Safety first

The men and women who work for and with Cognis are the body and soul of the company. Their well-being is our highest priority, and Cognis takes active steps to prevent hazards and foster health. In special workshops, we train members of our management to help cultivate a healthy working atmosphere and encourage good habits. In addition, we have clear plans for the actions to take in the event of a potential threat to well-being.

Well prepared in times of pandemic risks

The past year saw the emergence of a new pandemic threat: influenza type A/H1N1, initially referred to as “swine flu.” The World Health Organization (WHO) had raised its alert for A/H1N1 to the fifth level on a scale of six. As a globally operating company, Cognis had to expect to become exposed to the new subtype, should it develop into a full-scale, worldwide pandemic. In response, the Corporate Crisis Team appointed an internal workgroup, the Pandemic Preparedness Team, to intensively monitor developments and enable us to keep staff well informed at all times. Comprehensive information on avoiding infection and identifying potential type A/H1N1 symptoms as well as the spread of the disease and available vaccines was distributed via our Intranet, flyers and e-mails on an ongoing basis. By fostering a spirit of awareness, vigilance and preparedness, Cognis has maintained confidence and good morale throughout its workforce despite often confusing and worrying international media coverage of the pandemic and its spreading.

2009: one of our best years yet for safety

Since Cognis was established, we have been keenly focused on occupational safety. The past year represents another milestone in the pursuit of our safety management goal—to become an accident-free company: with 23 lost-time accidents (LTAs), Cognis achieved its best score ever. In addition, the region Asia-Pacific recorded an entirely accident-free year.

Global Process Safety Team

Regular reviews ensure that all Cognis sites are kept up to date in all matters affecting safety. At the Group level, the Global Process Safety Team perform the associated audits—including the monitoring of any necessary improvement measures. They also ensure adherence to all relevant standards throughout Cognis. Changes resulting from official regulations or new laws are fully integrated and cascaded down the line, with the Cognis Safety Guidelines being reformulated as appropriate.

Accident and incident survey

The ultimate goal of safety management policy at Cognis is an accident-free working environment. Accident and Incident Information, the Cognis survey of all reported accidents and incidents within Cognis worldwide, provides a monthly update on our progress towards this goal.

Enhanced incident data

At an early stage, we recognized that by carefully documenting and analyzing all workplace accidents, we can identify hazards and develop preventative measures. Increasingly, we apply this highly effective approach to process incidents—equipment or process failures that may or may not involve staff, yet could potentially pose a threat to people and the environment. These are classified in four categories: explosion, fire, leakage, other process incident. In order to gather as much information as possible, we placed reporting thresholds quite low. This means that the vast majority of documented events are well below hazard levels as defined by authorities. This wealth of data on seemingly insignificant incidents such as smaller leaks or smoldering fires, gives us a deeper understanding of weak points in our facilities and where to take action to avoid potentially larger hazards. The overall trend over the past three years shows a rise in reporting discipline, a positive development that, however, skews the statistics.

On a monthly basis, these process incident statistics are gathered and evaluated, then distributed to Cognis plant managers all over the world. Those wishing to find out more, for example about an incident that occurred in a system that also exists in their plants, can consult a comprehensive database for more details. The result is ongoing dialog aimed at transferring learning from one situation to another as a basis for proactive optimization. As we operate facilities of all types, sizes and ages throughout the world, this is a complex process. But by applying the standards in place at plants with the lowest incident rates wherever possible and appropriate, we seek to achieve a uniform level of incident prevention at all locations. Avoiding process incidents and workplace accidents is, of course, also a matter of training. We use measures ranging from digital training tools to hands-on workshops to cultivate a high level of safety knowledge and awareness throughout the company.

Zero accidents

Established in 2005, our Global Process Safety Team introduced a number of individual measures that not only prevented our incidence rate from rising again, but also ensured that the number of accidents continued to fall. The purpose of establishing the Cognis accident database was to achieve a sustained and continuous reduction in the number of incidents occurring. The ultimate target: “Zero accidents”—the incident-free company. 

Locations accident-free since at least one year, ordered according worked mandays since last lost time accident.