Occupational Health & Safety

9 min

Throughout our business and most especially in our manufacturing sites worldwide, the health and safety of our employees is a priority.

Why it matters

The protection of the physical and mental integrity and wellbeing of employees is a core responsibility of dormakaba. Accidents and work-related illnesses can be of a long-term nature and entail costs to society and the company. We can only be successful in the long term if we help ensure our employees remain healthy. Occupational health and safety (OHS) addresses not only the safe operation of machines, ergonomic workplaces or the handling of hazardous substances, but also mental health issues including stress, depression and emotional wellbeing. We strive to simultaneously create optimal working conditions for our employees and to ensure operational efficiencies.

Key activities

Throughout our business and particularly at our manufacturing sites worldwide, the health and safety of our employees is a priority. We want to provide a safe workplace, though many injuries are still occurring in and around our facilities: including cuts, stumbles, commuting accidents, burns in smelting operations, heavy lifting or exposure to toxic fumes in galvanization processes. Currently, dormakaba has only location-specific systems in place to align with national regulations and standards.

It is our goal that, by the end of financial year 2021/22, all dormakaba manufacturing sites will maintain an occupational health and safety management system based on the rigorous standards set forth by ISO 45001 or OHSAS 18001. 65% of our manufacturing sites have already achieved this. These sites have designated safety personnel, safety committees, regular safety training, and they collaborate with external partners to ensure that health and safety standards are integrated in prevailing production processes at dormakaba.

In addition, 21% of the manufacturing sites covered in this report benefit from the ISO 45001 or OHSAS 18001 certification. Our facility in Dubai, for example, achieved ISO 45001 certification in the 2018/19 financial year. The table below gives an overview of these indicators for all reporting sites, including offices.

Segment	OHSAS 18001 Certificate or similarly certified	Maintain OHS Management System
AS AMER		15
AS APAC	1	5
AS DACH	4	7
AS EMEA	8	13
KWS	1	3
Total	14	43
% locations covered in reporting scope*	19%	59%
% employees covered (versus Group-wide FTEs)	19%	50%

*Including offices

To ensure our employees remain healthy, dormakaba focuses on three areas:

Employee engagement and training
Reducing hazardous materials
Designated safety personnel and safety committees

Employee engagement and training

To identify and address our health and safety risks, employee engagement is crucial. Our employees are encouraged to report challenges and near misses in order to address these risks. Access Solutions (AS) AMER, for example, regularly trains employees to report near miss incidents that have a potential for injury or property damage in an effort to be proactive. This program helps employees recognize hazards or unsafe acts and to correct them immediately or to ask for support to correct the issue. Near miss reports are treated the same as injury reports, and the respective supervisor follows up with the near miss to ensure it is corrected.

Examples of our employee engagement and training in the financial year 2018/19 included:

AS AMER has 13 sites that are implementing and maintaining health and safety management systems. Each has set up facility-specific plans and policies and documented them for the internal audit team to evaluate conformance with roll-out plans. AS AMER targeted five Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) areas of focus for the financial year 2018/19, which included the implementation of the EHS Management System, development of an EHS training program and training matrix, establishment of site EHS Committees, machine guarding improvements and the implementation of an ergonomic program.
AS DACH in Germany plans to develop and introduce a health management system to improve employee health and reduce the rate of sick leave. The system will be implemented over the next few years. The first initiative to date has been an information campaign on colds and flu.
AS APAC in Suzhou (China) has filmed two safety videos, one for employees and the other for visitors and contractors. All employees are required to watch the video on their first day of work, while visitors and contractors will watch it upon arrival at the facility.

Reducing hazardous materials

The potential impact on employees’ health of working with hazardous materials is of special concern. Hazardous materials are used as cooling lubricants, oils in machining and for the cutting of raw materials. As well, in the electroplating area some hazardous materials are used to protect materials from corrosion. Our Access Solutions (AS) DACH segment therefore systematically carries out hazardous material substitutions and tracks reductions in hazardous material usage.

In the last four financial years, hazardous materials have been reduced by 80%.

Hazard Symbol	FY 2015/16	FY 2016/17	FY 2017/18	FY 2018/19	Change vs. FY 2015/16
(T+) Very toxic	–	–	–	–	n/a
(T) Toxic	5	4	2	3	–40%
(C) Corrosive	24	12	7	6	–75%
(Xn) Harmful	64	40	26	9	–86%
(Xi) Irritant	137	99	59	31	–77%
(E) Explosive	–	–	–	–	n/a
(F+) Extremely flammable	46	21	12	6	–87%
(F) Highly flammable	32	24	15	9	–72%
(O) Oxidizing	4	1	1	1	–75%
(U) Dangerous for the environment	45	30	13	9	–80%
No hazard symbol	262	264	320	351	34%

Examples of our activities to reduce hazardous materials in the financial year 2018/19 included:

AS AMER has implemented a new segment-wide service to house and update all chemical Safety Data Sheets for each site. This new web-based system allows facilities to easily analyze the current hazardous materials in order to prioritize for material substitution. For instance, the Indianapolis facility recently eliminated the use of a product containing n-Propyl Bromide for cleaning metal parts.
Additionally, the Key Systems business unit’s manufacturing facility in Rocky Mount (USA) has secondary containment areas and sumps which flow to wastewater treatment, tank secondary self-containment, safety barrier curtains and emergency showers and eyewash stations.
AS APAC in Singapore made a substantial investment in a new painting system in order to switch over from solvent-based to water-based application last year. This change is estimated to have reduced solvent consumption by 38% per month.

Designated safety personnel and safety committees

dormakaba employs designated safety personnel and safety committees in order to ensure that workers comply with company policies and government regulations. These forums also facilitate communication and cooperation between management and personnel.

Examples of our safety personnel and safety committee activities in the financial year 2018/19 include:

The Key Systems business unit’s manufacturing facility in Rocky Mount (USA) has a designated EHS manager who is responsible for monitoring workplace activities, developing programs and providing safety training. The manager is also responsible for assessing hazardous and unsafe situations and developing measures to assure personnel safety. The plant maintains a safety committee. Its aim is to reduce incidences of injury and illnesses through: education and discussion; openly communicating with employees on safety matters; building enthusiasm for health and safety initiatives; and by making health and safety activities, such as hazard identification, an integral part of its operating procedures, culture and programs.
Similarly, AS DACH has dedicated safety personnel who also ensure that, among other duties, accidents are analyzed with a so-called STOP (Substitution, Technical, Organizational, Personnel) system: i.e. for each accident, a report is developed, including photographic evidence, and a process is implemented to eliminate or reduce the likelihood of further incidence. Also, a point system is in place: points are allocated to actions that lead to the successful elimination of the injury risk.
Each AS AMER manufacturing site has established an EHS Committee comprised of various employees from different departments and shifts. These committees have each developed a written procedure and vision statement, and they hold regular meetings to establish goals and action plans. Committee activities are communicated to all employees and committee members receive advanced EHS training on relevant topics.

Our performance

Of our reporting sites, 19% had a health and safety management system certified to OHSAS 18001, ISO 45001 or the equivalent local standard; and 59% maintain a health and safety management system. For these sites, health and safety training goes beyond the mandatory requirements to include emergency and risk prevention. For example, assessments of repetitive movement and heavy load-lifting, to prevent work-related illnesses, take place at various sites.

In the financial year 2018/19, 259 occupational injury cases were registered (2.1 per 100 full-time employees), compared to 260 in the previous reporting year. Regionally, occupational injury cases were reported as follows: 7 in Switzerland (1.4), 58 in Germany (2.1), 63 in the rest of Europe, Middle East and Africa (2.3), 75 (2.5) in the Americas, and 56 (1.7) in Asia-Pacific. There were no fatalities as a result of work-related injuries in the financial year 2018/19.

Access Solutions (AS) AMER recorded a 29% decrease in employee injuries in the financial year 2018/19 compared to the previous year. The segment also experienced a 40% decrease in more severe injuries, i.e. injuries that result in time away from work or light-duty restrictions. Each manufacturing site in the AS AMER segment has addressed the five EHS Emphasis Topics, providing a framework for many safety improvements. These include upgrades to machine guarding, facility shipping dock upgrades, completion of ergonomic assessments and personal protective equipment evaluations. Future plans include additional EHS Emphasis Topics for the coming fiscal year, standardization of safety signage and factory floor markings, and enhanced EHS training for managers and supervisors.

Outlook

We continue our efforts to ensure our employees remain safe and healthy. For instance, we are rolling out a Health and Safety Committee in Victoria (Australia), which will incorporate representatives from technical, operations and office staff. The Middle East & Africa region will also roll out a corporate wellness program with on-site classes and courses that target better mental and physical health including stress management, weight management and healthy eating, work life balance, and smoking cessation. Additionally, our manufacturing facility in Suzhou (China) is working on a project to switch over its painting system from solvent-based painting to water-based painting in the financial year 2018/19 and expects to complete it by the financial year 2020/21.