“Our safety-first culture, focus on prevention, and in-depth training are delivering consistently safer workplaces for our people.”
Gradislav Gligorijevic
Head of Quality, Health and Safety
Corporate health and safety is a constant risk to manage; there is always more to be done to ensure workplace safety, for instance by improving near-miss reporting or reducing stress at work. Beyond the personal impact, any operations with sub-standard health and safety will be negatively affected financially.
Our long term goal is zero harm, and we are working to reduce the accident rate over the next three years using this new target. Since 2016 we have recorded fewer notifiable accidents, although, as a result of better safety reporting, we are recording more incidents overall. We are safer than the industry benchmark14, our standards have improved and risks continue to be minimised.
But accidents do still occur and clearly this is unacceptable, so we will continue to refine how we do things.
The ONE Safety initiative is the core behaviour and process safety framework that unites us all. We encourage all employees to use our new ‘near-miss’ system, with a goal of at least one near-miss reported per employee per month (the current company-wide rate is 1.2). All managers at all levels receive regular training to firmly anchor safety in everyday life. This complements the employees’ and contractors’ sense of responsibility at operational levels. This culture is underpinned by preventive risk assessment and occupational health and safety management systems certified to ISO45001 at all sites.
All new recruits must undertake in-depth safety training, and working safely from home is also covered. We run ‘6S’ safety days16, organise extensive site safety audits and visits, and work on specific targeted issues at any underperforming sites.
Employees’ and contractors’ collective behaviour is at the heart of ONE Safety, coupled with senior management accountability and oversight.
Our performance & target
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Target 2025 | |
Lost Time Accident (LTA) frequency rate15 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 0.5 |
Case Study
Prevention is paramount
Safety measures involve either behaviour change or process change. An example of the latter is new hazard detection solutions which ensure operator safety in high-risk tasks such as sawing.
The ‘Hand Guard’ table saw is a stunning piece of high-technology which uses digital optical recognition and bespoke software to detect danger instantly, and stop the saw blade immediately. This new system both eliminates injury risk and maintains productivity.
Building on our safety management, employee welfare is naturally vital too. We safeguard the welfare of employees and contractors using consistent, formal programmes that ensure safe work environments and support emotional and mental wellbeing.
We recognise that there is an economic burden when employees experience stress or other work-related illness. That’s why welfare is anchored in fair employment terms and job security: employees working reasonable hours, who feel secure in their employment, and with adequate time off are more likely to thrive physically, emotionally, and mentally – in and outside work.
We comply with all applicable laws relating, for instance, to flexible work, bullying, and harassment. We have zero tolerance for harassment and bullying. Further, on COVID-19, we have so far invested around €1m on safety measures to protect staff, and, to date, nearly all staff have voluntarily received two vaccination injections. Our Business Conduct Guidelines and Pfleiderer Compliance System commit us to operate in compliance with the law and in line with our values.
We are fully committed to staff wellbeing, which comprises career development, labour rights, training, teambuilding, mentoring, and idea sharing.
All Pfleiderer sites provide access to medical care, including third-party support for employees affected by work-related mental health issues. Individual progress is our priority: we draw up customised employee development plans that value the employee as well as the needs of the company.
Employees can access health and fitness offers via our ‘Fit by Pfleiderer’ initiative in partnership with fitness studios, massage providers and swimming pools, all at reduced rates. Where possible, we also provide access to healthy eating options on site or within reasonable distance, and additional hydration is easily accessed on site when temperatures rise. These activities are supported by a strong drive to create smoke-free and alcohol-free workplaces and communal areas.
There is a strong sense of cohesion and family at Pfleiderer; a bond which we want to maintain. We aim to deliver a systematic and consistent delivery of policies and standards across all sites, and while much is being done already, this target will contribute further to a more environmentally restorative, socially just, and economically inclusive future.
Effective governance for a clear direction
Robust and effective corporate governance arrangements ensure a clear direction for the business, an effective Management Board, and a robust management approach to the things matter.
Governance
We aim to prevent fraud and other unethical practices by setting a strong, ethical ‘tone from the top’.
The target in the field of governance is for all employees and contractors to abide by the terms of our Business Conduct Guidelines and our Compliance System.
Our way of working aims for zero deviation from the Guidelines. Our compliance system instructs us to prevent unwanted outcomes, recognise issues when they arise and apply appropriate responses where required.
Strategic commercial and ESG ambitions are supported by formal management systems. Pfleiderer Deutschland GmbH has an integrated management system for quality (ISO 9001), environment (ISO 14001), energy (ISO 50001) and safety (ISO 45001), as well as chain of custody (FSC and PEFC). A management handbook contains all regulations concerning our corporate duty of care, the quality management of our products, energy efficiency, and the protection of our employees and the environment. The manual also applies to the subsidiaries Heller Holz GmbH and JURA-Spedition GmbH.
“Our safety-first culture, focusing on prevention and in-depth training, is delivering consistently safer workplaces for our employees.”
Gradislav Gligorijevic
Head of Quality, Health and Safety
Target 1
Reducing employee and contractor accidents and achieving a lost-time accident frequency rate for each of 0.5 per 200,000 hours worked (LTA-FR2) by 2025
Pfleiderer fosters a safety-first culture. Prevention is our top priority to ensure the safety of our employees in the best possible way. In the medium term, our goal is to further reduce the number of accidents and the absenteeism rate to achieve zero accidents in the long term. This applies to both Pfleiderer employees and employees of contractors working at our sites.
We have recorded fewer reportable accidents since 2016, but are recording more accidents overall internally thanks to better safety-related reporting. Our accident rates are significantly below the 2015 to 2020 occupational safety reference value of the German Employers’ Liability Insurance Association for Wood and Metal.
Work-related injuries: our performance and targets
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Target 2025 | |
| Lost-time accident frequency rate per 200,000 worked hours (LTA-FR2) | 2.1 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 0.5 |
Case Study 1
Prevention is paramount
Safety measures involve either behaviour change or process change. An example of the latter is a new hazard detection solution which ensures operator safety in high-risk tasks such as sawing.
The ‘Hand Guard’ table saw is a stunning piece of high-technology which uses digital optical recognition and bespoke software to detect danger instantly, and stop the saw blade immediately. This new system both eliminates injury risk and maintains productivity.
Target 2
Creating an evaluation system in 2023 consisting of preventive indicators to reduce accidents
To prevent accidents, we have introduced various measures, guidelines and directives. These include the risk assessment of individual workplaces, activity related risk assessments, general safety and behavioural instructions, basic safety rules (cardinal safety rules), a guideline for evacuation, rules for dealing with contractors when entering the plant premises, and safety instructions for contractors and visitors. By regularly assessing risks and providing information about potential hazards, we continuously improve our occupational health and safety.
If occupational accidents occur despite our prevention work, we record them, analyse them in detail and develop measures to eliminate the causes found. If suppliers suffer an injury on our premises, we also record and analyse this and initiate corrective measures.
To further minimise our accident rate of 1.9 (LTA-FR2) and achieve our goal of zero accidents, we are continuously working to optimise our processes. In addition, we have set ourselves the new goal of evaluating various preventive measures that form the basis for occupational and process safety with indicators and reporting them regularly.
Target 3
Develop a concept for the expansion of human resources management to develop and retain employees, increase the proportion of women in management and increase the proportion of people with disabilities in the workforce in 2023
Our employees are our most valuable asset. They coin our corporate culture with their individual personalities and skills, their life experience and their knowledge, their inventiveness and talent, and contribute significantly to the success of the company.
We cultivate and promote this diversity and have developed a Diversity Policy to do so.
It is designed to protect the individuality of each person and to ensure respectful interaction, tolerance and equal treatment in the workplace. Diversity Policy Pfleiderer Group BV
Pfleiderer has around 2,000 employees, the vast majority of whom remain with the company for around 17 to 18 years; employee terminations are relatively rare.
We offer our employees a work environment that takes into account the various aspects and challenges of work and family life.
Case Study 2
Work-life balance through flexible working time models
With the help of various working time models, we support employees in their individual life situations. Home office, flexitime and part-time work for older employees are natural pillars of working time flexibility for us.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, office employees (desk workers) had the option of working up to 50% of their working hours from home via a supplementary agreement to their employment contract. Pfleiderer can also approve individual agreements, for example a temporary adjustment of working hours or a sabbatical, after consultation.
Case Study 3
Qualified managers
Pfleiderer trains young people in both the industrial and commercial sectors. Many of our long-standing employees started their careers with us as trainees in one of these areas. Many managers come from our own ranks; they have prepared themselves for these positions through internal or external qualifications and further training. Pfleiderer accompanies these developments with structured succession planning.
“PFLEIDERER IS KNOWN FOR ITS HIGH-QUALITY APPRENTICESHIPS. THAT IS WHY EIGHT YEARS AGO I DECIDED TO DO A DUAL STUDY PROGRAMME IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION WITH A FOCUS ON MARKETING IN NEUMARKT.”
“THE COMBINATION OF THEORY AND PRACTICE WAS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY. AT THE SAME TIME, I WAS SUPPORTED IN THE COMPANY WITH PROJECTS AND IN-DEPTH INSIGHTS INTO ALL AREAS. AFTER THREE YEARS, I WAS OFFERED A JOB IN MARKETING AT PFLEIDERER.“
“THERE I WAS GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRAIN AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER, AND LATER TO BECOME A VOCATIONAL INSTRUCTOR, SUPPORTING OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE ON THEIR CAREER PATHS.”
Diana Bachmeier
Managerin Social Media
Target 4
Conducting and documenting compliance training for 100% of staff by 2025
Effective governance for a clear direction
Training of our workforce plays a major role at Pfleiderer. For example, we have firmly anchored compliance training in the organisation and are expanding it at our locations to ensure compliance with our governance principles and value systems. Pfleiderer Compliance
We aim to prevent fraud and other unethical practices by setting a strong, ethical ‘tone from the top’.
The target in the field of governance is for all employees and contractors to abide by the terms of our Business Conduct Guidelines and our Compliance System.
Our way of working aims for zero deviation from the Guidelines. Our compliance system instructs us to prevent unwanted outcomes, recognise issues when they arise and apply appropriate responses where required.
A management handbook contains all regulations concerning our corporate duty of care, the quality management of our products, energy efficiency, and the protection of our employees and the environment. The manual also applies to the subsidiaries Heller Holz GmbH and JURA-Spedition GmbH.
„For Pfleiderer, stakeholder- and value-oriented corporate governance is the basis of modern and transparent corporate management. It sets the framework for our self-image as a company and our sustainable success.“
Dr. Frank Herrmann
CEO / Chairman of the Management Board
For more on governance please visit our website, pfleiderer.com
If you wish to submit a concern via the whistle-blowing system, please visit the dedicated website.
Involving stakeholders
Assuming social responsibility is part of our self-image. We want to expand the trusting relationship with our stakeholders and be a fair partner for employees, investors, customers, suppliers, business partners and service providers.
We value maintaining an open and continuous dialogue with them so that we can identify at an early stage which emerging challenges are essential from our stakeholders’ point of view, both now and in the future. In addition, by considering stakeholders’ interests in the sustainable development of our company, we can have a broader impact.
For example, we rely on partnerships with external stakeholders such as recycling companies, furniture manufacturers, suppliers and customers to promote the cascading use of wood and the circular economy.
Case Study 4
Advancing the industry together
At the European level, we engage primarily through our membership of the European Panel Federation (EPF), and at the national level via Germany’s Wood Based Panel Industry Federation (VHI). We are Board members of both organisations, and are part of several working groups. For example, EPF task forces are working on issues like formaldehyde, waste wood, raw material, the Industrial Emissions Directive, and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
We are actively involved via the EPF in the EU’s New European Bauhaus alliance, Club du Bois and Renovation Wave which, together, are exploring the potential of new build in wood to create a valuable additional carbon sink. This aligns well with the European Green Deal1 to make buildings less carbon intensive over their full life cycle and more sustainable while applying the circularity principles to building renovation to reduce materials-related greenhouse gas emissions for buildings.
1https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/ european-green-deal_en
Case Study 5
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Initiative for biodiversity
Pfleiderer is a member of the initiative Biodiversity in Good Company e.V. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety launched the 'Biodiversity in Good Company' initiative in 2008, creating the world's first business platform of its kind.
Pfleiderer chairs the initiative. By signing a 'Leadership Declaration', Pfleiderer has committed itself to integrating the concept of biodiversity into its environmental and sustainability management programmes. As a first step, we have set ourselves the goal of assessing our impact on biodiversity in order to set effective and measurable targets for the restoration and protection of biodiversity.
In addition, we are working with local partners to assess how construction and infrastructure projects can protect biodiversity, including on our own land.
https://www.business-and-biodiversity.de/en/
Our contribution to the global goals
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched by the United Nations in 2015 with ambitious targets to address major global issues – from ending poverty to tackling climate change.
Pfleiderer contributes to the targets under a number of SDGs because we are part of the circular economy, we serve the construction industry, and our high-grade products are an effective store of carbon.
The primary SDGs to which we contribute
Other SDGs which our business directly supports
Read more about sustainability at Pfleiderer
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