Health and safety

Measuring and improving safety

The Bekaert safety policy is deployed through the Safety Tree model and monitored via the Bekaert Safety Evaluation System (BEKSES). In 2014, BEKSES audits (based on OHSAS 18001) were carried out in a number of plants. In newly acquired plants and plants recently added to the consolidation perimeter, special efforts were made to align the local safety management to the worldwide Bekaert approach.
To increase safety awareness even further, Bekaert included all recordable incidents (versus lost-time accidents) in its 2014 internal safety reports.

Following the fatal accident in Slovakia in 2013, a thorough investigation was conducted on similar equipment across all plants worldwide.

 

Continued focus on health

Because we attach great importance to a healthy working environment, we continued to invest in automated handling equipment and other workplace ergonomics in 2014. To coincide with our International Health & Safety Week, we implemented a vitality program with the aim of letting teams move together in a healthy way. 

International Health and Safety Week

Bekaert has a long tradition of organizing a Health & Safety Day worldwide every year in September. In 2014, Bekaert extended the duration of this event to a full week, giving all employees the opportunity to participate. The central theme for this year’s edition was “Bekaert on the move for health & safety”. The safety component focused on internal and external transportation and on handling equipment with moving parts. For the health part, a vitality challenge was set: the objective was to reach 80 000 km by moving together in a healthy way. With the active participation of all teams worldwide, the teller eventually reached 130 220 km.  The vitality challenge set the tone for continued vitality activities throughout our entities.

By organizing the International Health and Safety Week each year, Bekaert’s top management and all management teams reconfirm that the safety and health of all Bekaert employees around the world is, and remains, one of the company’s main priorities.

Safety related data

 

Combined numbers include the results of the Bekaert consolidated plants and those of joint-ventures and associated companies.

Severity Index = Number of lost days due to occupational accidents per thousand worked hours

Repeatability Index = Number of lost time accidents (LTA) per million worked hours.

Safety champions

(number of years without LTA)

	>=7 years	>=4 years	>= 2 years	>= 1 years
N° of plants	2	1	2	9

The plants that have been incident-free since at least more than one year represent 30% of the Bekaert population (number of employees of the above plants versus total number of employees from consolidated entities).

Health and safety committees

97.5% of our total workforce is represented in formal joint management-worker health and safety committees. They help monitor and advise on occupational health and safety programs. These committees operate at all levels of the organization. (GRI G LA6)