Occupational health and safety

Actively promoting health

Part of GNFK StartCHM and occupational safety are the responsibility of the head of environment, health & safety, which is organizationally assigned to the the executive board level Human Resources. CHM is based on the framework guidelines of the Luxembourg Declaration on Workplace Health Promotion of the European Union.

Schaeffler’s health and safety policy aims at safe workplaces and health-promoting and health-maintaining conditions in the work environment and personal lifestyle. The starting points here are, for example, the personal care of employees in the form of preventive health programs, including raising awareness of health-conscious behavior at the workplace and the ergonomic design of workplaces. In addition, there is a wide range of health services, such as training, education and course opportunities, that all Schaeffler Group employees can take advantage of during and outside their working hours.Part of GNFK End

With its Corporate Health Management, Schaeffler sets standards across industries and assumes responsibility at its locations worldwide. Examples include the Health Week in China with around 5,500 participating employees at six locations and the Health & Ergo Scout project in Brasov. The positive ergonomic behavioral changes of the employees in Brasov confirm the positive results from the German pilot locations Herzogenaurach, Bühl, Sasbach, and Lahr.

In mid-2019, a program to improve attendance was launched at four pilot locations in Germany. The implementation was structured, integrating trainings, interviews, corporate health management as well as documenting measures. The program will be rolled out across Germany in 2020, after first successes have already been recorded.

Reducing stress in the workplace

The Schaeffler Group aims to effectively reduce stress at work through various measures:

• As part of “Agenda 4 plus One” with the “Factory for Tomorrow” initiative, the Schaeffler Group introduced a workplace register in 2018 that will be rolled out worldwide. This database is used to determine and visualize physical and organizational stress and stress from the working environment. Through a matching process, it is possible to find suitable jobs for employees whose abilities have changed in a more targeted manner, thereby positively promoting reintegration. In 2019, several locations in Europe and China already had the new management tool. The tool is scheduled to be available worldwide in 2021.
• The company gathers health-promoting measures for individual employees in the “Boxenstopp Rückenaktiv” (active back pit stop) program. This includes performing regular corrective exercises close to the workplace during working hours.
• The project “Health & Ergo Scout” aims at employee behavior in the workplace. Through a workshop, employees are made aware of the topic of ergonomic behavior and risk-related illnesses/complaints of the job and then receive individualized advice at the workplace.
• “Fit4Shift” is offered specifically for shift workers. In a day workshop, employees are made aware of shift-specific problems and how to prevent them.
• In addition, Schaeffler assigns ergonomics officers in the plants in order to build up a powerful network on the subject and to solve the challenges on site. Ergonomics assessment tools make the stress at workplaces transparent and quantifiable.

Maintaining a balance

Performance and time pressure as well as conflicts in the workplace can have a negative impact on employee health. Schaeffler wants to counteract these effects preventively and proactively. Managers can significantly contribute to this by helping their employees to better cope with stress. Therefore, the company offers the “Healthy leadership” seminar program especially for this target group. Participants are guided to reflect on how to deal with their own health. They also learn how leadership styles affect the motivation, ability to work, and commitment of employees and what they can do to align their needs and goals with the organization’s goals. The training “Staying balanced by recognizing and strengthening mental resources” is designed to help project and technical managers better survive stressful situations in everyday life. They learn to rethink their own behavior in stressful situations, to develop new coping strategies, and to correctly assess their options for action, including when it comes to their own health. Schaeffler successfully piloted both programs at selected locations in Germany in 2018. Beginning in 2020, a seminar on stress management will also be offered that will reflect on the consequences and causes of stress.

In addition, Schaeffler provides its employees at German locations with the Schaeffler Health Coach, which is a comprehensive health portal. The portal, which can be used both as an app and as a desktop version, allows health management to reach all Schaeffler employees. All health offers, which are available to the employee for free registration, can be viewed in the Schaeffler Health Coach. Furthermore, current news on the topic of health and health tips are uploaded regularly. The tool has already been active since the end of 2018 and was expanded in April 2019 to include the important factor “telemedicine”. This gives employees access to medical advice around the clock.

Uniformly high occupational safety standards worldwide

Part of GNFK StartIn order to comply with legal requirements and to further develop internal processes and standards for occupational health and safety, the Schaeffler Group uses a comprehensive “Energy, Environment, Health & Safety” (EnEHS) management system. It takes into account international occupational safety standards among others. The coverage rate¹⁾ according to the ISO 45001 standard, which has replaced the OHSAS 18001 standard with a three-year transition period since 2018, is 99.0%.

According to the EnEHS management system, all executives and employees are required to comply with occupational safety regulations. Executives are advised by specialists in occupational safety at the respective production sites when carrying out their responsibilities. The results of the discussions are reviewed regularly with the responsible members of the Executive Board. If necessary, further action will be taken. In this way, the EnEHS management system is being developed continuously. This is also demonstrated by the “Innovative safety concept for a forging plant” project at the Schweinfurt location, which was awarded the “Schlauer Fuchs” (smart fox) safety prize by the Employers’ Liability Insurance Association for Wood and Metal. Thanks to intensive cooperation between internal and external specialists from different departments, the workplaces at the forging plant have been made safer and more ergonomic. The developed safety concept has set new standards for the state of safety technology.

In the reporting period, the accident rate²⁾ was reduced to 5.2 (prior year: 6.2) thus achieving the annual reduction target of 10% for the third year in a row.Part of GNFK End

More information on occupational safety in the supply chain can be found in the Responsibility in the value chain chapter.

1) Relating to employees on the production sites.

2) Measurement of Lost Time Injury Rate, LTIR = occupational accidents from one lost day per 1 million hours worked. Employees incl. temporary staff, apprentices, and interns.