Safety continued
Safety in production
Accident frequency Cases/100 FTE
 Target |
 Actual |
Accident severity Lost calendar days/100 FTE
| Target |
| Actual |
We aim to achieve continuous reductions in our accident frequency rate. This is our key safety parameter and consequently forms part of the Heineken World Class Manufacturing Programme.
Our accident frequency rate decreased from 3.2 accidents per 100 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) in 2004 to 2.7 in 2006. The majority of accidents (around 57 percent) still occur in bottling departments, where most of our production staff work. Significant improvements have been achieved in our production units in the Africa & Middle East region. In St. Denis, La Reunion, we introduced improved maintenance management and safety requirements and in Bujumbura, Burundi, old packaging lines were replaced by modern and safer lines. Unfortunately, the improvements have been offset by decreased performance in Haikou, China, where the number of accidents involving external personnel increased, and in Z˙ywiec, Poland, where a relatively high number of accidents occurred during a peak period.
Almost all our employees in production units have completed basic safety training, while about half of the units also organise and run regular refresher sessions. Intensive training and awareness programmes have been run at a number of locations.
There are a number of areas in our production units where the use of personal protective equipment is required: in the bottling hall, in the engine rooms and in the handling of cleaning agents. It is our policy to provide personal protective equipment to personnel working in all areas where safety and health hazards may exist. Through the occupational safety reports, all our units indicated that dust masks, safety glasses and other protective equipment is provided in all production units. A number of locations reported additional measures to make sure that hearing protection is provided. Furthermore, the majority of units regularly check the use of personal protective equipment and these units apply sanctions in the event of non-compliance.
Environmental complaints for nuisance Number of complaints
Safety-related incidents Number per year
| with fine |
| without fine |
As a result of our performance improvement, we managed to meet our target of 2.7 accidents per 100 FTE for 2006. We expect that continuous attention for safety enables us to achieve our target of 2.0 cases per 100 FTE by the end of 2008. These efforts include mandatory implementation of the safety activities under Total Productive Management, starting in Europe.
In 2006, the number of accidents involving contractor personnel decreased from 101 to 84. Accidents involving contractor personnel are not included in the company accident frequency indicator.
The severity of recorded accidents fluctuates between 69 lost days per 100 FTEs in 2004, 61 days in 2005 and 62 days in 2006. This small increase in 2006 was the result of the impact of a number of individual accidents. For example in Zywiec, Poland, ‘s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, and Bujumbura, Burundi, each resulted in a long sick leave.
We did not meet our target for 2006 of 49 days per 100 FTE, but we believe that by successfully addressing accident frequency it will enable us to reduce our target of 34 lost days per 100 FTE in 2008.
In 2006, six production units reported one or more violations of local mandatory safety regulations. In one of these cases, a fine of€6,750 was paid.
