Occupational Health & Safety

Throughout our business and most notably at our manufacturing sites worldwide, we respect the human right to safe workplaces. We recognize that in addition to minimizing the incidence of work-related injury and illness, a safe and healthy work environment enhances the quality of products and services, consistency of production, and worker retention and morale.

Our approach

All workers share the human right to safe and healthy working conditions, and as an employer we do our utmost to protect the physical and mental integrity and well-being of our employees. 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 & Safety (OHS) addresses not only the safe operation of machines, ergonomic workplaces, and the handling of hazardous substances, but also mental health issues including stress, depression, and emotional well-being. We strive to simultaneously create optimal working conditions for our employees and to ensure operational efficiency.

Our Health & Safety Directive was prepared in collaboration with our Environment, Health & Safety employees. It is based on recognized management systems such as ISO 45001 and the ILO Guidelines on Occupational Health & Safety. The Directive regulates the minimum business standards in regards to occupational health and safety management and processes at local levels, such as the safety of the working environments and the health of our employees, contractors, and visitors within our facilities. Furthermore, the Directive gives clear guidance on incident data management and on the effective control of facilities and equipment during high-risk activities. The Directive is applicable to all fully consolidated operations of dormakaba worldwide, including those of direct and indirect subsidiaries.

Our activities

Our Health & Safety Directive is the foundation for health and safety plans at the site level, and 32% of our facilities also have ISO 45001 certification. Despite our efforts to provide a safe workplace, injuries can still occur in and around our facilities, including cuts, stumbles, burns in smelting operations, injuries due to heavy lifting, or exposure to toxic fumes in galvanization processes. We have been using root cause analysis of injury incidents at our sites around the world to identify and implement the corrective actions necessary to prevent repeated incidents. Our goal is that by the year 2027, we will decrease the recordable work-related injury rate by 33% (baseline 1.4 in FY 20/21).

Successful implementation of the Health & Safety Directive

During FY 23/24 one of our main focuses was to successfully roll out and implement the Health & Safety Directive globally. This required active participation from all levels of the organization. After finishing the mandatory training sessions on the Directive, each location began a site applicability assessment. All facilities were asked to assess the maturity of the existing systems and health and safety requirements at their individual sites and whether there were any gaps in the Directive’s requirements related to: Management Systems; Incident Data Management; Core Safety; and Core Health and Property Risk Management. Based on the assessment results and risk ratings for each Directive topic, we have identified the highest risk areas at each site so that the local colleagues can create a priority list of actions to ensure compliance with the Directive.

By the end of this financial year, sites were actively progressing through their individual action plans starting with the highest risk topics. Over 77% of sites have completed the applicability assessment and over 65% have developed their action plans, which they will continue to work through in the next fiscal year. Many of the sites are addressing similar topics with the highest risk scores, which include safe product storage, emergency preparedness, and adequate safeguards on all equipment.

Health and safety committees

dormakaba employs designated safety personnel and safety committees at several sites. With the implementation of the Health & Safety Directive, each site will have a health and safety committee, comprising a variety of employees from different departments and shifts, representing a cross-section of the facility operations. Their key responsibility is to ensure that workers comply with the site’s Health and Safety Management Plan and government regulations. Further responsibilities include:

• Reporting unsafe observations and near misses.
• Attending all safety meetings.
• Reviewing accidents causing injury, illnesses, and investigations.
• Providing ideas and suggestions to improve the health and safety standards of the facility.
• Promoting safe working practices among all employees.
• Completing or assisting with safety inspections and audits.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of control measures being used to protect employees from workplace hazards.

In order to fulfill these responsibilities, the committee must conduct meetings at least twice a year.

Incident data management

During FY 23/24 we launched a new and improved safety reporting tool, designed to enhance proactive safety reporting across the organization and to bolster our overall safety performance. With this upgrade, employees now have the possibility to report both unsafe and safe observations they have identified and addressed. The tool allows us to track the status of corrective actions that must take place for incidents, dynamic and real-time reporting that allows us to make systemic improvements to our site’s health and safety management systems, and automated notification of severe incidents to the responsible business leaders.

Employee engagement and training

Workplace safety training is essential to identifying and solving health and safety issues and to protecting our employees. Therefore, each facility must cover the following minimum training topics as part of weekly safety talks with employees:

• mechanical, electrical, chemical, fire, and physical hazards,
• the correct use of appropriate personal protective equipment,
• types of potential emergencies that may occur at their work location and what to do during an emergency, including internal and external meeting points,
• machine safety and the use of safeguards and emergency stops,
• reporting injuries and illnesses.

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. This helps employees recognize hazards or unsafe acts and correct them immediately or ask for support to correct the issue. Near miss reports are given the same emphasis and attention as injury reports, and the respective supervisor follows up on the near miss to ensure it is corrected.

During FY 23/24 we focused on training related to the new incident reporting system to ensure that the end users are familiar with its functions. We have rolled out training sessions in three waves, starting with the train the trainer sessions, followed by training for all Health, Safety and Environment leaders, and finally we offered weekly open training sessions for all employees. All together over 1,000 employees attended the training sessions.

Further local health and safety training that took place during FY 23/24 included the following:

• At our production facility in Indianapolis (USA), ergonomics training sessions were provided for 28 of our managers, supervisors, engineers, and production team members. We also used the sessions to identify corrective actions for incidents that occurred recently. Since the training, we have practiced daily stretching before starting a shift and before manager and supervisor huddles, and we have held multiple safety talks informing team members about the benefits of stretching and biomechanics while working. In addition, ergonomic risk assessments were conducted on each of our workstations on the production floor. Based on this, a hierarchy list of improvements has been established that we are planning to implement during the next financial year.
• To enhance our employeesʼ awareness and improve their ability to respond to emergencies at the manufacturing facility in Taishan (China), we organized emergency experience activities for 147 employees. This included practical operation of fire extinguishers and fire hydrants, escaping fires and earthquake training with auxiliary equipment. Thanks to these activities, employees learned how to use fire extinguishing equipment and how to escape the building in case of fire or an earthquake.
• In Montreal (Canada) an ergonomics training session was held for 40 office workers.
• In Chiayi (Taiwan), all employees (around 230 people) participated in a behavior-based safety (BBS) training session on hazard identification.

Investing in safety and ergonomics

Our Health & Safety Directive includes the minimum requirements of programs and procedures that establish the foundation of the safe operation of our facilities. These include requirements for machine guarding, personal protective equipment, safe walking and working surfaces, and the use of powered industrial vehicles, just to mention a few. Furthermore, all dormakaba facilities that work with hazardous materials must maintain a hazard communication and chemical management program, as well as a transportation compliance policy, if applicable. Our workers responsible for the storage, clean up, or disposal of chemical substances receive specialized training and equipment.

Due to the implementation of the Health & Safety Directive, several improvements took place to create safer and healthier working environments across our facilities during FY 23/24. Below are just some examples of these improvements:

• At the production facility in Chino (USA), three new workstations were installed with ergonomics and safety in mind, providing optimal work surface height.
• At our site in Hallam (Australia), a new multi-directional forklift has been put into service to reduce safety risks when transporting long materials in and around the factory, such as sliding door operators and long aluminum extrusions, which can be up to nine meters long. Additionally, a new racking system has been built at the site to avoid blind spots, and fans and heaters were installed at the workstations to improve the comfort level of our employees.
• To improve safety on the circulation route at the production facility in Montreal (Canada), pedestrian walkways were defined and painted blue, safety mirrors and mandatory stop signs were installed, the number and speed of our powered industrial vehicles was reduced, and blue safety lights were installed. Furthermore, the use of protective safety shoes and visibility vests was made mandatory. Ergonomic improvements were also made to work cells and workstations, mostly by investing in equipment to avoid lifting of heavy items by our employees.
• As a result of unsafe observations reported by our workers at the Key & Wall Solutions plant in Vittorio Veneto (Italy), we improved the safe operation of a forklift by equipping it with a transponder, which automatically slows down the vehicle when entering a defined zone. When this happens, a traffic light turns red to alert employees walking by.

Employee well-being

It is important to have a holistic approach to well-being that goes beyond physical health and safety. To foster a healthy workplace, mental health must also be addressed. In the newly introduced reporting system, we can now record work-related illnesses, including mental health-related illnesses such as burnout. The same steps are followed for these incidents as for accidents, with an investigation being conducted by means of a root cause analysis and corrective actions subsequently being implemented.

During the FY 23/24 we further developed our offerings on our Well-being Info Hub to support our employeesʼ well-being, stress management, and resilience. The internal website includes useful information, training courses, and inspiring initiatives and events from around the world. We also launched training sessions on stress management and resilience globally, which have been completed by 339 employees.

Additionally, we had some successful local initiatives. For example, to raise awareness of well-being for our approximately 900 employees in Australia and New Zealand, we launched the “One Pacific” well-being initiative. The program was developed by the staff and the roll out was supported by senior colleagues. The program focuses on mental health, respect at work, and social well-being, among other things. Furthermore, in the United States, 22 employees took part in a 10-hour training course to become leaders for the local “Mental Health First Aid Kit”. Now, these leaders have the skills to recognize and respond to signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges, as well as to provide someone with initial support until they are connected with appropriate professional help. Additionally, our colleagues in the USA rolled out a wellness program that includes financial incentives for employees to take part in preventative medical checks and to participate in fitness challenges, like walking events.

Our performance

Outlook

In the next financial year we will continue implementing measures so that all locations meet the minimum requirements of the Health & Safety Directive, with each site continuing with their own action plan based on identified gaps and risks. We will support global standards for five key programs through our HSE Roadmap: Stored Energy Safety, Machine Guarding, PIV Safety, PPE, and Walking and Working Surfaces. Furthermore, we are planning to develop and implement our Service Health & Safety Directive, addressing our service business.