Ranchi, Sep 11 (PTI) Global steel major Tata Steel is scaling up artificial intelligence, connected workforce systems and remote operations to make industrial safety more predictive, with the company already using more than 10,000 CCTV cameras and AI-enabled surveillance to identify unsafe behaviour and intervene before accidents occur, a top official said on Friday.
“Most people use CCTVs for post-mortem after an incident. We want to do it proactively — to prevent accidents. Tata Steel is scaling up AI, computer vision and remote operations to shift workplace safety from post-incident investigation to real-time accident prevention, with over 10,000 CCTV cameras across its operations,” Rajiv Mangal, Vice President, Safety, Health and Sustainability, Tata Steel, told PTI.
Over the past 15 years, Tata Steel has achieved a 38 per cent reduction in its lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) across the group.
The company is using AI-enabled surveillance to detect unsafe acts and generate immediate alerts for supervisors, instead of relying only on common practices to monitor thousands of camera feeds, Mangal said.
Tata Steel is also deploying its Connected Workforce platform across the country.
“AI-enabled gate passes and beacons installed inside plants track personnel movement and automatically flag deviations, helping ensure workers enter only authorised and safe areas,” he said.
The company is also expanding Integrated Remote Operation Centres (iRoCs), enabling hazardous operations either in mines or plants to be monitored and, where feasible, controlled remotely.
CCTV feeds, plant and machinery data and other critical information are brought together on large screens, reducing workers’ exposure to hazardous environments and improving coordination during emergencies.
Mangal said remote operations could also help attract younger workers to the steel industry by reducing exposure to hot, humid and high-noise workplaces.
“AI is being deployed in logistics safety as well. Around 8,000-10,000 trucks and trailers with raw materials or goods enter Tata Steel plants every day. Driver-fatigue monitoring systems use cameras to detect head movement and mobile-phone use, triggering alerts and automated warnings. Technology is also being used to prevent trucks from coming into contact with overhead cables,” Mangal said.
The company’s digital safety systems include real-time hazard detection, IoT monitoring, predictive asset-health analysis, drones, smart surveillance and GenAI-enabled safety observation systems, he said.
Tata Steel expects AI-powered hazard prediction, computer vision, digital twins, autonomous inspections, wearables and connected-worker technologies to become central to industrial safety by 2035, he said.
Mangal, who is a member of the safety committee of global steel body World Steel Association, asserted that in Tata Steel, safety culture is always backed by its leadership.
“Tata Steel’s safety performance is reviewed through its board-level Safety, Health & Environment Committee, Risk Management Committee and other leadership forums, with safety risks integrated into enterprise risk management. Safety is not only driven by the safety department. If safety has to be genuinely implemented, the entire leadership team has to take ownership,” he said.
The company’s Zero Harm philosophy applies equally to contract workers, who undergo mandatory induction, competency assessments, role-specific training, audits and performance monitoring, he said.
Tata Steel has invested in two safety leadership development centres and benchmarks its practices against global steelmakers and other industries.
Tata Steel is also expanding its safety agenda to mental health, heat stress, fatigue and ergonomics through a five-pillar wellness framework covering physical, emotional, occupational, social and financial wellbeing.
On decarbonisation, Mangal said Tata Steel remains committed to Net Zero emissions by 2045 and is pursuing electric arc furnaces, renewable energy, biochar, HIsarna, EASyMelt and green-hydrogen technologies.
The company has conducted a large-scale hydrogen injection trial in a blast furnace and found the technology technically feasible, but commercial deployment remains constrained by cost and availability.
Hydrogen prices would need to fall to around USD 1.5-2 per kg from current levels of roughly USD 4 to 6 per kg for large-scale steelmaking applications to become viable, he said.
The company estimates its existing Indian sites have land to support capacity of up to 40 million tonnes.
Future investments, however, will focus increasingly on specialised products such as electrical steel, heavy plates for shipbuilding and high-end steel for pipelines, including hydrogen transportation.
Mangal said India’s abundant iron ore and growing steel demand provide significant scope for capacity expansion, but high logistics and infrastructure costs remain key challenges.
Better road, rail, port and waterway connectivity will be crucial for sustaining India’s steel growth, he said.
The company spent Rs 802.17 crore on environment, safety and compliance projects in FY2025-26, compared with Rs 1,036.25 crore in FY2024-25.
Tata Steel in the June quarter reported a 19 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,385.24 crore on account of growth in revenues from India operations.
Its total income rose to Rs 61,026.97 crore in Q1 FY27 from Rs 53,466.79 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Tata Steel was established in India as Asia’s first integrated private steel company in 1907 and is now one of the leading global players. PTI NAM MNB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.