FICCI Tamil Nadu State Council in association with Chemical Industries Association and Indian Chemical Council hosts ‘SAFECHEM 2025’- India’s largest PSM industrial conference in Chennai
Chennai, India, June , 2025: The inaugural day of the two days conference on ‘Transforming Chemical Industries Through Process Safety’, set the tone for impactful discussions on safety, sustainability and shared responsibilities in the Chemical industry. Jointly organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Tamil Nadu, Chemical Industries Association (CIA), Manali Industries Association (MIA), and Indian Chemical Council (ICC) SAFECHEM 2025, the conference aims to raise awareness on safety standards and cultivating a strong process safety culture across India’s chemical industry, addressing both current challenges and future needs.
Welcoming the esteemed guests and the dignitaries for the day, Dr. GSK VELU, Chairman, FICCI Tamil Nadu State Council & CMD Trivitron Healthcare/Neuberg Diagnostics Group of Companies, said “Process safety is not merely a matter of regulatory compliance. It is about protecting lives, preserving assets, safeguarding the environment, and ensuring long term business continuity. In today’s high-risk chemical and allied sectors, where complexity, speed and scale have multiplied, the cost of a single lapse can be catastrophic. We have seen this across the world and unfortunately even in India. Hence the urgency for a conference like SAFECHEM 2025 that makes it more relevant and essential.
Furthermore, thanking the Tamil Nadu Government for its unwavering support and leadership, Dr. Velu elucidated on how Tamil Nadu has always led from the front, not only in Industrial development but with regards to responsible and sustainable practices too. The state hosts one of the most vibrant chemical and Petrochemical ecosystems in the country. With progressive leadership and business administrators, Tamil Nadu continues to champion responsible industrialisation, through strong regulatory measures, digitised single window clearance and embedded safety and environmental safeguards. Now is the time to elevate Tamil Nadu as a National and Global benchmark for process safety management. At FICCI TN we see safety not as a check box, but as a strategic business imperative. Over the years we have partnered with ICC, CIA and MIA as knowledge institutions to strengthen the safety process.
Speaking on the way forward, Dr Velu said “Committed to process safety benchmarking studies across industrial clusters, we will endeavour to promote targeted training programs for MSMES contractors, and plant level teams that work towards Tamil Nadu specific process safety excellence framework and eventually enable cross sector collaborations to share technology insights and learnings.
“Safety must not stop at factory gates; it must cascade across the entire value chain. We must also acknowledge that traditional safety systems alone will not be enough. Digital technologies are redefining how we monitor, predict and prevent risks. IOT sensors for real-time condition monitoring, AIML tools for predictive maintenance, AIVR based simulations for immersive safety training and digital interventions to prepare for crisis response. These are not optional extras but critical tools”. he added.
In his concluding remark Dr Velu said, “No matter how advanced our technologies are, the most powerful safety tool will always remain a deeply rooted safety culture. Driven top down by able leadership, backed by systems and embraced at every level of the organisation, we must enable and embed safety as a core value. These two days’ conference should not end with just knowledge sharing, but the beginning of a collaborative, action-oriented safety movement that bridges the gap between the large enterprises and MSMEs, including contract workers, and local communities in safety process planning and celebrates safety achievements, just the way we celebrate growth and profit. Let us make Tamil Nadu a global lighthouse for industrial safety and resilience”.
Speaking at the inaugural of SAFECHEM 2025, Thiru V. Arun Roy, Secretary to Government, Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, said “The Chemical industry of Tamil Nadu has contributed significantly to the manufacturing economy, industrial ecosystem and economic growth of the State and contributes 6 % of India’s chemical output, with an estimated 2500 chemical units operating in Tamil Nadu. The industry provides vital inputs and is a supplier for other major industries like textiles, automobiles and pharmaceuticals. Being one of the earlier movers, the Chemical industry has many clusters in Tamil Nadu and also trained a set of senior managers, who have gone out to develop other industries in the State. A cadre of managers trained not just in the safety process, but all aspects of management, an industrial safety culture with R & D ecosystems like CLRI, further contribute to the industrial growth of the State.
On the industrial safety process, he said, “from regulatory side, the importance of setting world class standards that are reasonable, intelligible and implementable. A strong regulatory system that ensures that these standards are implemented. From the industry side they have to build human competencies right from the senior management to shop floor workers, including the technology dimension to safety that needs apt investment to improve safety. Industry collaborations, sharing the best safety practices, innovations and community dimensions, inclusive. Safety is a strategic imperative. Even a minor lapse would lead to catastrophic consequences with other losses and putting the reputation of all involved at stake”.
Congratulating and extending his best wishes to FICCI to reach the target of one trillion business by 2040, Mr Roy in his concluding remark said, “Tamil Nadu Government reiterates its commitment to working closely with the Chemical industry, both, as firm regulator and facilitator, so that we can help the industry grow and contribute to the State’s development”.
Event Highlights: Expert speakers from industries including oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, paints, steel, and process engineering, offering a comprehensive perspective on process safety practices and challenges across sectors and dynamic mix of lectures, CEO/CXO roundtables, panel discussions, and case studies, all grounded in real-world industry applications.
The core themes of the workshop include: Nurturing Process Safety Culture, emphasizing on Safety Leadership, Sense of vulnerability, and Strategic integration of process safety into the business; Building Process Safety Competency, with insights from CCPS, NSC, and experiential learning; Lifecycle Integration of PSM from design to operations with inherently safer design principles; Managing Process Risks, including industry best practices on Asset integrity, stakeholder engagement, and root cause analysis; and Digital Transformation, leveraging the use of AI, IoT, and Data Analytics to elevate process safety standards, in addition to interactive engagements like real-time surveys, open quiz contests, networking opportunities, fostering collaboration, and shared learning among the participants.
