Dr.Vanitha Gopalkrishnan is a dedicated Safety Manager with over 10 years of experience in Workplace Safety and Health. Basically, her Ways of Working (WOW) is the key factor which drives her in shaping the workplace as a zero-harm workplace. Zero tolerance to safety violations is her workplace motto and safety is always the first priority is her life's vision. Her proactive leadership and strong communication skills has led to successful reduction of the incidents across the multiple sites. Furthermore, her passion is about fostering a culture of safety and empowering teams to prioritise well-being.

Dr. Vanitha Gopalkrishnan has significantly transformed Flextronics Shah Alam Sdn Bhd’s safety landscape. Under her leadership, the facility was transitioned from a high-risk incident area to a low-risk environment, achieving corporate safety targets within two years—a standard that has been sustained for the past four years. Notably, her initiative in introducing biometric system for Material Handling Equipment (MHE) has been recognised by Flex corporate as the best practice and has been adopted by other Flex sites globally. The best safety culture, which was molded by her in reducing number of incidents, became case study for University Technology Malaysia's student in developing guideline for department of OSH. Introduction of Hand Safety Programme related to engineering control throughout the plantwide is also one more significant achievement which reflected in reducing hand injury at workplace. Her notable achievement in health was achieved by introducing air pollution control system throughout plant wide which led to elimination of medical surveillance due to adoption of healthy working environment.

Following are the Safety and Health Initiatives that have been implemented at Dr. Vanitha Gopalkrishnan's site to ensure safe workplace provided to all the employees. First, total 263 robotic arm machines have been installed to eliminate serious injury related to moving machines. Secondly, they installed blower for hopper machine to eliminate risk of falling from height. They also installed biometric system for Reach Truck, which has been recognised as the best Flex project and Yokoten at other Flex Site. In addition to this, beacon lights are also installed to all the MHEs which will be triggered when MHE pass by pedestrian walkway to auto lock the gate with the purpose to safeguard pedestrian. Adding on new pipe cutter was fabricated to eliminate dust generation and reduce high noise generation which received recognition from Department of OSH Malaysia to be adopted by other companies in Malaysia. Besides that, she also removed all the unapproved pen knife at the molding area and replaced with auto retractable knife, followed by providing cut resistant glove level 5. Total of 15 jigs have been fabricated to replace usage of unapproved tool: installed safety cage for 263 robotic arm machines, emergency stop button installed for 20 Tampo printing machines, replaced 13 tape dispensers with new model to eliminate hand injury hazard and installed 20 screw dispensers to eliminate hand injury.

As an EHS Manager, Dr. Vanitha Gopalkrishnan always ensures safety is set as a first priority in all the activities conducted by sites starting from the top management to the DL employees. The method which was used by her to ensure safety is embedded into everyone's DNA is through psychological approach. First, it is mandatory for everyone to talk about safety prior to starting their job, disregards their position and hierarchy. The concept which adapted by her to ensure the successful implementation of these initiatives is Ways of Working: 1) Respect and value others: Demonstrate empathy by seeking to understand others’ experiences and perspectives. 2) Learn and adapt: Use data to identify areas for improvement. 3) Collaborate and share openly: Build relationships across the organisation to solve problems​. 4) Honour commitment: IDL and DL employees who contributes significant improvements in safety has been recognised during quarterly town hall meeting to encourage more participation of employees and create a positive Safety Culture.

Dr. Vanitha Gopalkrishnan successfully implemented machinery safety initiatives and improvements plant-wide to reduce TCIR from 0.90 to 0.16 and from 30 incidents to 6 incidents. She collaborated with University Technology Malaysia to establish guidelines for Safe Work Culture at workplace to assist Department of OSH in developing national guidelines. All the safety initiatives implemented by her at Flex Site was adapted by other manufacturing sites in Malaysia as per recommended by Department of OSH Malaysia. Transformation of Flex from harmful zone to non-harmful zone has impressed their customers and became an example to other CMs.

First, Dr. Vanitha Gopalkrishnan believes safety influencer should be leaders and not boss. Leaders actively inspire a compelling safety vision and mission among the team. Conduct weekly safety meeting with all the department HODs and managers to guide, support, and educate in providing zero harm workplace and focus on serving others. They introduced Safety Rewards Programme whereby they recognised IDL and DL employees who openly share their EHS input, feedback, and hazard at their workplace. She respects their input and take immediate action to show to employees that she hears you. Lastly, she believes to be firm and stern to the motto of "zero tolerance to safety violations" ensures a safe workplace to all our employees.