Health, safety & well-being

Ensuring safety in our daily life is a task that never stops. We want our colleagues around the world to have the tools, training and support to be safe and healthy at work and outside. Moreover, we realise that well-being at work goes beyond physical safety and commit to taking steps to improve our approach to mental health and well-being for all our employees.

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Safety: going for zero

Every year, we strive for a zero accident and zero occupational illness workplace. To achieve that we have put in place a strong health and safety management system including a comprehensive combination of policies, standards, responsibilities, training, evaluation, targeted programmes and follow-up on our goals and targets. In 2021 we kept Frequency rate of our lost time accidents stable and continued our annual thorough evaluation of our health and safety measures.

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Frequency rate of lost-time accidents

Number of lost-time accidents per
one million hours worked
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Gravity rate of accidents

Level of absenteeism after an accident.
The higher the rate, the more severe the accident.

 

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Spotting the hazard, assess the risk and avoid an accident


At Etex, we have different ways to detect and address risks. Therefore, we are conducting a systematic Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) of all routine tasks, and we measure results through operational, corporate and external auditing and reporting processes. Throughout the year, we also encourage safety observation and conversations, through which our leaders can identify, discuss and mitigate hazardous situations.

Limiting the risks

 

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Identify occupational exposure

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Assess safety and health-related risks in the workplace

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Conduct safety observation and conversations
 

OUR MAIN OBSERVATIONS IN 2021

 


51% of recorded injuries
fall into 4 categories:
pain, fracture, deeper cuts; and bruises
 


59% of recorded injuries
referred to manual handling, slip and trip, energy isolation and work at height

In 2021, our plants put tremendous effort into evaluating the implementation of the Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment principles, posting an average score of 90%.

 

SafeStart

At Etex, our ambition is to ensure that every Etex colleague comes back home safe and sound every day. SafeStart is a programme that helps us to take safety awareness to the next level. The SafeStart approach reinforces knowledge with practical techniques that help teammates stay more alert to risk all day - not only at work but also at home and on the road.

 

Healthier and inspired teams for a stronger Etex

Mental health and physical well-being are crucial to health and safety in the workplace. In the spirit of a healthy mind in a healthy body, we launched the "Etex Challenge" and set up a global Employee Assistance Programme to support the mental well-being of our teammates. In addition, there are many other local and global initiatives to promote a healthy workforce.

Etex Challenge

Etex Challenge

The “Etex Challenge” brings teammates from around the world together, motivates them to improve their physical and mental well-being, and connects them to the wider world through fundraising for charity.

Employee Assistance Programme

Employee Assistance Programme

In 2021 we launched another initiative to support our teammates’ mental well-being: a global Employee Assistance Programme, accessible 24/7 and available in the local languages of our teammates.

Managing our asbestos past

Managing our asbestos past

Asbestos is part of our past and we continue to manage our history with the material carefully. We have implemented a group-wide policy to enforce this commitment:

  1. Compensate victims
    At Etex, we must ensure that those who become seriously ill due to the use of asbestos in their factories receive fair financial compensation.
  2. Prevent exposure
    While finishing site upgrades, we constantly monitor the presence of airborne fibres and meticulously manage the safety of all buildings and landfills.
  3. Support research
    We support medical and scientific research into asbestos-related diseases.