Focus Topics – Employee related issues

Occupational health and safety 

Workplace accidents:
Our goal is zero

Management approach

As OHS is one of our priorities, we strive for zero fatalities and work-related injuries with serious consequences. We consistently strive to create a culture of safety and responsibility in our operations. While the local OHS laws define the minimum requirements for Zehnder’s sites, we work to develop standards for Zehnder Group that go beyond legal requirements. One key instrument for preventing accidents is the certification of our production sites with complex production processes according to international standards. This includes our radiator production sites and all other sites where metal forming and/or injection moulding processes are performed.

At Group level, the EMEA COO Radiators is responsible for the oversight of OHS. This person is a member of the Sustainability Steering Committee and will be responsible for collecting KPIs once a Group-wide reporting process is in place (planned for 2024/2025). To ensure that the standard is adhered to, each site appoints a responsible person to collect KPIs and a responsible person to manage OHS. Due diligence processes include certification of our sites according to ISO or similar standards as well as regular internal and external audits. Furthermore, our OHS data are audited by an external assurance company (see the Limited assurance report).

Implementation and outlook

To implement the above management approach and policies, we defined an ambition that is underpinned by two targets and monitored via specific KPIs.

Ambition: Create an environment in which we promote occupational health and safety across the organisation

Obtain ISO 45001 certification (or equivalent) of all production sites where metal forming or plastic injection process take place
Status:
By the end of 2023, five of our eight relevant production sites were certified according to ISO 45001 or equivalent. In 2023, we started the certification process of our site in Lahr (DE) to implement the ISO standard. As a result of our measures, in 2023, 84% of our employees were covered by an OHS system compared to 79% in 2022. Furthermore, the rate of work-related injuries for all employees per 200,000 hours worked has decreased from 2.7 to 2.4. While these results are encouraging and show that our efforts are effective, we need to increase our engagement to ensure no work-related injuries occur.
Outlook:
All our production business units where metal forming or plastic injection processes take place will be certified according to ISO 45001 (or equivalent) by 2025.

Create and implement an Occupational Health and Safety Group Directive
Status:
In the reporting year, we identified the need for a Group-wide coordination regarding OHS.
Outlook: 
Our goal is to develop and implement an OHS Group Directive for Zehnder Group by 2025. The directive should encompass the Zehnder OHS management system, including compliance with OHS requirements such as ISO standards, mandatory training programmes and continuous monitoring of OHS cases. The objective is to secure ISO or equivalent certification for all production sites engaged in metal forming or plastic injection processes, while other production sites will adopt localised OHS management systems. The basis is the understanding of the local OHS systems to guarantee that all sites comply with respective public standards. Where required, we will draw up annual safety instructions and conduct regular risk assessment of machines and processes. We will analyse all work accidents and provide solutions to prevent further ones from occurring. These include technical solutions such as minimum requirements for machinery as well as measures to improve work organisational practices.

Subsequently, we will facilitate a Group-wide roll-out and implementation of the OHS Group Directive, covering all entities. This involves conducting Group-wide OHS training sessions and providing training materials coupled with ongoing monitoring through internal audits and the tracking of quantitative and qualitative targets. Additionally, we intend to integrate OHS considerations into the supplier screening and assessment process to enhance safety standards throughout the supply chain.

GRI 403: Occupational Health & Safety 2018
Disclosure 403-8 Workers covered by an occupational health and safety management system

GRI 403: Occupational Health & Safety 2018
Disclosure 403-9 Work-related injuries
Work-related injuries for all employees

GRI 403: Occupational Health & Safety 2018
Disclosure 403-9 Work-related injuries
Work-related injuries for all workers who are not employees but whose work and/or workplace is controlled by the organisation

GRI 403: Occupational Health & Safety 2018
Disclosure 403-10 Work-related ill health