Health and safety

BeCare: no harm to anyone @Bekaert

In 2016 Bekaert started the implementation of a global safety excellence program, BeCare. We want a no-harm, risk-free work environment for all our employees and for anyone working at or visiting our premises.

The BeCare program, which is partly integrated within the manufacturing excellence program, has been designed as a roadmap to realize our safety objectives. This roadmap helps us define and implement the safety practices that will benefit all employees, contractors and visitors in all Bekaert locations worldwide.

BeCare was first implemented in two pilot plants before extending the roll-out in all locations worldwide.

A healthy workplace

Because we also attach great importance to a healthy working environment, we continued to invest in automated handling equipment and other workplace ergonomics in 2016. Spool handling logistic pilot projects are running in our plants in the US, in Slovakia and in China.

Special attention is also given to the handling and storage of chemicals. A central database records all chemicals used in our plants and provides strict health and safety guidelines for our employees.

International Health and Safety Week

Bekaert has a long tradition of organizing an annual Health & Safety event worldwide. The central theme for the 2016 edition was “No-harm to anyone @Bekaert”. Bekaert plants worldwide were encouraged to share their best practices and learn from each other. A set of standard safety tools and techniques were deployed in all plants and we organized safety audits and Gemba walks (observation and feedback tours) in all locations. Moreover, all employees worldwide were invited to watch the video message from the CEO.

Safety related data

(GRI 403-2)

Bekaert has a group-wide OHSAS 18001 certificate. In 2016, 66% of all Bekaert employees were covered by this standard. On average 7 training hours per employee were related to safety in 2016.

Recordable Incidents Bekaert Group⁽¹⁾ Recordables Group 2016

^{(1): BBRG included (Ex-Bekaert entities full year 2016, ex- Bridon entities as of third quarter 2016)}
Repeatability Index Bekaert Consolidated Plants ⁽¹⁾ RI consolidated 2016

^{(1): BBRG included (Ex-Bekaert entities full year 2016, ex- Bridon entities as of third quarter 2016).}Repeatability Index: Number of lost time accidents (LTA) per million worked hours.

Repeatability Index Bekaert Group ⁽¹⁾ RI Group 2016

^{(1): BBRG included (Ex-Bekaert entities full year 2016, ex- Bridon entities as of third quarter 2016).}

Severity Index Bekaert Consolidated Plants ⁽¹⁾ SI consolidated 2016

^{(1): BBRG included (Ex-Bekaert entities full year 2016, ex- Bridon entities as of third quarter 2016).}
Severity Index Bekaert Group ⁽¹⁾ SI Group 2016

Severity Index: Number of lost days due to occupational accidents per thousand worked hours.
^{(1): BBRG included (Ex-Bekaert entities full year 2016, ex- Bridon entities as of third quarter 2016).}
In 2016 both the repeatability and severity index increased, compared to 2015. The BeCare roll-out schedule takes into account the incident history of the locations so that appropriate actions are taken to improve the overall safety level.

Injury and lost day rates per region (GRI 403-2)

Group data per region	RI 1	RI 2	RI 3	SI 1	SI 2	SI 3	Lost Days 1	Lost Days 2	Lost Days 3
EMEA	6.22	6.22	6.26	0.230	0.233	0.198	3 217	2 933	284
Latin America	6.70	7.11	4.61	0.164	0.178	0.094	1 517	1 374	143
Brazil (Consolidated)	3.97	5.07	0.00	0.140	0.178	0.000	176	176	0
Brazil (JV)	1.38	1.35	1.46	0.088	0.093	0.073	701	551	150
North America	1.71	1.89	0.00	0.037	0.041	0.000	108	108	0
Asia Pacific	3.22	3.41	2.60	0.066	0.071	0.049	1 797	1 476	321
BBRG	8.41	8.00	12.14	0.186	0.172	0.316	465	387	78

RI 1 / SI 1 / Lost Days 1 = All employees (Bekaert employees + contractors)
RI 2 / SI 2 / Lost Days 2 = Bekaert employees
RI 3 / SI 3 / Lost Days 3= Contractors

Injury and lost day rates per gender (GRI 403-2)

2016 Group data by gender (own employees)	male	female
Lost days	6 748	257
RI	3.73	1.68
SI	0.142	0.054

Safety champions in consolidated plants

In 2016, 2 plants celebrated more than 6 years without recordable safety incidents. 3 others achieved more than 3 years without recordable safety incidents and 6 plants were more than 1 year incident-free.

Health and safety committees

(GRI 403-1)

Our integral workforce is represented in formal joint management-worker health and safety committees. They help monitor and formulate advice on occupational health and safety programs. These committees operate at all levels of the organization.