How ADM Translates Global Safety into Local Excellence

In manufacturing, excellence has evolved beyond scale, speed and output. Increasingly, the companies shaping the future are being judged by something far more enduring: how responsibly, sustainably and safely they operate.

For ADM India, winning the recent CII EHS Excellence Award is not just a regulatory milestone, but serves as a powerful validation of a deeply held belief – one that world-class manufacturing begins with protecting people.

Widely regarded as a benchmark for responsible industrial operations, the awards recognize organizations that demonstrate exceptional leadership across environmental stewardship, workplace safety, health management systems, employee engagement and continuous improvement. In an era of heightened ESG expectations, supply chain volatility and growing regulatory scrutiny, earning this recognition signals deep operational maturity, resilience and a culture where responsibility is embedded into every level of the business.

Safety Beyond Compliance: A Shared Journey

At ADM, safety is a core operational priority, rather than treated as a standalone program or regulatory checkbox. Across the global organization, this commitment is framed by the motto ‘Safe or We Don’t Do It’.  This clear, unyielding standard guides every ADM facility worldwide to constantly evaluate, adapt and strengthen its safety protocols.

As part of this commitment, ADM continues to enhance its workplaces through occupational and process safety improvements, guided by the goal of achieving zero fatalities.

Through guidance from the Environmental, Health and Safety Technology Center, the company is advancing a range of initiatives, including strengthening Life-Critical Standards, expanding Total Process Safety training across all levels of the organization, providing focused support to highest-risk sites, and encouraging the proactive use of Stop Work Authority, which empowers employees and contractors to halt work if they identify unsafe condition.

“At ADM, safety, sustainability and operational excellence are interconnected priorities, each driving the other to build a more resilient business. This philosophy aligns with our global ‘Protect What Matters’ initiative, guiding our company-wide dedication to compliance, quality and workplace safety.  For us, protecting what matters is reflected in our efforts for an incident-free workplace across our operational footprint, by empowering our employees and contractors with the confidence, capability and accountability to work safely. This remains our steadfast commitment across every team.” says Amrendra Mishra, Managing Director & Country Manager, ADM India.

To translate this global vision into localized impact, ADM India has established a robust governance structure. Moving beyond baseline compliance or top-down enforcement, local leadership has institutionalized dedicated safety taskforces, clearly defined safety ownership across all levels of the organization and implemented rigorous daily operational monitoring systems to ensure accountability is embedded from frontline operations to executive leadership.

This approach ensures that every team lead, contractor supervisor and frontline worker understands not only the standards they must uphold, but also their personal responsibility in maintaining a safe workplace. Proactive risk management tools, structured training pathways and real-time monitoring reinforce this culture at every touchpoint, making safety a living, operational discipline.

Addressing Complexities by Nurturing Psychological Safety and Performance Excellence

India’s manufacturing sector presents a uniquely complex EHS landscape. Workforces are often multilingual, highly mobile and spread across extensive contractor networks. Many workers arrive with limited formal safety training, while facilities must adapt to increasingly demanding EHS expectations. The stakes are significant: workplace injuries are estimated to result in annual productivity losses of nearly ₹12.5 lakh crore in India – equivalent to 4.2% of national GDP – underscoring why baseline compliance alone is no longer enough.

ADM India has responded with a highly localized and inclusive Safety Management Program that elevates compliance into a culture of active care.  Recognizing that psychological safety thrives on empowering people, ADM India team utilizes collaborative workshops to ensure team members can speak up and share thoughts openly. This cultural foundation is backed by concrete operational actions, including the deployment of dedicated aerial lifts to ensure safer work at heights. In addition, daily toolbox talks, weekly engagement sessions, monthly contractor meetings and third-party audits for high-risk activities form its operational backbone, while training modules are tailored for linguistic and cultural diversity, ensuring no worker is left behind.

To sustain this mindset over the long term, ADM India’s specialized Performance Excellence (PE) Culture team bridges structural safety with genuine human connection. Instead of relying on top-down enforcement, this cross-functional group unites diverse operational teams to champion safety initiatives from the ground up.  By utilizing creative communication channels – ranging from site newsletters and real-time digital screens to recognition programs – the team celebrates safe behaviours and continuous improvement milestones. Crucially, recognition extends beyond cost savings, reinforcing a culture of gratitude, accountability and shared ownership at every level.

The team also serves as an internal bridge, actively surfacing India’s best practices and success stories to regional leadership and global peers, ensuring that what works on the ground doesn’t stay local.

Measurable Progress Driven by Innovation

The goal is to create a workplace where every person feels empowered, informed and responsible for keeping one another safe. That commitment is delivering measurable results:

• Double-digit reduction in TRIR & LWDC: A reduction in both Total Recordable Incident Rate and Lost Workday Cases, supporting ADM India’s journey toward its 2026 zero-incident milestone.
• More than 90% workforce engagement: Active participation in safety initiatives reflects a cultural shift from safety as a management mandate to a shared responsibility across the organization.
• 100% real-time visibility of safety risks: Enabled through digital platforms such as Guardian tools, providing proactive monitoring and helping teams identify and mitigate risks before incidents occur.

ADM’s commitment to responsible operations extends beyond workplace safety. For the fourth consecutive year, ADM India was recognized at the FICCI Sustainable Agriculture Awards 2025 for its contributions to regenerative agriculture and women’s empowerment. A reminder that for ADM, responsible manufacturing is a holistic commitment.

Why EHS Excellence Matters More Than Ever

For global food manufacturers, ingredient buyers and supply chain partners, a company’s EHS performance stands as a direct indicator of operational reliability and long-term resilience, rather than a secondary consideration to production capability.

Strong safety cultures reduce disruptions, lower absenteeism and minimize incident-related downtime, all of which are critical advantages in an increasingly volatile global supply chain environment.

ADM India’s EHS performance therefore represents more than strong internal governance. It is a promise to customers that its facilities are stable, well-managed and built for continuity.

This trust is paramount at a time when global manufacturers are under pressure to deliver not only quality and efficiency, but transparency, accountability and sustainable operations at scale.

Building the Future of Responsible Manufacturing

ADM India is proactively preparing for India’s Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code 2020, aligning its processes, documentation and training ahead of enforcement deadlines. The company is also exploring AI-powered safety monitoring systems for intelligent, real-time oversight of high-risk operations, while accelerating its environmental agenda through decarbonization, zero-waste initiatives and robust ESG reporting – all underpinned by robust, verifiable data.

Together, these collective actions reflect ADM’s long-term commitment to active industry leadership and sustainable industrial growth.

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