Health and safety
Our approach
Healthy employees are the basis for being successful. It strengthens our ability to compete in the global market and our performance for the benefit of our customers. Therefore, we continuously strive to improve occupational health and safety conditions for all our workers and employees.
For us it is obvious to offer our employees the highest standards in terms of health and safety for their work environment. Our employees are employed in compliance with the legal employment standards applicable in the countries in which we operate. Our general health and safety conditions and further legal and ethical commitments are incorporated in our “Corporate Social Responsibility Policy”. For more information on our “Corporate Social Responsibility Policy”, please refer to chapter 3.1.
In each plant a safety officer is responsible for occupational health and safety. Jungbunzlauer’s Management Committee has issued a “Health, Safety and Environmental Policy”, which aims at reducing health and safety risks for our employees to the minimum. The policy is reviewed and updated every five years and the compliance with policy guidelines is monitored continuously. Risk analyses are performed and plants, processes and projects are regularly assessed by the responsible position in the production plant. The risk analyses are generally conducted based on our ISO certifications. Certification systems e.g. as represented by the SMETA audit are in place to ensure adherence to our high standards.
All Jungbunzlauer production sites and offices adhere to a high standard of social responsibility and take effective steps to prevent accidents and injuries to employees by setting clear and binding standards which are controlled by regular internal and external inspections. External SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audits (SMETAs) are conducted every three years. Furthermore, internal safety audits are performed on a regular basis and results as well as corrective actions are published in a quarterly report on our intranet. We have implemented various initiatives to continuously improve working conditions, e.g. the Kaizen approach.
Whether health and safety topics are covered in agreements with trade unions depends on the country. For example, this is not the case in our production sites in Austria, France and Germany, since health and safety topics are already covered by national legislation. However, for our production site in Canada, health and safety is covered by two different trade union agreements, which accounted for 60% of employees in 2021.
Responsible Care®
As a second initiative, we adhere to the Responsible Care® programme. This internationally recognised programme considers environmental as well as health and safety measures. We publish an annual report which informs about the safe chemical management, facility response plans, alert plans and behaviour and contact persons in the event of an incident. This is also a basis for the implementation of effective improvement health and safety measures.
Our ambition
For us it is obvious to offer our employees the highest standards in terms of health and safety for their work environment. Jungbunzlauer provides a safe, healthy and hygienic working environment.
“Safety first” is a fundamental maxim that must be observed by each employee. Our ambition is to strive for zero accidents within our company.
Did you know?
In 2021, employee training was completely digitalised at our production site Pernhofen, Austria. This allows trainings to be more flexible with respect to timing and location. An automated email one year after participating at the training, reminds the employees to take the course again as a refresher. Training topics are safety measures, personal protective equipment, working equipment, hazardous substances, first aid and behaviour in case of danger.
Examples of safety measures implemented in 2021 in our production sites
- Identification of tripping risk and improvement, installation of stairways and handrails
- Improvement at product filling by restructuring of packaging process with more automated processes or improved ergonomic handling
- Repainting of the road markings e.g. in the pedestrian area, parking spaces and truck waiting area
- Restructuring of warehouse forklift traffic and installation of additional safety barriers
- Installation and relocation of safety showers to more confined areas/for easier use in a danger situation
- Installation of additional cardiac defibrillators
- Installation of surface protection for equipment, e.g. against hot surfaces or mechanical risk
Key measures and evaluation
| Measures | Targets 2021 | Progress and achievements 2021 |
|---|---|---|
LTIFRa | LTIFR < 3 Monthly safety walks and audits | LTIFR = 3.1 Internal inspections performed and actions implemented where necessary |
| OHSb management system | Safety training for each relevant employee Training for all external workers | Safety trainings done and reported for each employee, who participated Trainings conducted and documented |
a Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (number of injuries per million hours worked)
b Occupational Health and Safety
LTI rate per million work hours
Outlook
In order to achieve our goal regarding zero accidents, additional safety measures will be realised. Safety inspections will be continued and corrective and preventative measures implemented in all production sites.
Did you know?
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic different vaccination programmes against the corona virus were offered to the Jungbunzlauer employees.