We take responsibility for the health and safety of our employees every day and do everything we can to safeguard them against accidents and work-related illnesses. To this end, we take measures to prevent health issues from arising in the first place.
Our approach to preventing accidents and promoting safety
We seek to promote the health of our employees and sustain their long-term performance ability, which in turn necessitates a safe workplace. We are therefore constantly working to further strengthen our health and safety culture.
The lost time injury rate (LTIR) is an important indicator used to gauge the success of our occupational safety efforts. It comprises all accidents worldwide that have resulted in at least one day of missed work per one million hours worked. We determine the Group-wide LTIR both for our employees and supervised temporary staff. Our objective is to lower the LTIR to below 1.0 by 2025.
Generally, before starting any activity, we perform a hazard assessment to identify risks and do everything possible to eliminate them before commencing the activity or commissioning a plant. If this is not feasible, we put measures in place to minimize the likelihood of risks and their potential impacts. Hazard assessments are the responsibility of our individual sites and are therefore conducted by them.
In October 2023, we launched BeHealthy, our global employee health strategy, to our workforce. It is designed to further strengthen the physical, mental, social, and workplace health of our employees. All sites are asked to appoint a person responsible for implementing the strategy. For the launch of BeHealthy, we started an information campaign with the support of a member of the Executive Board. Moreover, in 2023, we introduced a key indicator for health, planned to comprise our health index on the one hand and the implementation status of the BeHealthy strategy on the other hand. We determine the health index based on 12 questions in the global Employee Engagement Survey. We measure the implementation status based on the extent to which our employees use the offers in the BeHealthy Toolbox and participate in the Mindfulness Community.
Through the efforts of our Health Management unit, we are bolstering our company and health culture at our global headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. We examine the effectiveness of Health Management using a key indicator system, based on local activities.
Moreover, Health Management at our Darmstadt site also makes use of the findings from our company insurance fund’s health report, along with evaluations from our Site Medical Center. We use all of this input to create target group-specific or unit-specific prevention programs as well as to advise the local management. When specific indicators such as workplace stress start rising, additional consultation meetings take place between Health Management and the affected units.
Roles and responsibilities
Our Health and Safety management system is the responsibility of Corporate Sustainability, Quality and Trade Compliance, which in turn reports to the Chair of the Executive Board. This Group function sets objectives, oversees the respective initiatives globally and conducts internal EHS audits. Local EHS managers and their teams ensure that our individual sites comply with all occupational health and safety laws and regulations. They are also responsible for local projects, campaigns, and programs.
Employees concerned about their health or safety are permitted to temporarily step back from their work until the issue has been resolved. Globally, across the Group, they are encouraged to report such concerns via our compliance hotline.
At our Darmstadt site, we have safety and decision-making committees that convene to address health and safety issues, coordinating strategies and focus areas with site senior leaders and health and safety experts as well as employees. Moreover, Health Management at the Darmstadt site contributes to embedding the topic of health into our company culture. After implementing each measure, the Health Management team asks all participants for their anonymous feedback on their experience and suggestions for improvement, which help shape the development of further initiatives.
At the Darmstadt site, our interdisciplinary Mental Health Team provides consultations to tackle the growing challenges surrounding mental health. As part of the new BeHealthy strategy, employees can also get support from mindfulness coaches on everyday stress management.
In 2023, we developed the interactive “Healthy leadership” workshop, among other things. The objective of this workshop is to familiarize our managers with health-promoting leadership behaviors with the help of business actors. At the same time, it teaches them how to integrate these behaviors into their own everyday work. In 2023, over 300 managers attended the workshop in Darmstadt.
In addition to this service, we offer a telephone hotline in all 66 countries in which we operate, giving our employees and their relatives access to confidential mental health and social counseling services around the clock.
Safety delegates and health partners
We have safety delegates at many of our sites globally who, in addition to their usual duties, help their supervisors ensure compliance with safety regulations and requirements. At the same time, they act as points of contact for their colleagues regarding safety-related matters.
At our Darmstadt site as well as other German sites, health partners also act as the interface between our employees and Health Management. They function as a health-related liaison for colleagues while also informing our workforce about the health programs and services on offer. At the same time, they make recommendations to Health Management regarding employee needs. Our employees undergo corresponding training before taking up their role as a safety delegate or health partner.
Our commitment: Policies and company agreements
Our Corporate EHS Policy (Corporate Environment, Health and Safety Policy) describes our fundamental approach to occupational health and safety, among other things. It is part of our EHS management system and undergoes an external ISO 45001 audit every year.
Together with the Group-wide health strategy BeHealthy, we launched the newly developed Merck Group Employee Health Standard in October 2023. It describes the fundamental requirements that a site must fulfill as regards employee health. In addition, the standard specifies our approach to ensuring workplace safety for our employees while also promoting their health and well-being. Furthermore, we set out our Group-wide approach to health and safety management, which is aimed at preventing workplace accidents and occupational illnesses.
We expect our contractors to comply with environmental as well as health and safety requirements throughout the entire process, from starting a job to completion. This objective is reflected in our Group-wide Contractor EHS Management Standard.
At our sites in Germany, we abide by company agreements on occupational health and safety that have been drawn up in partnership with employee representatives. For instance, our Occupational Integration Management works agreement, which applies to all our sites in Germany, governs the procedure for employees who have been on extended sick leave. The aim is to retain an employee’s position while also helping to prevent adverse health impacts after the affected employee returns to work.
We also have occupational health and safety company agreements in place at 13 other sites in Europe. These cover all activities required to comply with national occupational safety regulations, such as workplace hazard assessments and regular occupational safety analyses. These company agreements also include on-site health offers for our employees.
Safety certification at our sites
As part of a Group certificate, our occupational health and safety management system was ISO 45001-certified at 66 sites at the end of 2023. The sites individually define the scope of their certification. For example, at the Darmstadt site, the ISO 45001 certificate covers employees in the production units as well as those working in infrastructure.
Our globally integrated management system enables us to ensure the occupational health and safety of all employees, among other things. This also applies to employees working at non-certified sites as well as those working at sites that are not included in the scope of the Group certificate.
The certification process helps us to identify weaknesses as well as opportunities for improvement, enabling us to take appropriate measures in a timely manner in order to ensure the health and safety of our employees in the future. All sites are urged to apply these standards.
Accident rates
Our employees are required to immediately report any relevant occupational accidents to Corporate Sustainability, Quality and Trade Compliance, where these accidents are assessed. If necessary, we then implement additional safety measures. This procedure is common practice across all production facilities around the world.
We document the following occupational safety data across our sites worldwide:
- The LTIR measures the accidents resulting in at least one day of missed work per one million hours worked. In comparison with the previous year, our LTIR increased slightly to 1.3 (2022: 1.2) The majority of incidents resulting in lost time were slips, trips and falls, along with contusions and lacerations from the operation of machinery and equipment. Once more, in 2023, we recorded no fatal accidents.
- We use our EHS Incident Rate to document incidents.
- Alongside this indicator, in the United States, we also use the Occupational Illness Rate to monitor work-related illnesses and their long-term effects.
Clear rules of conduct
Experience shows that most workplace accidents can be prevented by proper conduct. For our occupational health and safety, it is therefore essential that our employees receive EHS training and certification and act accordingly. We not only inform our employees about occupational health and safety but also actively involve them in our efforts; for instance, we ask them to participate in walkabouts and in the selection of personal protective equipment. This involvement is crucial as our employees best understand what they need in specific work situations. This enables us to continuously improve our occupational health and safety practices and performance.
Group-wide, all newly appointed site EHS managers must complete an EHS onboarding training that covers the topics of occupational health and safety as well as our BeSafe safety culture program. Through the BeSafe program, we raise employee awareness of occupational hazards and teach them rules for safe behavior. In addition, we regularly provide occupational safety training at our sites covering both legal requirements and the specific risks.
Promoting employee health
Our global health strategy BeHealthy comprises the following core elements:
- Mandatory training for all managers to promote healthy leadership;
- Mindfulness ambassadors who offer employees in their unit monthly or quarterly mindfulness exercises and provide support for managing stress;
- BeHealthy Toolbox with various health-promoting offers, such as training sessions, campaigns, self-tests, risk analyses, checklists, and consultations regarding mental, physical, social and workplace health (e.g., healthy shift work, ergonomics, 24/7 Employee Assistance Program).
In addition, numerous health-related offerings are available at our global headquarters in Darmstadt. These cover various topics including ergonomics, nutrition, stress, and mental health issues. We also offer employees at other sites various health-promoting measures.
Fitness initiatives
Across Germany, our employees can take advantage of offerings such as our company fitness program Fit@Merck, which encompasses disease prevention courses that are subsidized by our company. Additionally, in Darmstadt we have a company sports program with 31 athletic activities, of which we were able to offer 30 different athletic activities in 2023.
Physicals and support for our employees
With our occupational health care as well as our recruitment and suitability examinations we would like to ensure that all employees meet the health requirements for their particular tasks.
Our Travel Health & Medical Advisory Service assists employees who travel abroad, providing them with recommendations on necessary vaccinations and advice on hygiene risks.