We continued to take health and safety (H&S) measures to provide an attractive and safe place for employees to work. The safety of our employees is of paramount importance to Oerlikon as is mandated by the Group’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
Our Health & Safety ambition is “Zero Harm to People”, including our employees, contractors, visitors and the communities in which we operate. This remains our ongoing target, as our goal is to ensure that no one comes to harm within Oerlikon’s sites or while working for Oerlikon at external locations. Based on our belief that all injuries, occupational illnesses and diseases can be avoided, our Health & Safety commitment is to:
To fulfill this commitment, we take ongoing actions to:
Health & Safety is a core component of Oerlikon’s Code of Conduct. For further details about the Code of Conduct, see the Ethics & Integrity here. As HSE is an integral part of our sustainability activities, the existing HSE policy was embedded in the new Sustainability & HSE policy, which we introduced in January 2022. Oerlikon’s intent, ambitions, commitments, actions, roles and responsibilities and governance concerning sustainability, health, safety and environment are defined in the policy. The key messages of the policy can be found on page 50 of this report and are accessible online at www.oerlikon.com/en/sustainability/our-policies.
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oerlikon’s foremost priority was to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees.
We continued to put our Zero Harm to People principle into practice and implemented measures globally and locally according to the medical recommendations and regulatory requirements throughout 2021 to ensure the safety of our employees.
Knowing that human behavior can become the greatest risk factor for infection, or the greatest protection against it, we continuously promoted and enforced rules of operation with regard to safe distancing, hand washing, use of masks and optimization of ventilation. In addition, we encouraged our employees and their families to get vaccine protection as soon as it became available in their countries.
We continued to utilize technology to further enhance safety in our workplaces. We started deploying the sensor-based technology SafeZone from Kinexon in 2020. To date, wearable sensors (SafeTags) are implemented at around 100 sites in Europe and the US. These sensors measure the distance between employees and aid in ensuring safe distancing through acoustic and visual signals, which are triggered when people move too close to each other. It also records encoded, anonymous data that is only used to facilitate contact tracing when needed. It allows us to identify who should go into isolation and, at the same time, enable business continuity as employees who were not in contact could continue working. In countries where Safe Tags were not yet commercially available, we deployed alternative wearable sensors where feasible.
The unanticipated COVID-19 pandemic, which started in 2020, put our crisis management to the test. We demonstrated that we are well equipped to respond swiftly and effectively to external threats to the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, customers, vendors and communities. From the systems and processes we implemented on site to the procedures we established to facilitate a rapid shift to remote work when needed, we were able to manage the crisis, which gives us greater confidence in our ability to respond productively and with minimal disruption to our operations and business for future crises.
Since 2016, Oerlikon has in place a Health, Safety and Environmental Sustainability Policy, which underwent a review, and the new Sustainability & HSE Policy came into effect in January 2022. Oerlikon’s Code of Conduct, in which Health & Safety is a core component, was also updated in 2021. The Code of Conduct is also accessible online at ww.oerlikon.com/en/sustainability/our-policies.
Oerlikon’s Health & Safety management system documents Group-wide Health & Safety practices, which are captured in 21 chapters (see box below) and cover a spectrum of Health & Safety topics, including safety leadership, hazard identification, risk management, safe working practices and health and wellness issues.
A number of these topics are further detailed in the Group guidelines. Moreover, these guidelines are supplemented by division, business unit and business line standards and procedures regarding HSE risks or processes.
All sites are required to do an annual legal health, safety and environment compliance check, which must be reviewed by a third party every other year. Our recordkeeping system enables meticulous tracking of and response to work-related injuries and significant near misses, which must be reported to top management and the Group HSE within 24 hours. Our scorecard and tracking system facilitates precision in response and prevention.
In 2021, we rolled out our lockout – tagout (LOTO) HSE guideline globally. This hazardous energy control procedure provides a guide to protect employees and contractors during machine and equipment servicing and maintenance, where the unexpected energization, start-up or release of stored energy could occur and cause injury. The procedures herein established will ensure that machines and equipment are properly isolated from hazardous or potentially hazardous energy sources during servicing and maintenance and properly protected against reenergization.
Oerlikon’s Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Committee establishes health, safety and environment guidelines and processes for the company, drives the implementation of related programs and monitors their performance. The team, led by the Head of Group Operational Sustainability & HSE, works across all sites and businesses. Standardization of HSE practices across the Group is facilitated by an online tool used to track and assign tasks to sites and to follow up on their implementation via an HSE balanced scorecard. For each site, Oerlikon tracks initiatives on training, safety leadership and risk management, and conducts HSE compliance checks.
We regard every Oerlikon employee as being responsible for understanding our Health & Safety policies and making them a reality in practice within our workplaces. Our managers, in particular, have a duty to lead in this regard, and we provide support and oversight via a Health & Safety team of specialists who facilitate Group-wide implementation and monitoring of all related topics.
