Tips for women secruity

1. Se
ecurity Awa
y
areness - Pa rt I
Wo
omen Secur
rity
While t entire n
the
nation still reeled und the sho of hein
der
ock
nous crime against a young girl on Dec
e
l
16, 2012, one th
hing that every India applau
e
an
uded was the timely submissio of Just
y
on
tice J S
Verma Committee Repor Justice Verma Committee took ju
rt.
e
e
ust 30 da
ays to submit its
recomm
mendations for stre
engthening laws to curb sexual offenc
g
ces. Those who ha been
e
ad
demandin capital punishm
ng
ment for
rapists a
are clearly disappointed as
y
the com
mmittee ruled out death
r
t
penalty but ins
stead ad
dvocates
increasin g the sen
ntence ter
rm. The
as
ed
cope of
panel ha widene the sc
sexual o
offenses including but not
limited t
to touch, advance
es, and
disrobing, stalkin voyeur
ng,
rism and h
has sugge
ested vario jail ter
ous
rms for su
uch offense This
es.
indeed is a welco
ome sugge
estion as it will force the culprits to think twice befo committing the
t
ore
so calle “not so serious” crime.
ed
Justice Verma C
e
Committee has also recomme
ended som amendm
me
ments to the “Prote
ection of
Woman against S
n
Sexual Ha
arassment at Workplace (Preve
ention, Pro
ohibition an Redres
nd
ssal) Bill,
2012”. This bill is a leg
gislative a
act in India that se
eeks to p
protect wo
omen from sexual
m
harass
sment at th
heir place of work. It was passed by the Lok S
p
Sabha (the lower house of
e
dian Parliament) on 3 Septem
mber 2012. It was pa
assed by t Rajya Sabha (the upper
the
the Ind
house of the Indian Parliam
ment) on 2 Februar 2013. The Bill got the assen of the P
26
ry
t
nt
President
on 23 A
April 2013
As alw
ways and more so, in the cu rrent scen
nario, business orga
anizations increasing keen
gly
towards safety a
and securit of emplloyees, pa
ty
articularly women. Th shamef inciden has in
w
he
ful
nt
fact, fo
orced corp
porates to relook H policie & guidelines on safe and secure working
o
HR
es
d
environ
nment for women. However, with refer
H
rence to the sugges
stions sub
bmitted by Justice
Verma Committ
tee to bill, there are mix
xed
reactio from co
ons
orporates.
The m
most con
ntroversial suggest ion is the
t
amend
dment of Section 14 of the Sexu
ual
Harass
sment Bill, 2012. Se
ection 14 a
advocates to
penaliz a woma for filing a false co
ze
an
omplaint. The
T
commit
ttee howe
ever favors removing the clause
s
g
and su
uggests no action ag
o
gainst a w
woman, if the
t
compla is later found to be false.
aint
r
b
Howev
ver, not ma HR he
any
eads would appreciat this clau
d
te
use. A mec
chanism to keep a c
o
check on
false a
allegations is necess
sary. There could be various reasons fo such a malafide in
e
e
r
or
m
ntention.
Various nuances to corpor
s
s
rate dynam
mics – jea
alousy, per
rsonal riva lry, denial of promotion etc.
can trig
gger such accusation. If the co
omplainant is assure that she will not face action for her
ed
e
f
n
false a
allegations, the perso may be encourag to take this step This will result not only in
,
on
e
ged
e
p.
l
t
wastag of time and resources but w also lea to unne
ge
will
ad
ecessary ta
arnishing of the imag of the
o
ge
By: Capt SB Tyagi, CO
B
OAS’CC*, FISM, CSC, CSP
P

2. accuse
ed.
Accord
ding to a re
eport in the Econom Times, to ensure women e
mic
employees feel secur India
re,
Inc. is doing all it can like organizin escorts to take them home safe, ho
e
ng
s
e
olding self-defence
worksh
hops and e
even allowing them to leave ear
o
rly.
The De gang r
elhi
rape has le the ent ire nation in shock, including c
eft
i
corporate India which is now
h
beefing up safety for women employ
g
y
yees with more mas pepper spray sup
ss
pply, gizmo 24×7
os,
helpline etc. C
es
Companies are also giving ka
arate clas
sses to fe
emale staf as part of the
ff,
t
empow
werment drive. As part of ann
p
nual traini
ing schedu
ules, both HCL Tec and Ae
ch
egis are
conduc
cting works
shops in self-defence while ad
e,
dministrativ teams h
ve
have open shops in office
ned
premis
ses to facilitate the sale of p
pepper spray. While ICICI Ba
e
ank has conducted several
c
meetings to figure out ways of assurin the safe of their women, fe
s
ng
ety
emale emp
ployees at Maruti’s
Gurgao office ha come together to share the safety concerns.
on
ave
o
eir
c
After t
the infamo
ous gang-rape and murder, of Wipro BPO
employ
yee, Jyotik
kumari Choudhary b
back in No
ovember 2007,
2
the com
mpany dev
veloped multi-level s
m
safety mea
asures in order
o
to achieve abso
olute prote
ection for their fema employ
ale
yees.
nly
eduled tim
mings.
Wipro now runs late night cabs on at sche
cab and th routes they take are regis
he
e
stered with the
h
Each c
transpo departm
ort
ment. A security gu
s
uard is also hired to sit in
o
every c to acco
cab
ompany the female e
employee to the door
t
rstep.
The co
ompany is also equip
pped with a vehicle-t
tracking sy
ystem
that en
nables com
mpany’s se
ecurity offi cials to tra the loc
ack
cation of v
vehicles fe
errying emp
ployees.
Wipro has also in
ntroduced a 24X7 tolll-free supp numbe from wh
port
er
hich emplo
oyees can report, if
at all th
here is an e
emergency
y.
Organizations su as Cog
uch
gnizant, Inf
fosys, HCL TCS and Wipro en
L,
d
nforce stric rules wh
ct
hich also
include sacking people wh are cau
e
ho
ught haras
ssing wome at the workplace Compan
en
e.
nies now
also en
nforce rule against, ‘textual h
es
harassing’, under wh
,
hich a fem
male emplo
oyee can r
report to
authori if a male colleague sends he lewd me
ity
e
er
essages.
HCL Te
echnologie constan monitor all employee cab services fro its bas stations. In case
es
ntly
rs
s
om
se
.
of any emergenc it’s SPO
cy,
OCs (single point of contacts) manning th base st
e
m
he
tation can connect
immediately with local poli station and pat
h
ice
ns
trolling units. Each e
employee also has o hand
on
contact details of transport SPOCs, w
t
f
t
who can in turn mob
bilize nece
essary ass
sistance in case of
emerge
encies.
"All wo
omen employees hav to call t
ve
the transp
port desk to report sa arrival at home. In case
o
afe
they do
on’t, the tra
ansport de calls up the empl
esk
p
loyee at th estimate time of reaching h
he
ed
home on
her mo
obile or hom numbe for confi rmation. This is com
me
er
T
mpiled as a daily safe arrival rep and
e
port
subject
ted to int
ternal aud
dit," said VP and global he
ead - HR busines service
R,
ss
es, HCL
Techno
ologies.
Beside compan
es,
nies like In
nfosys and HCL are conducting self-defe
d
g
ence classes to emp
power its
women To take the self-d
n.
defence as
spect a notch up, co
ompanies l ike HCL have set up shops
h
within t
their office premises to facilitat the sale of pepper spray. H CL also ha a string
e
s
te
e
as
gent perengage
ement scre
eening pro
ocess of its transport vendors by sharing records with the police. The
s
b
w
compa has cre
any
eated a common data
abase of blacklisted vendors/d
b
drivers, whi is upda
ich
ated and
By: Capt SB Tyagi, CO
B
OAS’CC*, FISM, CSC, CSP
P

3. distributed regularly.
Companies across the country have taken stock of the situation and the risks that their female
employees can be subject to. The first step has been to collate data on areas the women
workforce come from. Many are also looking at drawing up a policy for seasonal tasks that
require late hours from women. They could be account staff during annual audits, HR
professionals during appraisals, the marketing managers during product launches and the
payroll team during tax filing etc. says Kamal Karanth of Kelly Services India.
At Hyundai Construction Equipment India Pvt. Ltd, which has 5% women on the rolls, a woman
has been included in its ethics committee to ensure that other women are comfortable sharing
their problems. “We have made sure that none of the chartered buses ferrying our employees
has tinted glasses. The company has also decided not to continue with the practice of calling
women staff over the weekend for audit work. They will now attend office only during regular
hours from 8.15am to 5.45pm. Also, the employee to be dropped last will be a male and not a
female,” says Dixon Jose|, head, HR and administration, adding that women employees have
also been given a single-digit emergency number in their mobiles to seek help in case of
emergency.
Dell India, where employees work 24x7, already has a policy in place to ensure that women
travelling from home to office and back, and those travelling on business outside of their usual
locations are mandatorily provided a secure form of transportation at night.
By: Capt SB Tyagi, COAS’CC*, FISM, CSC, CSP