Bond Technologies

New Regulations Proposed for Pesticides Use

2006-02-27T15:08:00.000-01:00

The following link, retrieved February 27, 2006, gives an important lead for improved safety standards in pesticides use

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/NEWS01/602270318/1001

Let California not be the only place with this universally beneficial change: ask your local authorities to consider copying these proposed changes for the safety of your community

New Doubts about Pesticides Registered Long Ago

2006-02-27T15:03:00.000-01:00

The following link, retrieved February 27, 2006, exposes serious limitations of the regulatory process:

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060227/NEWS01/602270312/1001

Pesticides put on the market by careless and rushed registrations, expose the public to untold risks.

The best we can do in the circumstances is to avoid exposure and residues. We need the cooperation of users to make sure that pesticides do not make their way in to our food and water supplies.

Pesticides in Rivers

2006-02-27T06:32:00.000-01:00

The following link, retrieved on date, refers to a ban on movement of pesticides across rivers:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-02/26/content_4230792.htm

Road transport also involves crossing rivers and major water bodies in some cases. We need precautions such as the Chinese have suggested for rivers and densely populated areas, when pesticides move across roads that have narrow, weak and outdated bridges.

The logistics functions of pesticides manufacturers and local regulators should ensure that emergency response procedures are documented and rehearsed, to protect natural wealth and people who live downstream from a potential accident zone.

Pesticide Dangers of Tomatoes

2006-02-25T06:50:00.000-01:00

The following link, retrieved on February 25, 2006, is terrifying photographic evidence of pesticide abuse in tomato fields:

http://www.wwaytv3.com/Global/story.asp?S=4538334&nav=menu70_2

Tomatoes are as attractive for pests as they are for us, and farmers use a number of toxic pesticides to keep their vines from harm. Women of child bearing age should stay away from tomato fields, but often stray in to them because they need the wages or because they are ignorant of the dangers.

Pesticide users have an obligation to keep women away from treated fields-PHIs (pre-harvest intervals) are known for registered pesticides and responsible manufacturers state them on labels.

A Warning for Farmers who Abuse Pesticides

2006-02-23T11:52:00.000-01:00

The link given below retrieved on February 23, 2006, shows the deleterious effects of farmers abusing pesticides by not observing pre-harvest intervals:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/euhs-odl012406.php

Children’s urine would not show metabolites of pesticides if farmers observe label directions. It is not necessary to resort to organic produce to free children of harmful pesticide residues.

Pesticide Pre-Harvest Intervals Matter

2006-02-21T11:02:00.000-01:00

The following link, retrieved on date, demonstrates the need to put Pre-Harvest Intervals (PHIs) on pesticide containers, in languages that farmers can read.

< http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C02%5C21%5Cstory_21-2-2006_pg7_41>

Retailers have important roles to play in disseminating this life-saving information amongst poor rural communities who have not had the opportunity to learn to read. Women of child-bearing age are especially vulnerable. The simple but essential discipline of observing PHIs is essential to safeguard human wellness in areas where pesticides are used.

The Human Cost of Pesticides Abuse

2006-02-21T07:17:00.000-01:00

Poor and illiterate families of farm workers around the world are the saddest victims of pesticides abuse.

The following link, retrieved February 20, 2006, carries disturbing reports about the indigenous people of Mexico:

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412487

It is simple to avoid exposure risks that arise from pesticide use, storage and transport. Extension efforts to promote safe and judicious pesticides use can make deep inroads in to cases of acute and chronic toxicity.

The Limits of Pesticide Regulation

2006-02-16T14:38:00.000-01:00

Toxicology, it may be argued, has severe limitations in terms of ensuring adequate standards of human safety. Subjective errors by regulators exacerbate the problem.

The following link, retrieved on February 15, 2006, is an example of how experts can make mistakes in approving the use of pesticides without proper scrutiny of test data.

http://www.sthelenastar.com/articles/2006/02/16/news/local/iq_3302386.txt

Judicious use by farmers is the only long term answer to containing the environment and safety drawbacks of pesticides. It is relatively easy to avoid exposure if you know how!

Help Keep Pesticides out of Public Water

2006-02-16T08:32:00.000-01:00

The following link, retrieved on February 15, 2006, shows how farmers can keep community water resources free of dangerous pesticide residues:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/global-1200.shtml

Small farmers need common facilities to drain, isolate and degrade spray and run off solutions, before they under underground and flowing water systems

A Useful List for Pesticide Folk

2006-02-14T07:23:00.000-01:00

Anyone who deals with pesticides in any capacity should keep an action list ready to deal with emergencies.

The following link, retrieved February 14 2006, is handy and easy to use:

http://www.continuitycentral.com/ActionList.doc

It helps if every member of a pesticides team rehearses adverse events to keep ready to meet any eventuality.

This applies to adverse events that do not involve pesticides as well.

England and Wales Take a Lead in Safe Pesticides Use

2006-02-14T06:31:00.000-01:00

Scotland and Ireland have their own versions of a new code for England and Wales that requires pesticides users to keep records of sprays and public water use.

The new code goes a long way towards improving public safety with respect to pesticides. It is a model for other countries to copy.

Use the following link, retrieved February 14, 2006 for details:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/global-1200.shtml

Information Imperatives for Pesticide and Other Toxic Chemicals

2006-02-14T06:16:00.000-01:00

Pesticide abuse often occurs simply because people do not know better.

Use the following link to read US Government guidelines on how information about hazardous chemicals should be widely known. (Link retrieved February 14 2006)

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hazardcommunications/index.html

Please make sure that you study and understand label text before handling chemicals!

Management Cockpits to Manage Pesticide Emergencies

2006-02-13T07:26:00.001-01:00

Acute poisoning during application, transport accidents, natural disasters in storage zones, spills and inhalation exposure… these are some of the routine risks pesticides operators have to take on a daily basis during the growing season.

The concept of a Management Cockpit can serve to make an Emergency and Poisoning Response System more effective. The following link, retrieved on date, proves how logistic control improves with relevant electronic databases at a controller’s fingertips:

< http://www.juergendaum.com/news/09_30_2004.htm>

A Management Cockpit for adverse events concerning pesticides should provide for the following:

- Multi-media links with the accident site
- MSDS information
- Real-time contact with regulators at national, state and local levels
- Media contacts for public information
- Cash, travel and victual resources
- Real time contact with back-up, support and management teams
- Business Continuity arrangements

A Deadly Legacy of Pesticides and Plastics

2006-02-12T00:47:00.000-01:00

Both pesticides and plastics tend to produce dioxins. The latter are amongst the most toxic and persistent chemicals known.

The following link, retrieved on date, indicates the dangers that a company which deals in both plastics and pesticides imposes on the community:

http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-6/113958817273600.xml&coll=4

62% of Europeans Worry about Pesticides in Food

2006-02-10T07:31:00.000-01:00

The results of a recent survey show that a majority of Europeans worry about pesticide residues in food. Report retrieved on date from:

http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-152346-16&type=News

This shows that there is considerable potential for Community Supported Agriculture, ISO 14000 certification and for the safe application of pesticides.

Good News about Pesticides at Last

2006-02-08T06:13:00.000-01:00

Depressing daily reports about abuse of pesticides, makes the following link (retrieved on date) a refreshing break!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Pesticide_Exposure.html

This report proves that pesticides can be used with relative safety. It should be emulated throughout the world in which communities are vulnerable to toxic exposure

Combination Pesticide Toxicity

2006-02-07T04:07:00.000-01:00

US researchers have new evidence of how abuse of combination pesticides can affect the environment. (Report retrieved on date from)

http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/report-54824.html

This highlights the need for farmers to have adequate resources to degrade wash and run off solutions of all pesticides, before they enter public soil and water systems

Tank mixes by farmers in the field are even more dangerous than registered combinations, for their toxicology has not been profiled at all.

Knowledge of and commitment to safe use practices is always important for pesticides, and its importance is heightened when farmers use combination pesticides in any form

Free Pesticides of Solvents

2006-02-06T03:01:00.000-01:00

Vapor intrusion is a serious concern for all communities, and it can rear an ugly head long after we think that toxic chemicals have gone away. See the following link retrieved on date from:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-litox0205,0,4623324.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Very little is known about vapor intrusion. We do not have reliable NOELs and there are many solvents which have not been studied at all.

There are no technical considerations in the 21st century to continue with solvents as carriers for pesticides, and we should insist on aqueous formulations.

The Dangers of Pyrethroid Pesticide Abuse

2006-02-05T05:23:00.000-01:00

Science News Online reports in its edition for the week of February 04 2006, (retrieved on date from)

http://mail.google.com/mail/?view=att&disp=attd&attid=0.1&th=109380d8a01c8247

that pyrethroids which were hitherto considered relative safe, can damage eco-systems, if abused.

This reinforces the view that all pesticides regardless of their chemical structure should be applied by trained operators who are equipped to degrade wash and run-off solutions before they enter public water and soil. This group of products is unsuitable for casual use by people at large.

Pesticides in Colombo well water

2006-02-03T09:12:00.000-01:00

The Asian Tribune reports that pesticides have been found in well water in areas of Sri Lanka around Colombo city.
Report retrieved on date from

http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16915

The villages grow leafy vegetables and have taken increasingly to pesticides. The water is used for drinking and for bottled water as well. Fortunately, two of the three pesticides tested had residues within prescribed limits.
The report proves that farmers need common effluent discharge facilities so that wash water can be treated effectively to safeguard the community.

Disposal of Expired and Persistent Pesticides

2006-02-02T05:44:00.000-01:00

ABC Online reports from Australia on how a chemical company with stocks of expired pesticides searches for a site where it can dispose off the persistent poisons:
Retrieved on date from:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200602/s1560280.htm
Places with emergency facilities, but not populated or with endangered species are difficult to find.
Excess inventory disposal is one of the most contentious issues faced by the beleaguered pesticides industry in the first world.

Labeling and Prior Preparation for Pesticides Transport and Storage

2006-01-26T13:57:00.000-01:00

Congratulations to the US EPA for fining a top pesticide manufacturer for incorrect labeling of a pesticide consignment in international transit!

Report retrieved January 26, 2006 from
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/e987e762f557727d852570bc0042cc90/00e24a7e1cb0385e852570df00814f35!OpenDocument

Pesticides need special handling to meet safety requirement. They should move under escort, with expert and equipped teams on stand-by to handle spills and leaks. Emergency information on a pesticide container can help save lives. No cutting corners here!

Rural Effluent Treatment Plants for Pesticide Safety

2006-01-25T07:09:00.000-01:00

The Oakland Tribune reports on January 24 2006, that chemical mixtures are more toxic than individual products. (Retrieved on date from):
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_3434179

This is a special hazard for rural communities whose aquifers are contaminated by a variety of pesticides used by individual farmers.

Plants for flocculation, chemical neutralization and microbial degradation can protect communities that live around farms where chemical agriculture is practiced. Microbes are specific to compounds, so farmers would need to log and regulate their sprays for the system to work. That is tough to implement, but the alternative of chronic human toxicity is unacceptable.

Pesticide Safety for Rural Communities

2006-01-24T00:04:00.000-01:00

Villages in which farmers use pesticides need collection tanks with impervious linings, in which left over spray solution and wash water can be flocculated and degraded with microbial cultures.

The chemical and biological oxygen demands on run off water that enters underwater aquifers are significant causes of chronic exposure.

A report on how this affects rural communities, especially women, children and farm labor has been retrieved on January 24 2006 from
<http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=91828>

A Reason to Celebrate

2006-01-23T06:55:00.000-01:00

It is not often that a pesticides company gives us a reason to compliment them on an environmental protection measure. That is why the report of Syngenta introducing a scheme in the UK to help growers manage their plastic waste, is a reason for celebration. This is so much than the archaic practice of burying pesticide containers in the soil, and expecting individual farmers to handle toxic wastes on their own.
This post comes from the following retrieval on date:

Avoid the dangers of pesticide abuse

2006-01-22T11:06:00.000-01:00

The San Francisco Chronicle of January 21 2006 carries a query from a person who feels ill after using a popular brand of pesticide. (Retrieved January 22 2006 from:)
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/21/HOGK1GOSD01.DTL)>
This is an important example of the consequences of pesticide abuse.
Always follow label instructions to avoid harmful effects.
Rely on certified Pest Control Operators, rather than try and handle specialized chemicals on your own.

ADIs, MRLs, PHIs and the Price of Safety from Organic Food

2006-01-20T02:49:00.000-01:00

The Seattle Post Intelligence reports on January 19 2006 (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/256222_organic19.html)
about the growing demand for organic food. Nature is the most versatile chemical producer, and yet the notion of organic food gains currency! This is a reflection of poor stewardship by the pesticides industry. The truth is that modern pesticides degrade in to relatively safe by-products soon after application. Observing acceptable daily intake limits and pre-harvest intervals can be as safe as paying the premium for organic produce. Pesticide manufacturers must reflect on their apparent inability to establish the facts of the matter!

News of Pesticide Toxicity from the Philippines

2006-01-18T09:08:00.000-01:00

A doctor who practices amongst a rural community of farmers in Cordillera reports a high incidence of various diseases including blindness due to widespread abuse of pesticides.
None of this need happen if only extension workers were to spread word of how to use pesticides safely and judiciously.
Retrieved January 2006 from

Terrible Risks of Pesticide Exposure in the Womb and for Children

2006-01-17T05:38:00.000-01:00

Kudos to the Star from Malaysia for reporting on the work done by INSERM in France! Pesticides used in and around homes and in cosmetics can double the chances of leukemia in children.

Women of child bearing age have to be especially careful to avoid pesticide exposure in all forms.

Retrieved January 17 2006 from

A Review of Internet News Reports on Pesticide and Other Hazardous and Toxic Substances during the Last 100 Days

2006-01-15T05:11:00.001-01:00

Please note: all websites to which references have been made in this review were active as of January 15 2006.

Summary

The Internet continued to be occupied by repeated reports, largely from the United States and the UK, about public concerns over pesticide exposure. Spills of other hazardous chemicals in China had some transient exposure, but the major public concern appears to be the hazards that arise from pesticide abuse. Pesticide manufacturers suffer enormous risks as transportation, storage and application of their products by people without training and awareness seems to continue unabated. This comes on top of reports that many markets may suffer inclement weather during 2006. Digital technology has made some interesting offers during the period under review that have potential to mitigate the risks associated with all hazardous substances.

Farm Worker Safety

We have known all along that farm communities are divided between land owners and laborers. This social issue has deep and important implications for companies involved in pesticides and other toxic chemicals used in agriculture. Customers who buy pesticides are often not the ones primarily and directly most affected by the acute and chronic risks of their handling.

The Peoples Weekly World has reported on January 14 2006 that the United Farm Workers in the United States have started agitating for regulatory protection against the hazards they face due to pesticide exposure. <http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/8380/1/303>

The University of Washington has reported high pesticide residues in rural communities. <http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=1890>
The report has surfaced on the Internet towards the end of 2005 though it is dated 2003.

The Palm Beach Post carried a touching article by Christine Evans on December 18, 2005 on how innocent infants born in farm worker families can be ravaged by pesticide residues. <http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2005/12/18/m1a_carlitos_1218.html>

Though the United States normally dominates the Internet, Latin America Press stood out on January 14 2006 with its report on acute poisoning of Santiago farm workers. http://www.latinamericapress.org/article.asp?lanCode=1&artCode=4513

The matter has also caught the attention of politicians. The Palm Beach Post reported on December 25, 2005 about how Florida legislators were shocked to see the conditions in which women of farm labor families are forced to work. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2005/12/25/m1a_future_1225.html

Residues

Public awareness of matters such as acceptable daily intake and maximum residue limits are hazy at best, so any report of birth defects and pesticide violations triggers panic reactions. This aspect calls for pro-active stewardship by pesticide brand owners to egg user and distributor groups out of complacency.

Naples News from Florida reported on January 14 2006 that the famous Wal Mart chain had taken branded tomatoes off their shelves after reports of pesticide abuse and (related?) birth defects. http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/jan/05/walmart_plucks_tomatoes_stores_over_pesticide_issu/?business
The Palm Beach Post has also reported on this matter on December 20 2005 http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/12/20/c1a_SantaSweets_1220.html

Record Net reported from Sacramento on December 30 2005 that regulators in San Joaquin had unearthed a number of cases of pesticide abuse. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051230/NEWS01/512300322/1001

Food Production Daily has reported high pesticide residues in food from Finland (01st December 2005) <http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=64257-finland-pesticides-contamination>

Contra Costa Times reported on January 02 2006 that a scientist had begun to study the possible impact of chemical residues in public water bodies on aquatic ecology. There would be serious product liability issues if any connection is established with a particular molecule. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/13535118.htm

Drift

Pesticide use in lawns and gardens continue to come under restrictions largely on issues of drift.

News Target has an undated report on the Canadian Supreme Court upholding a Toronto judgment banning pesticide use in urban areas. http://www.newstarget.com/015421.html

The Rome News Tribune from Georgia in the US reported on 7th December 2005 of severe strictures against a Pest Control Operator for careless operations in a school environment. http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news680449.html

Contamination

The disposal of pesticide containers is an important issue. Indian law prescribes burial of containers, which would make them a major source of soil and ground water contamination. Fortunately, implementation of this law is poor, though the actual practice of reuse of these containers by rural communities is even more hazardous.

The United Kingdom, aided by leading pesticide companies, seems to have taken a step in the right direction by encouraging recycling programs (Farmers Weekly of January 12th 2006): http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2006/01/12/91854/Pesticide+makers+share+burden+of+waste+disposal.html

Franklin County of Pennsylvania in the United States has also started a program designed to help people who use pesticides in their homes, dispose off empty containers through a professional service. Public Opinion from Chambersburg has reported on ‘Chemsweep’ on January 12, 2006 http://www.publicopiniononline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060112/NEWS01/601120313/1002

The Daily Californian has reported during November 2005 about pesticide residues in public water bodies. <http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=20449>

Breakthroughs

Electronics and software have made it possible for banks and telecommunication service providers to collate so much information about their millions of customers, that privacy itself is now jeopardized! There have been interesting reports during the last 100 days of how computers and satellites can combine to help manage risks associated with hazardous and toxic substances.

The Technology Review of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports on such technology for transport of hazardous substances. Kevin Hogan’s article if dated March 2002, but I have only seen it of late. http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_12764,294,p1.html

Food for Thought

Continuity Central has carried an undated report by Miguel Albano about 2006 droughts that are possible during 2006 <http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0285.htm>
The Indian insecticides business is amongst some significant sectors that have declined in 2005 over 2004, and a further downturn in 2006 could hit budgets to promote safe and judicious use hard.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has evolved a set of new principles for Business Continuity. These concepts have important implications for business sectors such as pesticides that involve high risk, and which can suffer crippling disruptions during acutely emergent situations. http://www.bis.org/publ/joint14.pdf

The Guardian Unlimited on December 04 2005 carried an article of a scientist’s protest against alleged pressure by a pharmaceutical company that had sponsored his research on one of their products, to influence the results and their presentation. The matter has tremendous significance for the pesticides industry as well, as it depends on such research to generate much of its regulatory data. <http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1657275,00.html>
The Grist Magazine has carried a similar article by Audrey Schulman on 01st December 2005. <http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2005/12/01/schulman/>

The Seattle Post Intelligencer has carried an article in November 2005 on how misconceptions about pesticide residues drive families towards organic foods. <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/249625_hcenter24.html>

The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported from China during November 2005, on social unrest due to peoples’ frustration over pollution from chemical plants. <http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/13252534.htm>

Companies that ignore trends in public opinion against their products and practices, run the grave risks of acutely embarrassing pressure to which they often eventually succumb. Take a look at <http://www.panna.org/campaigns/lindane.html> for a disturbing example!

A Review of Internet News Reports on Pesticide and Other Hazardous and Toxic Substances during the Last 100 Days

2006-01-15T05:11:00.000-01:00

Scan Adverse Events Around You and Network with your Rivals!

2005-10-15T10:00:00.000-01:00

Please leave a post here or email drsbanerji@gmail.com if you find any of the links inactive in the following article.

Floods, fires, accidents and earthquakes-we have seen them all in the last 100 days. Those who were unfortunate to suffer direct loss or inconvenience must have taken steps for disaster recovery. Business continuity will be easier the next time around for affected individuals and organizations who live in New Orleans, use the London underground everyday or survive in the mountainous terrain shared by Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Is there a way to prevent or at least mitigate the hardship that all stakeholders have to endure when the untoward hits us without warning? Deep and thorough analysis of everyday events from around the world can strengthen and validate the disaster recovery templates we deploy in our business, official and personal lives. Risk Management has excellent but probably underutilized tools such as Life Cycle Analysis and Hazard and Operability Studies, to name just two that can help both individuals and organizations.

Most of us are relatively well prepared for risks that are both probable and serious. Health insurance for major surgery and chronic illness are almost universal in the developed world. It is the same with auto insurance, albeit with more regulatory pressure. We are justifiably less concerned with probable risks that have no serious consequences. A traffic snarl could upset an appointment, but surely a reasonable client would understand! We may not stuff a change of clothes, or even a toothbrush in carry-on baggage for a flight, but we may cajole some shopping money from the airline!

A common Achilles heel is an extremely serious risk with low probability. Recall that Sandoz Limited conducted successful business for 100 years before a fire caught some of us with our pants down! It is not accidents alone; a sudden flurry of unsavory publicity is an example of a misfortune that can jump from one sector of business or social activity to another with capricious surprise.

Business Stewardship demands that we leave no stone unturned to defend the brands that feed us. Eternal vigilance is the price of remaining in business! There are two keys to improving all-round response ability:

a. Analyze all adverse events, wherever they may occur, and whichever sector they may hit with most force. Use such incidents for rehearsal and to keep your disaster recovery teams fighting fit.

b. Build ever expanding networks of all categories of stakeholders, trained, equipped and responsible to help you respond to a disaster with the least possible impact on business continuity.

The rest of this post contains links to adverse events in the last 30 days. I have chosen ones that are universal in terms of possibly affecting just about anyone. Do let me know, by post here or at drsbanerji@gmail.com if you feel that one of more of the instances is irrelevant in your opinion. Otherwise, you could use them to find answers to the following test questions:

i. How would I respond if my cell phone carries a message right now, that such an adverse event has hit my business or family?

ii. How many associates do I have on-site with money, materials, information, skills and authority today, to deal responsibly and in adequate manner, so that my routine would be disrupted minimally if at all?

May the efforts that I suggest above prove to be an utter waste of time!

I repeat that I am willing to do the mouse-work and get you original reports from archives, if any of the following links are inactive:

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20050917013950&Page=Q&Title=ORISSA&Topic=0

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002500801_dige17m.html

http://www.theiowachannel.com/news/4984649/detail.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1785260,00.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1469062.htm

http://www.sundayherald.com/51802

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/a77efc2ce3301d415d62063646427205.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/21/nfruit21.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/21/ixhome.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050920-1605-ca-twainsfrog.html

http://www.journal-advocate.com/Stories/0,1413,120~7826~3062673,00.html

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=15964&Cr=disaster&Cr1=

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcwest/content/local_news/epaper/2005/10/01/m1a_agmart_1001.html

http://www.scoopt.org/article2643-no-hazard-found-after-nj.html

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2005/113-10/spheres.html

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051005/NEWS/510050329/1001

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/environmental-decline-killing-poor/2005/10/06/1128562943533.html

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/12852044.htm

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051008/NEWS01/510080583/1075

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3386038

http://www.wacotrib.com/search/content/shared/living/stories/ASTHMA_1005_COX.html

http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2005/10/09/sections/opinion/100905d.txt

http://www.businessnorth.com/kuws.asp?RID=1272

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-methyl10oct10,0,3922924.story?coll=la-home-local

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=79850

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=79911

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1823151,00.html

http://www.adquest3d.com/da/content.cfm?catid=0&brd=1674&pag=778&displayadid=1153531&parentid=1153528

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/issues/Issue.10-13-2005/news/Article.news_1

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/12892144.htm

Stewardship of unlimited product liability through Life Cycle Analysis

2005-09-15T11:00:00.000-01:00

How far are you responsible for sub-chronic exposure of employees to materials incidental to your business?

What if customers do not follow safety advice on labels?

How can you be affected if your customer’s employees abuse your brands?

Can negligence by professionals who are supposed to regulate proper use of your product, result in blame being pinned on to you?

Does the media and the community that lives just beyond your factory gates, appreciate the nuances of your Material Safety Data Sheets?

Can you survive an audit of your corporate response to an off-site adverse event on a Sunday evening?

Can records show you in poor light long after you thought an issue was closed?

There is a way out. Business Stewardship calls for Life Cycle Analysis, Benchmarking, Hazop and Training.

Documentation can help you establish a concrete template for uniform action.

Painstaking review can help you provide for mitigation that will appear simple and affordable in retrospect.

Some of the links above may have been archived. Please make a post here or email if you need help to access a link.

Best practices in disaster and emergency preparedness

2005-08-15T05:30:00.000-01:00

Accidents take place everyday, all over the world, in factories, warehouses and when goods are in transit. Negligence is just one cause; acts of nature and events that cannot be foreseen may also steal our hand. Brands and products are not always in the custody of those trained and knowledgeable about how to handle them, and the most serious liabilities can arise through ignorance and a simple lack of training. The current age of Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Governance and Business Continuity all put even greater pressure on Executives and professionals to safeguard all stakeholders from every significant and plausible risk that the brands for which they are responsible, and the materials which go in to making them, on a cradle-to-grave canvas.

This can be so gigantic a task that most baulk at the thought of any initiative that could rock the boat. We tend to hope and pray that things will go on as they have for ages, and resort to foolhardy rhetoric and bluster at public forums, to negate the facts that our colleagues and we internally know and believe. You could be lucky and get away with it, but statistics go against you with every new day and transaction. Thank your stars should investments in safety go to waste, for dealing with adverse events can be shattering in every sense of the term. Recrimination, criticism and fatalism are of little use or relevance, for there is much affirmative action that we can take to reduce the probability of damage and to plan steps to mitigate possible effects. The following can be used as a starting point for discussion on how all of us can prepare to meet the eventualities of an accident or a disaster or even a seemingly minor adverse event:

Rigor in reporting, audit and group learning: Are near-misses covered up in your firm? Do people feel afraid to send information on accidents and deviations up the ladder of hierarchy? Are there lessons for you in incidents miles away and in a business of no concern? Do you have a database to log events, compare them with your operations and to eventually travel along the safety learning curve at speed and with consistency?
Rehearsal by fully resourced networks: Do you have on-site and off-site emergency plans? Are you satisfied with the updates? Did you have a surprise rehearsal of late? Are you geared for key people being away or incapacitated when the unthinkable happens? Do the people to whom you report know their liabilities? Are you prepared to install an emergency control center? Do you have people with information and material resources to leave for a remote site right now? What if the international media barges in to your room this minute?
Risk factoring in plans and decision-making: How sensitive are your profits to low-probability disasters? Do you have a Continuity Team and Plan in place? Do you have records of action taken to improve safety in major spheres that concern your business? Do you have systems of controls that prevent cutting corners on safety for short-term accounting gains?
Replacement and rotation of key personnel: Have you an inventory of interim professionals to aid in a recovery process? Do public authorities such as the Fire Brigade, Police and District Administration have MSD sheets for all that you make and store? Are your asset lists maintained in real-time and available off-site? When did you last recall a batch and how much of it could you not trace at all? Do you have an established chain of command?
Reward system linkage to risk management: How do you recognize innovation, effort and achievement in managing risks? Do stated objectives and every exhortation to your teams resound with the safety message? Would a survey show top-of-the-mind professional recall in your teams? Is it time to pause and think again of the road ahead?

Do respond with your most compelling criticism and alternate templates for sustained success.

Important developments in the Business Stewardship World between June and July 15 2005

2005-07-15T11:00:00.000-01:00

1. Public concerns about the hazards of chemical abuse continued. Please view the following links:

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2005/s1393699.htm

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2925228,00.html

http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2930101,00.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062201988.html

2. Issues related to transport and storage safety surfaced at important seats of pwer and influence. Please visit the following links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/opinion/opinionspecial/20mon1.html?th&emc=th

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8477697/

3. Industry responsed to public concerns about the environment. Take a look at:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-06/18/content_3103613.htm

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=648513

4. Important adverse events from which templates of emergency response can be built are at the following links:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/19/wrabid19.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/06/19/ixnewstop.html

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-

disney20jun20,0,2791608.story?track=tottext

http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/jun/23bpo.htm

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050622/APN/506221037&cachetime=3&template=dateline

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=2604642

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/Society/2005/07/04/1120440295.htm#top

http://chinastic.chinabroadcast.cn/chinastic/content.aspx?id=6386

5. Regulatory authorities were under the public scanner. Review allegations of regulatory torts:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/story.jsp?story=648010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101632.html?referrer=email

http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2005070319

6. There were positive innovations in Emergency Risk Management. Read about them at:

http://continuitycentral.com/news01942.htm

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=434&ArticleID=4818&l=en%22

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/weather/hurricaneguide/

http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?CALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=EN_RCN_ID:24013

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7506/0?etoc

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=96045

7. Major new technological breakthroughs were adopted. Read about significant new technology adoption:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,12070,1510072,00.html

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/tuas/

8. The Global warming controversy got hotter! Read about climate change effects:

http://www.adn.com/life/story/6629542p-6515444c.html

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=649245

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28590137.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4654251.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3856437.stm

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=649226

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4660773.stm

9. Infectious threats came in for review and may find quick application in the months ahead:

http://www.cdc.gov/travel/other/mumps_united_kingdom_2005.htm

10. Key legal process, judgements and new legislation during the last 30 days:

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/07/05/001.html

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_2840569

Batten down the hatches for the approaching storm!

2005-06-15T23:30:00.000-01:00

Thomas Friedman has just told us about the flat world and how it will affect people, countries and business. Do his concepts have lessons for Business Stewardship? Consider some random developments between May and June of 2005*. You may discern the following trends that can shake-up your job:

· Regulators are under attack for slip-shod work and even connivance with business. Local communities are beginning to assert themselves even as NGOs spread their wings of influence.

· Product liability has no geographical or time boundaries. You can be sued from the time products have left your warehouse to generations after consumption!

· Industry leaders leverage technological strength in such crushing manner that generic players must redesign their business models. Experience and templates of past success can be burdens.

· Established employee relations are crumbling and Corporations may be full of Trojan horses.

· Anyone can be blind to new and severe threats to business continuity.

We cannot shut shop or surrender under the garb of sphere of control. There are specific and concrete preventive and contingent measures that top Managements must continually review:

- Transportation, storage and use safety-product design, labeling and after-sales service.

- Transparency of operations with independent audits to reduce risks and measure footprints in terms of environmental load and public safety.

- Emergency response preparedness including logistics and media response, with regular rehearsal, examination of ‘near-misses’ and benchmarking.

- Data generation on safe and productive use of products and management of issues that limit and threaten business sustainability and even continuity.

- Management of dissent within employees, suppliers and all stakeholders over whom Managements have traditional authority and control.

The lists above may not be relevant for all enterprises. The common thread however is a new environment and a universal need to review business, customer service and revenue generation models.

* Mail drsbanerji@gmail.com for a copy of one such record

Blend Risk Management in to vital Business Processes

2005-05-15T23:30:00.000-01:00

Risks lurk in hidden corners of every business and enterprise. Some such as a rainy day may be ignored because recovery needs no special effort. Others such as a meteorite shower may be ignored for one may not strike during your tenure. Product liability is both serious and likely, but at least it stares you in the face. Nothing can match the ferocity of a grave incident that has not happened for decades or perhaps never before, but ignoring which on hindsight you are hard-pressed to defend.

Reputation is so integral to branding that it brooks not the most indirect of negligence allegation. A disaster may still find a path through all defenses but the stakes justify every conceivable effort. The canvas of possible scenarios is so wide that you need a process to uncover as many as you can and to equip your recovery team in every feasible way.

Benchmarking by the Devil may save the day for you, for lateral thinking can link a seemingly unconnected disaster with a potential and unwelcome visitor to your own back yard. Scan all your news resources and analyze how your recovery teams would react if the adverse events that you read and hear about were by great misfortune, to drop in on you. Near misses are at least as important as the ones with casualties. The latter are not universally tangible, obvious and close in time between cause and effect.

The political truism that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom applies to the assets you shepherd. Set aside resources and strengthen your fortress against attacks from all directions, whether contrived or ordained and pray that it continues to seem such a waste of time!

Communications and logistics seem to be the most overlooked parts during rehearsals and planning for disasters. Do your recovery teams have ready checklists for emergency procedures and are rights to make public statements structured so that people do not feel that you evade? Would your teams have food, water, shelter and protection if a situation lifted them to the eye of a hurricane and how long would they take to get there?

Changes in public perception are so fickle and ethereal at first glance that significant damage may escape your notice as relief in containing the immediate swell lulls you in to complacence. Perhaps like Cesar you need a slave to keep whispering in your ear that there are rumblings you must yet contain from repeat eruption!

The transfer of custody and eventual ownership of goods between your suppliers, your own sites and the downstream chain of logistics, with value addition and processing at each stage, leaves many questions of corporate social responsibility open to social, regulatory and legal interpretation. These could leave you in a bind if you have not prepared to deal comprehensively with the aftermath of sudden developments. What can you do to prevent an approved vendor from deploying child labor? What is a truck driver abandons the site of an accident, leaving your goods subject to hazardous abuse? Are you responsible for safe storage of your products after they are off your official inventory records?

The entire life-cycle of each product must be studied in great detail to safeguard the profits it generates year after year. All people who have roles, even if indirect, must weave effective stewardship in to their contribution to the fabric of the enterprise. Large and diversified groups face special challenges as they delegate routine intricacies to sector experts. The chasm between global standards and local practices in some countries is another dilemma that needs management with great discretion and transparency.

US business of a Japanese auto maker, commented on last month at this site, may be treated as a kind of standard of how commerce and industry can conduct their business with both profit and exemplary corporate social responsibility. Every member of the corporate world can implement systems to further Business Stewardship aims. Such an approach will foster long term sustenance of the business and improve capability to recover from possible and threatening disasters.

Contact drsbanerji@gmail.com or leave a post here if you would like help with a detailed audit of your business operations in light of the concepts outlined in this article.

Foster innovation for environmental protection problem solving

2005-04-19T23:30:00.000-01:00

Why is it that some industries are honored for exemplary performance in environmental protection while, other wallow in water air and other charges of pollution from industry?

How can an enterprise build environment management systems that encourage innovative efforts to strengthen business performance through new approaches to challenges such as protective air quality standards? How can the concerns of organizations such as Greenpeace be addressed in a manner that meets diverse goals without compromise on essentials in any quarter?

Developing a cadre of key human resources with new and proactive environment protection knowledge and skills, is a first step. Professionals from the field of Environmental Science have lead roles in the corporations that will make it beyond the horizon. Teams must have multi-disciplinary capability, marrying diverse fields such as Biology and Physics, for the modern organization to have a problem solving approach. Organizations must have the confidence and the energy to meet extreme points of view with a solution oriented end in view. People trained in Environmental Science have this kind of perspective and can add dramatic value in a team with highly targeted specialists.

Specialists in Environmental Science would most often be from the bottom of an institutional pyramid or from near the periphery of a large corporation, since the field is relatively new to Higher Education anywhere in the world. Such people and teams need material and moral support from Top Management. Hence Boards and Executive Committees should have people with a voice for nature. Executives will have to demonstrate genuine passion for the conservation of the key resources on which their careers depend. Such thinking can be good for business results as well, as many companies have shown. Successful corporations now take pride in LEED Certification as they continue to do in Stock Market ratings, movements and evaluation. Lip service and feigned concern will not hold public patience any longer-managements must be action-oriented in addressing environment as a Stewardship issue.

21^st century vision calls for long term and sustained efforts to conserve the non-renewable and to build templates of success that are sustainable and embracing of all constituents. This cannot be for altruistic benefit but must be seen to be of substantial and enduring material consequence to the future of trade and industry.

Pessimism utility

2005-04-18T11:30:00.000-01:00

Tsunamis occur once in a lifetime, and thankfully, never for most.

A shut down for a major part of a revenue season is most unlikely.

There are no storms on the business horizon and all is calm.

Your diary is full and you have no time for this.

Is there a point to all this?

Well, I hope not, but we cannot be sure. It pays to err on the side of caution, for things you least expect can hit you in the face, even later today.

There must be many serious risks for which you are well covered, but could there be others lurking in less frequented corridors, waiting to strike?

Could there be some grains of truth in the publicity-seeking claims of your opponents?

Do you have a trained team to help your business recover from events with potential for severe harm to your business?

Can your Group Image be sullied by a development involving one of your brands?

Post your thoughts here-you do not have to identify yourself, or email in confidence to drsbanerji@gmail.com

You could be grateful for the outcome, though I hope you find it a waste of time!

Effective Disaster Recovery Plans

2005-04-17T23:30:00.000-01:00

Why do some enterprises recover from disasters, while other seem to suffer in Enron fashion?

Do we believe that disasters hit others but cannot touch us?

Could there be a scenario that we have missed?

Do we have time left after preparing for next quarter's results?

Have key people with disaster recovery skills retired or left?

Can we improve the Disaster Recovery Training Process?

What does this have to do with Risk Management?

2005-04-16T22:30:00.000-01:00

· Leader in launch of cars with hybrid engines

· New manufacturing plants are state-of-the-art in terms of environment conservation

· Awarded the Energy Star by the Environment Protection Agency

· Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification by the Green Building
Council.

· Has reduced water usage by 15% since 1999. Recycled water in the paint shop costs no more than fresh water.

· Has reduced electricity and gas usage by 17% in the last 5 years.

· Has cut emissions by 40%

· Has cut the space needed to make a truck from 18 feet to 12 feet.

· 2011 goals include zero landfill waste. The latter is down by 95% already and this saves over $ 1 million every year.

· Has asked vendors to move inside its own plants to reduce movement, time and cost.

Please celebrate these business results with posts here of your own achievements.

Some notes I scribbled after reading Toyota’s business results:

Get Technology Risk Management to make money, not cost.
Get a helicopter and do your Risk Assessment from up there.
Risk Management topics embrace diverse disciplines.
Information Technology can add value in new areas.
I must act more green rather than try to appear like that.
I need targets to generate enthusiasm.
I will benchmark with Toyota.
I will benchmark with the Japanese to preserve my heritage.
This philosophy makes money!

Disaster Recovery Template Urgent Review

2005-04-15T23:30:00.000-01:00

Do you use Triclosan in any of your products? You could soon face trouble on this front as reports surface of its carcinogenic potential. Probability is low because Triclosan manufacturers should be able to defend their turf, but you never know with Greenpeace!

Order a Process Review in any case, of risk assessment of all ingredients in your products.

Let not that nail threaten your kingdom!

Enjoy your weekend,
but do it first thing Monday morning!

Post here or email in confidence to drsbanerji@gmail.com
if you need help or have a question.

Business Stewardship Practices

2005-04-14T23:30:00.000-01:00

· HAZOP process know-how for all parts of the enterprise.

· Focus in Mission Statement with reinforcement in all Management communication.

· Incorporation through MBO in Performance Evaluation.

· Company-wide training in Risk Management techniques.

· Foster lateral thinking to restructure around fault lines.

· Regular rehearsal of Disaster Recovery Templates.

· Benchmarking with a business with more serious risk than yours.

· Effective and consistent use of non-financial authority, with prior audit of all labels, printed, media and other communication.

· Drive towards greater process transparency and documentation.

Business Stewardship: HAZOP your logistics now!

2005-04-13T23:30:00.000-01:00

Consider the accidental release of harmful virus by an accredited laboratory, as part of routine calibration procedure.

This has happened in the same month as report of accidental leakage for 5 years, of an engineered gene at the facilities of one of the world's leading agri biotech companies.

1. What happens when your products are not in your physical control?

2. When did you last update and rehearse an off-site emergency?

3. How soon could you recover from a sudden adverse event?

4. Could there be some disasters for which you have no recovery template?

5. How bad is training and compliance in the weakest limb of your concern?

Does your selling price cover these costs?

2005-04-12T23:30:00.000-01:00

The WTO is so complicated that transfer of resources between people is difficult to see. Steel, oil, chemicals and minerals are examples of sectors that have seen changes in nationalities of makers and users. Countries that have led the world in the production of these goods, no longer do so, though their consumption growth remains unabated. Governments and companies in emerging countries delight in the visible effect on GDP, foreign exchange reserves and structured employment. Pollution, depletion and extinction remain fashionable concerns and the passion of the crazy troublemakers.

The culture of deficits and political mileage give elbow room that ground zero does not have. Stewards of enterprises at the micro level must be watchful for elements of costs that bookkeeping has overlooked, for they could land on your lap during your watch.

1. Costs of all inputs that your production shares with the poor. Electricity, air and water are famous examples. There could be others in your 'A' list of Purchase.

Indirect subsidies on your customer’s earnings or ability to pay. Farmers in the third world and the health insured in the US are important examples.

Technological discontinuities in fields with which you are unfamiliar. Genetics and electronics could reach much further than you know.

Recovery from disasters related to the environment and the economy. Some may send faint signals but others not at all.

Litigation and compensation related to product liability. This could be determined very differently from your own will and beliefs.

Most people would not like more portents of doom, but the list remains incomplete.

How many unthinkable events lurk on the horizon?

There is shocking news in my email today!

2005-04-11T23:30:00.000-01:00

Rick, an Ecologist at a US University, has found that one the world’s leading pesticides can harm the amphibian populations in the areas where it is used.

Tony from the company that developed the active ingredient says that the dose Rick used was 7 times more than the label recommendation.

Is Rick guilty of product abuse?

Could Tony’s employers keep track to check abuse of their most precious asset?

Tony and the journal from which I picked up the story are on the opposite side of the Atlantic from Rick. Could your media relations match this for response?

Now I know why Product Stewards are so nosy with we Marketing guys!

Business Stewardship: Key skills for the years ahead

2005-04-10T22:00:00.000-01:00

Consider the controversy in the

United States

about jobs going overseas. It has not all been about lower pay rates, but also to do with a mismatch between skills that business needs today, and the influences of personal higher education choices in the recent past.

Could this happen to your company? Do you have teams and management processes that protect you from losing out in the days on the horizon?

ADSL and a clutter of satellites mean that audio and video can now accompany text on real-time. Have you replaced layers of supervision with CRM freeware? Have you dramatically cut travel and related costs and time with Webinars? Do you track and compare customer behavior on your Internet site with that of your competitor, within legal provisions?

New technology has changed medicine and understanding of the mind. Social norms call for more objective function and are less tolerant of individual whim. Business is global and must function across cultures. What is the level of health literacy and emotional competence amongst your key people? Do they function effectively in a matrix and are their mental faculties adequate to deal with a gender-sensitive and international milieu?

The media has become more demanding and is better resourced. Do your people know the limits of their non-financial authority and are they trained to interact with reporters and regulators? Can you handle emergencies and recover from a foreseeable though perhaps unlikely disaster? Are your off-site emergency systems as good as the ones in your factories?

Internal and Interactive marketing now matter as service components enhance physical product brands. Do you have the new elements of the Marketing Mix in place? Do you have a plan to acquire new skills? Are internal customers recognized? Are you assured of quality in transactions between peripheral and outsourced personnel and consumers?

Erase disconcerting scenarios with affirmative action and protect your future profits, shares, brands and image.

Business Stewardship: Quality Branding

2005-04-09T23:30:00.000-01:00

A real-life, stranger-than-fiction news report with a photograph, in a leading Indian newspaper today, speaks volumes about today's nit-picking consumers.

The country's largest consumer goods company, with operations around the world, designs and exhibits a billboard for its ice-cream, with a lady licking the creamy stuff, lying on her back, legs wide apart. A man, poor fellow, has stumbled in disheveled form between her legs.

All the company wanted was to connect consumers with a 'modern, youthful and vibrant brand'.

The sods objected and the company removed the man from the advertisement. We are left with the woman alone in ecstasy, Popsicle handy near open mouth.

Please protect your Product Management from such vigilante attack!

p.s email drsbanerji@gmail.com for a copy of the media report with a photograph of 'before' and 'after'.

Business Stewardship: Growth with consensus

2005-04-08T20:00:00.000-01:00

The President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Kalam, in a recent address on National Growth Objectives, has laid out an 8 point plan for employment generation and the country's development.

The address makes for compelling reading as it seems to choose areas with which almost no constituent in the sub-continent of a billion people, could disagree. He moots water conservation, area-specific farming, value-addition in rural India and a host of the most staggering yet simple ideas. Each of them can be done and the Nation could start today. None of them are out of material reach and all seek harmony with nature. They should render poverty to the dregs of small pox and achieve widespread social justice as never before.

They are good for business and would help industries and the stock market as well.

The process by which his Excellency has arrived at his prescription, merits analysis and is worth trying at whatever level we operate. It is based on facts, resonates with crying needs and meets foreseeable concerns of all sections of society.

The potential for agreement in no way dilutes the strength of conventionally opposing points of view.

Please email at drsbanerji!@gmail.com for the media report.

Business Stewardship: Developing Key Human Resources for Brand and Image Care

2005-04-07T21:00:00.000-01:00

My company is performance driven and not paternalistic.

My people have clear and specific goals on what they must contribute to care of our brands and our fair name.

We are prepared to meet a number of eventualities and disasters and spread the culture of Hazard Analysis and Risk Management down to the engine room of our ship.

We are in tune with environment signals and weigh opposing views objectively.

Our system of rewards reflects our priority for Corporate Environment and Social Responsibility.

Business Stewardship: wipe your footprints

2005-04-06T00:00:00.000-01:00

1.Promote the development and use of bio fuel.

2. Discover new medicines through pharmacognosy.

3. Use plant extracts as industrial enzymes.

4. Encourage medical nutrition.

5. Preserve and enrich germplasm.

6. Discourage artificial fiber.

7. Achieve universal food security.

8. Transform subsistence agriculture.

9. Reduce post-harvest and storage losses.

10. Dialogue for a common minimum program of development.

What is your Business Stewardship type?

2005-04-05T21:00:00.000-01:00

1. Can you rank the following in order of importance?

Environmental audit

Marketing audit

Compliance audit

Financial audit

2. How much time have you spent, during the past 12 months, on the following matters?

Environmental stewardship

Product stewardship

3. Do you compete on the basis of technology or customer service, both or something else?

Now Visit

http://www.crestamarketing.com/

Take their TOCO test.

Now ask

a. the person to whom you report,
b. some people who report to you,
c. a vendor and
d. some consumers, sellers and influencers

to fill in their TOCO impressions of your business.

You will have a Jo-Hari window of your enterprise and may find the conclusions on use.

Cresta Marketing has a link to this site, but I endorse them on merit and there is no financial consideration for me.

Business Stewardship Direction: Global brand protection service for corporate definition governance.

2005-04-04T22:00:00.000-01:00

A brand protection solution is not always on agenda. It may not encompass intangible aspects or a company as a whole. There could be differences in country managements and certainly external environments would vary.

Marketing Audit templates are useful to keep track of elusive goodwill and image impact on international branding trends. Click on the link below for a flavor of how you can go beyond Accountants and Directors for an independent valuation of an investment center:

http://www.crestamarketing.com/

Large corporations may see no merit in Consultants for issues that they have in tight Regulatory grip, but public opinion and media reporters could do with counters from a pedestal of independence. Business Process will need in any case, facts gleaned from primary data, to use the work of Howard Gardner at Harvard on influence and persuasion.

This morning’s Financial Express (Indian) has two articles on Biotechnology that prompt this post.

Please email drsbanerji@gmail.com for links to the articles and for an excerpt of Professor Gardner’s revolutionary ideas.

Cresta Marketing has favored me with a link but my reference to their site is on merit and without any financial consideration for me.

See you tomorrow!

Teaching Business Stewardship

2005-04-03T18:45:00.000-01:00

April 03 2005

‘This should be a cinch” I told myself with a mental grin.

The pleading Principal was effusive with a torrent of gratitude as I condescended to take the Services Marketing course for Management students.

“Why does the stall at the corner sell more than all the other snack people?” I fumbled for an answer as the young student asked her pesky question.

“Why do some doctors do better than others’? Things were heating up and I resolved to study the subject a bit before taking more classes.

An obliging junior lecturer plied me with titles as I nonchalantly asked for some leads.

It turned out that the old 4 Ps of my youth had aged with me and People, Process, Physical Evidence and Preferential Customer Services were the new kids on the block.

The students diligently helped me with the differences between essential and peripheral types of physical evidence and showed me the help keys for a Customer Relations Management Consulting program. I learnt about the travails of on-line marketing services and realized to my eternal consternation that Services Marketing puts Product Management in the shade.

It is all about intangibles and enhancing the brand offer, I am told.

These kids need no Patents as I did. Their branding is as sticky as a cult, yet you can neither feel nor touch it. They live by their wits and are the ultimate open source in protecting a business or a vocation.

“You are the best of the Customer Service Consultants I have ever met. The others just read from their notes and do not listen. The students love you. Please come back next term”.

I nodded and exited, tail between my legs.

Dr S Banerji
Visiting Faculty, Bachelor of Management Sciences 5th Semester. R.I.P.

April 02 2005. Business Stewardship. Pharmaceutical and aviation industry bench marking for environmental ethics/complexity

2005-04-02T18:00:00.000-01:00

April 02 2005

1. Active ingredients and aircraft models are centers of learning. Companies protect their invaluable assets with ever-widening circles of knowledge. A pharmaceutical company has the best doctors and a company that makes aircraft, the best pilots. They act as keepers of public conscience within rooms in which decisions are made and protect the interests of all stake holders.

2. Side-effects are at least as important as the potential business from product features and its main applications. Pharmaceutical promotion is incomplete without warnings and aircraft companies go to great lengths to protect all categories of customers.

3. Interactions are your business. A pharmaceutical company studies what happens when its active ingredient is used with any other that may have conceivable chance of combined application. Aircraft makers take a degree of responsibility in areas vastly separated from its direct field-runway length, ambient noise and long confinement in enclosed spaces.

4. Use instructions are clear and comprehensive. There are wide margins for error. Communication is tailored to the professional competence of the audience. No effects levels are stated. Back up is built in. All foreseeable contingencies are planned in detail.

5. Manufacturers are on 24*7 alert to respond to a related emergency, wherever on earth, or in space it may be.

6. Service providers are trained and must pass certification periodically, and product access is restricted

7. Adverse events and near-misses are audited in detail and preventive action chased with vigor to reduce chance of recurrence.

8. The weakest link is used to measure product resilience and product stewardship performance.

9. All stake holders including opponents are engaged in continuous and earnest dialogue. Issues are addressed through filters of fact and correction is rapid and real.

Both industry sectors make money and contain some of the best examples of human ingenuity.

Excellence in environmental philosophy/complexity pays!

Business Stewardship Apr 01 2005

2005-04-01T06:00:00.000-01:00

Best Practices to consider Risk Assessment for Hazard Analysis

Chemical plants, especially after Bhopal, excel in Hazop studies, Assessment Risk vulnerability techniques and Disaster Recovery Plan checklists.

Many influential stakeholders expect personal top Management liability to extend well beyond company gates. ‘Not under our control’ does not help your Disaster Recovery Template.

Hazop study does apply to all business process. People in functions other than Manufacturing need Hazop training at least as much as those on the shop floor and under close supervision. Hazop procedure helps secure product, financial and aspects of liability wherever we choose to apply it. Root cause analysis is unfortunately spurred most often only by a Tsunami-like disaster. Failure mode effect criticality may lurk beyond superficial concerns in professional minds. It is worth examining periodically, every transaction over a period of about a fortnight, to uncover new areas for OSHA EPA Hazard Analysis. Corporate Governance and product label issues often prompt the thought that a Disaster Recovery Plan Template, could have improved reliability and control. Money and decisions by humans have the potential toxicity of the worst chemical. It is not common to spot such a hazard in a salesperson’s day, but risk assessment and failure reports should be as ubiquitous as refreshment vending machines.

Probabilistic considerations tempt Executives to dismiss sensitivity analysis in areas where the rarest of mishaps can have the impact of an apocalypse. Change must come from the very top, with a passion for Employee Training Workshops that turn the most unlikely of people in to guardians with the skills of Managers in plants with the most hazardous of manufacturing processes. Check all the Departments, Functions, Sites of your company and then look again for every nook and cranny, to uncover spaces and souls without a Sample Disaster Recovery Team that can execute a Sample Disaster Recovery Plan in a flash.

You do not have time? Count on Consulting Services Customized to your Needs, to act as your personal Fire Brigade!

Post your most immediate thoughts here now or email in confidence to drsbanerji@bondtechnologies.net

Business Stewardship Inauguration

2005-03-31T06:00:00.000-01:00

Dear friends,
Mercury and Mars are at 60 degrees towards each other today.
It is a day of choice to start a new Internet discussion group.
Welcome to Business Stewardship!
This forum aims to stimulate new business ideas for all of us.
I stand to gain if you post your thoughts exactly as they occur in your mind. I want to use your vocabulary for my own business and professional development.
Please visit as often as you can. There will be at least one new post every 24 hours.
Your posts need not reflect your official position if you fear a conflict of interest. You can make anonymous contributions. I can gift you a g mail address.
This site is open to everyone on the Internet and is designed to attract a torrent of traffic using my proprietary knowhow.
Anything sent to drsbanerji@bondtechnologies.net will be kept in confidence. I personally guarantee this to you.

I would like to start a discussion on topics for my first newsletter that will reach your e mailbox on April 15, 2005. Please vote for your candidate from the 10 news items that follow and that I have short-listed for review:

1. Corporate and media versions of bio-engineered corn seed leakage in to the environment.
2. A decision by the UK Government to disallow herbicide tolerant seed because expensive and lengthy studies show that some wild birds that feed on weeds, would be threatened. One leading research based company withdrew from the study mid-way, while another persisted until the conclusion.
3. A survey conclusion showing enormous agricultural biotech growth in China, South Africa and Argentina. These are also countries with major programs for future sustainable agriculture.
4. A leading beverage company decision to implement an Eco-Consultant’s recommendation to close a bottling plant in Kerala, in response to public ground water concerns and worries about the effects of water pollution. This was announced on the eve of the Indian-origin Chairperson of the chief rival company landing in India.
5. Opposition by Indian Government veterinarians to a demand to ban a pain killer for humans and animals. The ban has been proposed because rare birds of prey that feed on animal carcasses could be threatened by residues of the pain killer administered to the animals before death. The veterinarian opposition is because they have no affordable substitute pain killer.
6. Local community support in the US for a major company after a plant explosion, because people want the jobs; a US Court decision to restrain people from eating crabs so that they can continue to eat them; US Court restraint on property development because it threatened endangered ants.
7. Dramatic and concrete benefits in Africa for vector control after systematic pesticide use.
8. Launch of the Health Access program in California even as India legislates for Patent protection, but with safeguards.
9. A National Award for an analytical chemist who found residues of pesticides within regulatory norms in colas and in bottled water but apparently against unwritten laws. Also, press coverage of a move towards food safety norms and labeling in the Nation.
10. A sudden and enthusiastic campaign by a State Food and Drug Administration in Western India against a trusted brand for baby skins.

You are not bound by these 10 and I could review other matters that are more relevant for your situation.
My purpose is to think of all the things that can affect brands and company image and help in building contingent processes, a disaster recovery template and review of your disaster recovery team.
Please visit this discussion group again as often as you can.
Thank you for a patient hearing. You will hear from me again on April 15th unless you opt out of this group by an email to me or unless you favor me with many posts.

May the new Indian financial year bring you continued success!

Satya
p.s Please email if you want original media reports for the 10 incidents mentioned above.