Occupational safety

Occupational safety involves avoiding employee accidents. To measure our performance, we have defined key data, and stipulated that they are regularly collected. We have also defined goals to reach on the path to fulfilling our vision of an accident-free company.

Enormous efforts have been underway since 2006 to achieve that vision. Since most of the technical options have now been implemented, these efforts focus primarily on employee behavior.

Most (work-related) accidents are the result of human error, referring to improper handling of machines or tools, failure to wear protective clothing or wearing it incorrectly, too much haste, or stumbling. That makes constant reminders of correct behavior all the more important. One approach is known as behavior-based safety, based on behavior analysis. Positive intervention should change employees’ unsafe behavior.

ELANTAS Deatech became the first ALTANA company to implement the behavior-based safety concept. According to statistics, 80 to 90 percent of work accidents can be traced to employee behavior. That can only be changed with timely influence on that behavior. The accident pyramid documents the statistical relationship between unsafe behavior, minor accidents, serious accidents, and fatal events. The theory therefore is that the incidence of unsafe behavior must be addressed to prevent serious and even fatal accidents.

Behavior-based safety holds that any given human behavior is based on an estimation of utility / benefit, and that in turn derives from that person’s own experience. ELANTAS Deatech applies the commonly used ABC model to explain this situation.

The ABC model – antecedent, behavior, consequence – is based on praise for correct behavior and criticism of the incorrect. But to succeed, a behavior-based system must respond quickly and consistently to incorrect and correct behavior. Between February 2009 and February 2010, correct behavior was found in three-quarters of the 479 reviews that were performed.

These positive results also solidified the trust between shift supervisors and safety officers. In another step toward accident prevention through correct behavior, ECKART held a safety workshop for executive management in 2009, which resulted in a number of initiatives to improve the company’s culture of safety that were implemented in 2009 / 2010. And the key data show that safety performance has improved significantly.

There was also room for improving work safety at BYK, where the accident rate per WAI 1* increased noticeably between the first and third quarters of 2009. The causes included superficial safety reviews, employee inattention on the job, and overwork. That led management to establish a working group in cooperation with the responsible departments.

The working group’s efforts included:

  • Public speech by management on the importance of workplace safety, supported by communication tools such as newsletter, brochures, and meetings;
  • Articles in the employee newspaper;
  • Posters warning about three accident scenarios (falling, crushing, and cutting);
  • Information about accident trends on BYK TV, the company Intranet and IMS portal;
  • Three-day workshops to raise supervisor’s / manager’s awareness, given by the liability insurance association, with lawyers and psychologists; and
  • Updating risk evaluations and training requirements.
  • Work Accident Indicator 1 (number of on-the-job accidents resulting in absence of more than one day per million hours of work)

ALTANA is constantly making technical changes that will better protect our employees from workplace dangers. For instance, safe handling of methylene dianiline (MDA) must be ensured. MDA is a powdered precursor material that ELANTAS uses for further reactions. Because of its carcinogenic properties, MDA is generally used in closed systems. In the past, the powder was measured out from containers at two ALTANA sites in China. The employees wore appropriate protective clothing and breathing equipment to protect them from the dust that can be hazardous to their health.
When the operation was moved in Tongling, the process was migrated to an automated closed measuring system. Now MDA is delivered in insulated or heated containers and pumped through closed tubing into a tank. It is then diluted using a solvent so the melting point can be maintained below 80 ° C. The MDA can then be measured out from the heated tank through closed tubing into the reaction container. This process is significantly safer for employees, who are no longer required to wear protective clothing and breathing equipment.
ELANTAS Zhuhai also began installation of similar tanks for MDA in 2010. After that work will be completed, work safety and employee health will improve here as well.