Maliban Biscuit Manufactories became the first Biscuit Manufacturing Organisation to receive the OHSAS 18001:2007 – Occupational Health and Safety Management System – from the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI). The certification was handed over to the Maliban Biscuit Manufactories by Dr Lalith Senaweera, Director General of Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) at an elegant function attended by the Chairman, CEO, Board of Directors and employees of Maliban.
According to Ratnapala Samaraweera, Chairman of Maliban they have obtained this OHSAS certification to highlight their concern and commitment in the promotion of occupational health and safety of their employees. After the introduction of the system, the accident rate and occupational health hazards have reduced drastically and employee moral has improved considerably. As a result, overall productivity of the company has improved during the past financial year.
“We always believe that employees are the most valuable asset in this organisation” said D L Weerasuriya, CEO of Maliban Biscuit Manufactories, addressing the gathering. “Therefore, this certificate has given us confidence that our employees are in a good and healthy working environment to continue their work without any accidents. This is also to prove to our consumers, our international and local business partners that Maliban is in compliance with international standards.”
Achieving the 18001 OHSAS certification demonstrates Maliban’s commitment and its continuous efforts to act in a socially responsible manner with the assurance of a safe and healthy working environment for its employees, contractors, suppliers and all,” commented Dr Lalith Senaweera, Director General of SLSI, at the ceremony. “Therefore, I believe that this establishment has set an example for other manufacturing companies to adopt occupational health and safety practices.”
Also stressing on the hard work of Maliban’s management that went into achieving this feat, Bandula Perera, Group General Manager, HR and Admin – Maliban Biscuit Manufactories said, “in terms of employees and management, it is a great privilege for us to have the OHSAS certification. We have a very favourable work environment for our employees and obtaining this certification further guarantees the safety and occupational health of the employees”.
During the ceremony, the safety team who was involved in achieving this accomplishment was appreciated.
Management Representative of the Management System, Warna Fernando, General Manager, Quality Assurance and Research Development briefed that “the OHSAS 18001 assists any organisation to put in place demonstrably sound occupational health and safety operations and it is the world’s most recognised occupational health and safety management system standard. By adopting and implementing OHSAS system standard, an organisation stands to gain benefits such as reduction in the number of accidents and occupational health hazards, potential reduction in downtime and associated costs, legal and regulatory compliance, stakeholders commitment to occupational health and safety, demonstration of an innovative and forward thinking approach, increased access to new customers and market credibility, better management of health and safety risks, improvement of employee confidence and improvement of emergency preparedness.”
