The Chennai Metro Rail can take someone to faraway lands that most of us can only imagine. Meet Chithiraputhiran Kannan who will soon be in Westminster Palace to receive the Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practices 2015. When he joined the Chennai Metro Rail as Engineer, he would never have imagined that his job would take him places and he would get an opportunity to travel to far away lands to represent the amazing work he was doing.

Kannan has just returned from Manila, Philippines, after receiving the Award for Achievement in Scientific Research and Development from World Safety Organisation. He is a deputy chief engineer (health and safety) for Chennai Metro Rail, which is an ambitious Rs. 14,600 crore project.

“I have been part of the Delhi Metro too and I can certainly say we have better safety practices in the Chennai Metro Rail project,” says Mr. Kannan who hails from Srivilliputhur and has 21 years of work experience.

“We carry out regular safety audits and insist that our contractors undergo some certification and update them regularly. This apart, we have doctors and ambulances in every site,” he adds.

But in spite of such measures, accidents have happened in the project over the past five years.

“Yes, accidents have happened at our sites too; but they have certainly reduced over the years. The problem is we train the workers, but then there are frequent changes. We have made every possible attempt to ensure that safety is beefed up at the Metro sites,” says Mr. Kannan.