Health and safety
Our approach
Healthy employees are fundamental to a successful company. We aim to create a secure working environment where every employee can work safely and nobody has to suffer any health impairment. Our employees are the foundation of our operations. They have a great impact on our ability to produce our ingredients and supply them to our customers. They therefore strengthen our ability to compete in the global market and our performance for the benefit of our customers. This is why we continuously strive to improve Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) conditions for all our employees and contractors working in our production sites.
For us, it goes without saying that we should offer our employees the highest health and safety standards in their work environment. Our employees are employed in compliance with the health and safety laws applicable in the countries in which we operate. Jungbunzlauer provides best effort to always comply with the Labour Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, collective labour agreements and all health regulations as prescribed by the local authorities. Our general health and safety conditions, and further legal and ethical commitments are incorporated into our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy. (For more information, see chapter 3.1 in our report.)
Jungbunzlauer’s Executive Committee has issued a Health, Safety, Environmental and Sustainability Policy, which aims at reducing health and safety risks for our employees to the absolute minimum. This policy is reviewed and updated at least every five years, and compliance with policy guidelines is monitored continuously. The production sites regularly perform health and safety risk assessments by designated persons, for both continuous operations as well as for capital expenditure projects, before and during construction, and before start up of new equipment. There are adequate controls to mitigate the risks. The risk analyses are generally conducted based on legal requirements, our ISO certified management systems, as well as Responsible Care®.
Health and safety topics are covered by national legislation in all our four production sites. In specific cases additional health and safety topics could be part of agreements with trade unions.
Our ambition
'Safety first' is a fundamental maxim that must be observed by each employee. Our aspiration is to have zero accidents within our company, which means that we are committed to continuously implementing additional safety measures and taking actions to prevent accidents at our plants. We also conduct regularly internal safety audits, raise awareness and provide education on OHS.
Responsible Care®
A global initiative for continuous improvement
A second programme we adhere to for each production site is Responsible Care®, a voluntary initiative of the chemical industry to continuously improve the health, safety and environmental knowledge and performance of technologies, processes and products over their life cycles, so as to avoid harm to people and the environment. Over the years, Responsible Care® has become the commitment to sustainability of the chemical industry. We compile an annual Responsible Care® report which provides information on safe chemical management, facility response plans, alert plans and behaviour, and contacts in the event of an incident. This is also a strong basis for effective improvement of health and safety measures. Furthermore, our production sites in Austria and Canada undergo a Responsible Care® audit by independent experts every three years and are certified accordingly.
Safety measures
Examples of safety measures implemented in 2023 in our production sites
- Identification of tripping risk and improvement, installation and marking of stairways and handrails
- Installation of additional safety equipment, e.g. mirrors, insulation blankets, extension handles / improved access for valves
- Improvement of tools such as safer knives to open bags, ergonomic pipettes, installation of safety barriers to secure pedestrian walkway and driver’s room access
- Improvement of working conditions, e.g. safety mechanisms for safe working on the roof, anti-tipping installations, lifting beams
Key measures and evaluation
LTIFR
LTIFR = Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (number of injuries per million hours worked)
Targets for 2023
LTIFR below 3
Progress and achievements in 2023
LTIFR of 2.0; the first time our LTIFR target is met. Also, from 2013 to 2023, we were able to reduce our LTIFR by 89%
Safety audits
Targets for 2023
Monthly safety walks and audits
Progress and achievements in 2023
Internal audits performed and action taken where necessary
OHS management system
OHS = Occupational health and safety
Targets for 2023
Safety training for each relevant employee of Jungbunzlauer and of contractors
Progress and achievements in 2023
Safety training done and reported for each employee and contractor who participated, where necessary
Kaizen approach
Targets for 2023
Daily, weekly or monthly Gemba walks, continuous improvement in all areas (a certain minimum rating is required)
Progress and achievements in 2023
Progress towards goals
Targets set individually by each production site
LTIFR Rate
Lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) per million hours worked
Outlook
In order to progress towards our goal of zero accident, additional safety measures will be taken. Safety audits and inspections will be continued, and corrective and preventive measures implemented at all production sites.
