Our Engagement for Occupational Safety

The health and safety of our employees is a top priority at Beiersdorf, not just because the daily commitment of each and every one of them contributes to the sustained success of our company – ensuring the wellbeing of our employees has been an integral part of Beiersdorf culture since the very beginning of our company’s history, and is firmly anchored in one of our Core Values: “Care”. Preventing accidents and health hazards as well as implementing proven environmental and occupational safety standards are central in all our activities.

Environmental and occupational safety standards at our production locations

Environmental protection and occupational safety are top priorities for us at all our production locations. This is why our plants undergo a targeted audit every three years according to the “Environmental Protection and Safety Management Audit Scheme” (“ESMAS”) standard. This way we ensure that the global measures we take fulfill the environmental and occupational safety standards valid worldwide. In this we meet the internationally recognized norms ISO 14001 (environmental management systems) and ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety management systems).

In 2019 we had our production plants in Itatiba (Brazil), Bangkok (Thailand), Nairobi (Kenya) as well as Shanghai, Wuhan and Xiantao (China) successfully audited and certified. We are planning to do the same for another eight of our plants in 2020: Our German sites in Hamburg, Berlin and Waldheim, along with Poznan (Poland), Tres Cantos (Spain), Santiago de Chile (Chile), Silao (Mexico) and Sanand (India).

Our “Zero Accidents” Program

Our employees’ safety is at the heart of all our activities. This means that analyzing potential risks and avoiding accidents are core tasks in the area of occupational safety. With our “Zero Accidents” program we have rolled out a raft of measures focused on reducing accident rates, establishing safe working conditions, and safety-compliant behaviors in all areas of the company. At the same time, “Zero Accidents” underscores our long-term objective – the complete elimination of occupational accidents.

A key element of our “Zero Accidents” program is also the strengthening of our international network between our production companies. It supports our goal of recognizing accident risks early, sharing experiences, and working out solutions jointly. We evaluate best practices from individual locations and promote interpersonal exchange through regional workshops and cross-site phone conferences. Wherever we realize we need to improve our common unified standards, we take rapid action, driven by acute awareness of our responsibility.Our strong commitment enabled us to lower the number of working accidents by almost 40 percent last year, from 1.9 accidents per million hours worked in 2018 to 1.2 in 2019. Overall more than half our production locations reached the long-term goal of “Zero Accidents” in 2019.

Examples around the world of our occupational safety initiatives

India

Employees at our production site in Sanand, India launch a “National Safety Week” every year on March 4. With this initiative our colleagues at the plant aim to raise awareness of health and safety in the workplace, highlighting and providing training in specific occupational safety measures through specialist presentations, workshops, and creative competitions. A major element of “National Safety Week” is securing a clear commitment by all employees to the “Safety and Health Pledge” as well as the “Zero Accidents” program.

Brazil

The colleagues at our production plant in Itatiba, Brazil implemented a special employee occupational safety initiative onsite, the “BMI Safety Recognition Program”. In July 2019 the team celebrated the fourth accident-free year in a row – an outstanding success that emphasizes the effectiveness of the safety culture lived out at the plant. This special employee protection program promotes safety initiatives and publicly recognizes employees whose behavior and proactive safety approach contribute to avoiding accidents at work. The goal is to raise the team’s awareness of occupational safety and contribute to developing everyone’s safety-conscious behavior.

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