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- Royal Sundaram identifies Road Safety as the core focus area for CSR activities
- In 2013, Tamil Nadu recorded 15,563 fatalities in the 14,504-recorded accidents, the highest for any state in India.
- As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Tamil Nadu also topped the list of most accidents in a state for all previous ten years from 2002 to 2012.
- Emergency response and care in golden hour helps a great deal in saving lives
- Partners with ALERT to organize “Training in Golden Hour Care” to sensitize general public to get trained in CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and other life saving techniques essential to save a life in danger.
- Receives heartwarming response of noble citizens at the training session
Chennai, September 14, 2014: Royal Sundaram, India’s first private general insurance company, on the occasion of World First Aid Day, proudly supported ALERT, a non-profit organization, who has undertaken Golden Hour Care and Emergency Response management as its core project. Under its corporate social responsibility, this is the second time in a row that Royal Sundaram has partnered with ALERT to impart knowledge and training for general public for CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and other life saving techniques essential to save a life in danger.
Commenting on the event, Mr. Ajay Bimbhet, MD and CEO of Royal Sundaram, said, “We are in the business of protecting people and businesses against the risks they face in their daily lives. By virtue of the nature of our business, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) therefore becomes an inseparable part of our organization culture. We have adopted the cause of road safety as one of the key focus areas for CSR activities.”
India has the most dismal record when it comes to road safety among its peers, with one person dying every three minutes due to road injury. Moreover, the State of Tamil Nadu, where royal Sundaram is also headquartered has topped the list of most accidents in a state for all previous ten years from 2002 to 2012, as per NCRB. In 2013, Tamil Nadu recorded 15,563 fatalities in the 14,504-recorded accidents, the highest for any state in India.
Mr. Bimbhet further added, “As a company, we feel morally responsible in doing our bit to improve the prevalent road accident situation in our society. With ALERT, we have worked towards promoting awareness and training people on handling medical emergencies, especially in the golden hour.”
The Golden Hour refers to the first hour after a serious accident, when it is crucial that the victim receives medical treatment in order to have a chance of surviving. It is a window in which it is critical to stabilize the patient till medical help arrives. This is especially critical in case of road accident victims.
Commenting on the event, Mr. Rajesh R Trivedi, Managing Trustee – ALERT, said, “We take pride in associating with Royal Sundaram in not just the BEING ALERT campaign but in the cause of saving lives. In the context of road accidents, we are losing 17 lives every minute due to medical emergencies, we at ALERT feel that it is highly important to involve the public and sensitize them on the need to learn basic life saving skills. The training was aimed at conveying that any common man can help in an emergency need and save a life with just a little bit of training.”
The training session today at IIT campus witnessed more than 200 participants from diverse age groups.
Several youngsters were also present at the training. "It is better safe than sorry. I now know at least the basics of how to handle a medical emergency. This knowledge could someday help me save a life. I feel empowered," commented Putul Vaidyanathan, a 16-year old student who attended the training session.
Royal Sundaram undertakes regular CSR initiatives such as conducting blood donation camps and raising funds for various causes.
ANNEXURES:
World First Aid Day
The second Saturday of September every year is earmarked as the World First Aid day and communities around the world run various campaigns to raise awareness for the need to get trained in first aid and various lifesaving skills. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) introduced World First Aid Day in 2000. The IFRC believes that first aid should be accessible to all - including the most vulnerable, and should also be an integral part of a wider developmental approach.1
Road Accidents data
According to a report released by the Tamil Nadu Police in 2013, there were a total of 15,563 fatalities in 14,504-recorded accidents. The corresponding number of people sustaining grievous injuries in 4,715 accidents was 6,513, and the number of people who sustained minor injuries was 69,168 in 44,158 accidents. A total of 2,861 people escaped injuries.1The state also topped the list of most accidents among all states for all previous ten years from 2002 to 2012. It was estimated that were around eight accidents every hour and a total of 15 percent of all accidents in the country occurred in the state. The data from National Crime Record Bureau indicated that the state capital, Chennai, had 9,663 accidents, the most of any city in India in 2012.2
As per the report published by the State transport authority in 2013, out of 66,238 accidents, two-wheelers were involved in 22,496 accidents, cars, jeeps, taxis and tempos in 18,658, trucks in 9,192, government buses in 3,765, private buses in 3,564, three-wheelers in 2,983 and others in 5,580.3 As per the same report, 20,686 accidents occurred in national highways, 20,984 in state highways, 17,401 in district roads and remaining 7,167 in village roads.3
The state is the first among the states in India to introduce a road safety policy in 2007. The state also introduced a road safety action plan in 2009 that involved tracking accident records through software called Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The software was accessible to the police in the 1,400 police stations in the state, who entered the accident data. The trends provided by the data were used to identify 3,000 potential accident spots, number of people involved, background of the people involved, timing of the accidents and also the type of accidents. The state traffic planning cell and the additional director general of police head the action plan.
Sources:
1 –“Handbook on Police Department 2013 (Report). Tamil Nadu Police Department. 1 January 2014. p. 22. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
2 -"For 10th year in a row, Tamil Nadu tops India in road accidents". TNN (The Times of India). Retrieved 1 January 2014.
3 -"Accident details for Tamil Nadu by type of vehicles" (PDF). State transport authority, Government of Tamil Nadu. 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
About Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance
Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Sundaram Finance and Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc, UK, where the former holds 74% and the latter holds 26% of the equity.
Royal Sundaram is the first private non-life insurance company licensed to operate in India. Royal Sundaram offers a range of innovative general Insurance products, which includes Motor, Health, Personal Accident, Home and Travel Insurance for individual customers. The Company’s Accident & Health claims process received ISO 9001-2008 certification for effective customer service delivery. For Commercial clients, Royal Sundaram offers a wide range of specialised insurance covers in Fire, Marine, Engineering, Liability and Business Interruption risks. Royal Sundaram also offers specially designed products to the Small and Medium enterprises and rural customers. Royal Sundaram currently has over 6.7 million customers, 1,700 employees and its products are distributed in over 180 cities across India, through Agents, Distribution Partners, Affinity Partners and Brokers. For more information, visit:www.royalsundaram.in
About ALERT
ALERT is a non-profit organization that aims to spread awareness about wellness in the society. A first of its kind initiative in very many aspects, it has been started by a group of spirited and service minded professionals. As a first step towards this journey towards wellness, ALERT has undertaken Golden Hour Care and Emergency Response management as its core project. Through this project ALERT trains various sections of the society in emergency response and works towards building a better emergency care eco system in our society. This program is being taken to corporates, educational institutions, shopkeepers, homemakers, fishermen, auto\cab drivers and other social bodies. The mission is totally free from any commercial motive. “Train one in every family” in emergency care – A goal set by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam drives all projects at ALERT under the mission to preserve, protect and create awareness on the wellness of the society.To know more about ALERT visit www.alert-wecare.org
For more information contact:
Shilpa Jain
Fortuna PR
shilpa@fortunapr.in
+91 98213 21366
Saradamani Dey
Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Ltd.
saradamani.dey@royalsundaram.in