s India Chapter will have the distinction of being ‘Founding Members.’

For more information on ASSE’s new India Chapter, or to join please contact K.N. Sen, TFC at +91 9444399208, KNSEN@LNTECC.com, Jitendra Patel, CPEA at (623)581-8881, pateljc2002@yahoo.com or Ashok Garlapati, CSP, QEP, CMIOSH at (965)66734058.