Health and safety of our employees are our top priority. We strive to ensure that everyone starts their workday in good health and finishes it without any harm or negative impact. Our certified health and safety (H&S) management systems and comprehensive policies give our organization a strong safety culture. Nevertheless, we continually work to make our operating facilities and offices even safer.
Where we stand
To reach our ultimate target of zero work-related incidents, we have numerous measures in place.
As an interim target on the way to zero incidents we are striving to reduce lost days caused by incidents by at least 20% in 2024. All H&S incidents, including injuries, work-related ill health, process safety incidents, unsafe situations, and near misses, are reported, investigated, and addressed with corrective and preventive actions.
Work-related health hazards are systematically evaluated with the help of a risk assessment. In order to ensure compliance with the legal exposure limits, regular measurements are carried out at the workplaces in the form of air and surface samples. The prevention of platinosis is of particular concern to us. By 2030, we will voluntarily implement an exposure limit of 100 ng/m³ for chloroplatinates. This goes significantly beyond the regulatory limit of 2,000 ng/m³. As a further preventive measure against platinosis, we carry out bio-monitoring on a routine and incident-related basis wherever possible.
We promote a strong H&S culture among our employees through daily routines such as safety talks before each shift. We assign responsible persons for health and safety topics at all levels of our organization—from top management to shop floor.
All employees are trained on H&S topics, according to the conditions of their workplace. Our H&S experts at all sites worldwide have up-to-date qualifications and are readily available to provide guidance on questions, training programs, and educational materials.
At the end of 2023, 95% of our employees were working at a facility with an H&S system, and we continue to strive to increase the number of certified facilities.