H13. Health and safety

In 2020, Essity conducted a global survey to measure and evaluate how Essity facilitates and supports the physical, mental and social health of employees. The survey also shows the distribution of reactive, proactive and preventive health programs and health initiatives. The aim is to encourage continuous improvements and share best practices worldwide. This survey was conducted at 80 of Essity’s larger facilities, both production facilities and offices, in 2020.

Due to COVID-19, work with health and safety was intensified in 2020. For instance, Essity has made training material and activities available to ensure healthy remote working and taken steps to ensure the best possible health and safety practices at the company’s production facilities and offices.

Essity’s Group target is to decrease the accident frequency rate by 50% in the 2014–2020 period. In 2020, the accident frequency rate declined by 17% year-on-year to 2.7 (3.3; 3.8) accidents per million hours worked and 56% compared with the base year of 2014. The reduction is the result of purposeful and systematic work with safety issues at all of Essity’s production facilities.

In 2020, Essity updated its health and safety strategy and global Health and Security Policy as part of the company’s journey toward a risk-free safety culture. Key initiatives within this strategy include controls and reviews by Essity’s Health and Safety Committee and studies of the safety climate at the company’s production facilities. To further increase the focus on “near misses”, from 2021 Essity will expand the measurement of confirmed accidents and the accident frequency rate to form a Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate. The term “potential consequences” will thus be introduced to identify potential incidents that, in a worst-case scenario, could result in injury or fatality.

Essity’s safety functions include procedures that apply to all production facilities. The safety functions are examined and quality assured every year. One of the most important processes is risk assessment, which includes risk identification, evaluation of exposure, potential consequences and risk reduction based on a hierarchy of control. Following this risk assessment process, Essity has identified critical tasks and using these the company’s global experts have developed safety standards that include clear preventive countermeasures for several specific operations, such as “Yankee cylinder safety”, “Working at height”, “Traffic safety” and “Machinery safety”.

As stated in Essity’s global Health and Security Policy and incident response procedure, the company always encourages employees to set a good example when it comes to work safety and to share and use the tools available to report any dangerous conditions and unsafe behavior. In parallel, the management groups of the facilities review, manage, conclude and provide feedback to this reporting in a systematic manner.

Accident frequency rate (FR)

Read more about how Essity works with health and safety in the chapter Employees. Read more about how the company works with health in relation to COVID-19 in the chapter Drive efficiency.