Workers covered by an occupational health and safety management system
GRI 403-8
Coverage under Oerlikon’s safety rules extends to indirect employees, such as short-term contractors or technicians servicing machinery, who must undergo the same procedures. Visitors must fill in and sign an acknowledgement of the safety instructions before being admitted to a site.
This is consistent with our practice of making no health and safety management distinction between direct, permanent staff and temporary members of our workforce who are employed by outside agencies but whose work is controlled by Oerlikon (within legal limits). Our accident rates cover both types of employees in the same way.
Temporary workers accounted for 12% of work-related injuries in 2021 and 12% in 2020. Those figures correspond to the proportion of their representation within our total workforce in each of those years.
Likewise, we apply the same safety standards for contractors we engage to work at our premises or on customer sites and make the same commitment to their health and safety.
Occupational health services
GRI 403-3
Occupational health services are organized at the legal entity or site level, strictly according to local regulations. These services are provided locally, usually by external (third party) doctors appointed by the company.
For the majority of our sites, the doctors are located off-site. At a few of our larger sites, we have doctors who have a more permanent presence at the site to provide in-house services. The appointed doctors regularly attend the H&S committee meetings, which are organized by the local management to evaluate problems, issues and look at potential areas of improvement.
Oerlikon’s H&S management system requires that all sites establish and maintain an industrial hygiene program. This program needs to be filled with the relevant medical input that anticipates and monitors workplace environmental stressors, which may cause illness or diseases to people. This allows for the implementation of mitigation actions, where needed.
All health and safety related information about employees is treated and kept as strictly confidential personal data in accordance with local labor laws and data privacy regulations. The Group’s Data Protection Officer has established stringent internal data privacy procedures and regularly provides information and training on the topic.
WORKER PARTICIPATION, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION ON OCCPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY
Oerlikon operates 207 sites in 38 countries. Each country is governed by local laws and regulations on the many labor and labor-related topics, including worker participation, consultation and communication.
The local set-up of workers’ participation and consultation is done in compliance with local regulations. Almost all sites have H&S committees, who address all health and safety topics. Due to the different local regulations, there are differences in the details of how participation, consultation and communication are done. Generally, workers’ representatives are members in these committees, together with a representative from management, an H&S officer and a company doctor. Meetings take place regularly several times per year and in many countries on a quarterly basis.
Oerlikon’s H&S management system requires systematic involvement of concerned personnel in the risk assessment process and for investigating accidents and incidents. As part of the system, all concerned personnel are involved in lesson-learned sharing.
