No one is looking at safety

Tyco International Limited, a company based out of the United States, is a leading provider of electronic security products and services, fire protection, detection products and services. Given the rampant incident of fire fights in the country, Sharad K Bohra, Managing Director, Tyco Fire & Security, India speaks to Vyas Sivanand about the need for more focussed approach to fire safety and what his company has to offer to address the same.Fire safety is a concern in the country considering the malicious construction patterns followed in both residential and commercial sector. What according to you needs to be done to address this concern?In India, if every enterprise is willing to ensure safety, then standards will improve. Currently, every builder is looking at an occupation permit and not safety. Once the safety aspect is prioritised, then we have to also look at maintaining the system. Both are lacking in the current system of functionality in India.How is Tyco providing solutions to address this concern?In the West, there is a lot of stress towards fire safety, unlike India. As a country, India has now started to follow better fire safety practices but the need is to have better compliance. Tyco is today a leading fire and security enterprise worldwide with a long history of innovative products and solutions towards the same. A good percentage of our profits goes into research & development. We have 14 centers of excellence within Tyco and the Bangalore unit is one among them.For over a century now, we are protecting people and property with our comprehensive range of fire protection systems. Tyco Fire Protection offers comprehensive solutions from concept to completion, designed to comply with all relevant standards, codes and legislative requirements, including environmental, health and safety to variety of industrial verticals.Fire Detection and alarms is among our main expertise. From standard heat and smoke detection, to very early detection systems and specialised gas monitoring, we have developed detectors and alarm based solutions to meet the increasing demands of business and the community.Our range of detectors include fixed temperature heat rate of rise heat, flame, high-performance optical smoke, linear heat, ionization smoke, optical smoke, beam, etc. Fire suppression is another main area of ours where sprinklers come to play. But in our range of solutions, we offer an array of specialised fire protection solution from clean agent to water spray, powder and foam. We are also the top player in breathing systems essentially meant for fire fighters. Is there any kind of awareness campaign that has been initiated by you?We have started some awareness campaigns especially in schools with Fire & Security Association of India. We have conducted such campaigns in Gujarat and Maharashtra and are planning to cover the entire South.How different is your strategy in the Indian market?Globally accepted solutions are not fit for an Indian requirement. So we have to mould according to the requirement.  Our engineering group is focussed on developing such solutions for the Indian market. We are looking at a combination of manufacturing and supply chain to provide world class products and customer service.  We are currently catering to the fire and safety requirements of petroleum, oil & gas, infrastructure and commercial enterprises. We are not into residential as the model is different in India.