Occupational Safety Management – A Systematic Approach to Achieving Success

Occupational health and safety management for associates is one of a company’s key processes. This applies primarily for humanitarian reasons but is also true from an economic perspective. Occupational accidents, illnesses, and diseases are costly for companies and society. Today, technical safety aspects combine with the requirements of ergonomics, user-friendly organization of work, and health protection to form a system-oriented approach to occupational safety.

Efficiently organized occupational safety is becoming an increasingly important competitive factor. Productivity and quality depend crucially on the health and motivation of the workforce. Operating processes can only run smoothly if practical consideration is given to health and safety protection. Effective occupational safety management systems promise the greatest benefit in this respect. In the Bosch Group, we have therefore integrated occupational health and safety management into our management processes and introduced an occupational safety management system that complies with internationally recognized standards. We conduct systematic risk-analyses, detect potential accident and health risks very early, and thus prevent occupational illnesses and diseases. If the hazard sources are known, appropriate preventive measures can be introduced and associates can be given targeted protection. As incidents such as accidents and loss of work are documented, the documentation can be used to compare figures and measure success. It is also possible to agree upon new targets and monitor these.

We have enshrined the prevention of occupational accidents, illnesses, and diseases in our principles for work safety and environmental protection throughout the world. The Bosch Group has set long-term targets for reducing the number of accidents. It is looking to achieve a rate of three reportable accidents per million hours worked by 2020. Managers, safety specialists, and occupational health practitioners at all of the approximately 300 manufacturing and development locations around the world are working to achieve this goal and are committed to reaching the targets at all regional and local levels. Quarterly reports on goal achievement are sent from these locations to the respective divisions and to corporate headquarters, which provides support for any measures and campaigns required at the locations. Our international EHS Steering Committee (Environment, Health, and Safety) comprises 15 regional coordinators and manages the worldwide implementation of our strategic goals and standards. This includes the optimization of production processes.

Binding standards exist for the Bosch Group that lay down minimum requirements for occupational health and safety management. Systematic risk assessments are used at the locations to identify risks for workplaces and activities before necessary protective measures are derived from these for plant and machinery and for handling hazardous substances, for example. Bosch provides managers with training on their duties and responsibilities in occupational health and safety management such as carrying out regular safety instruction for associates on safety-conscious practices. Up-to-date information, guidelines, checklists, and instruction materials for occupational safety and health promotion are supplied for these purposes. Operating instructions are also an important prevention tool. All this ensures that our associates worldwide are informed about risks and protective measures in the workplace.

Since 2007, Bosch has been implementing an occupational safety management system at all its manufacturing and development locations, thus making it one of the forerunners worldwide in implementing the Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Services 18001 standard. The results have been positive, as this has created a global uniform structure for occupational health and safety and has therefore simplified it.

Total numbers for accidents and lost days have decreased significantly, confirming that the safety measures taken are having a positive effect. The accident rate fell by approximately 40 percent – from 6.9 in 2007 to 4.2 in 2012; the number of occupational accidents decreased accordingly – from 3,012 in 2007 to 2,012 in 2012. At the same time, the number of associates increased by approximately 13 percent between 2007 and 2012 and is now about 300,000. Lost days have also declined. In 2007, these amounted to 39,311 days, whereas the figure for 2012 was only 26,016, representing a decrease of around 34 percent.

Continuous efforts are needed to maintain these types of reductions on a sustainable basis. Bosch works with specialists in internal and external working groups and committees to develop and improve standards and implements improvement initiatives systematically. We actively involve associate representatives and communicate good practice solutions to all locations to achieve a continuous improvement process. One of the main functions here is to detect potential accident and health risks for associates in order to take appropriate preventive measures in good time.

The safety specialists offer the locations comprehensive advice on all issues relating to plant, process, and operational safety, whether it involves handling individual safety issues, practical solutions for process engineering systems, or support for systematic safety assessments. The specialists also provide support on implementing legal obligations.