In order to ensure the enforcement of occupational safety and health regulations and to comply with the internal rules applicable to Hankook employees, the employer has for many years been using the so-called EHS Pre-employment Points System (EPR). Under this system, the authorized persons score the possible non-compliant behavior of employees according to the degree of non-compliance and this is recorded by the EHS team. For the safety and well-being of the Hankook community, an employee who reaches 10 points will be subject to labor sanctions, which may include the loss of several monthly benefits (cafeteria) or even termination of employment. The EPR was updated in February this year in line with current experience and practice.
A new element is the failure to report and/or fight a fire, which carries an immediate penalty of 10 points. Of course, everyone is expected to act only in accordance with their health, physical ability and education in this regard. However, we must take action against those who show disinterest in such a situation or who, instead of taking action or providing assistance, film something burning with their phone.
We have introduced relaxations or tightening up on several points in the newly modified EPR. As a softening, we have allowed employees to use their private phones for work purposes. It is important to stress, however, that social media, games, video sharing – in other words, any activity not related to work – is still forbidden during working hours. It is essential that, during working hours, full attention is paid to the work equipment, be it forklift trucks, production machinery, etc. This is pointed out because it is likely that the use of a telephone has already caused accidents on several occasions, i.e. the fact that the operator was not concentrating on the operation of the machine but on something else, such as his or her phone. For your information, listening to music that completely excludes ambient noise is also prohibited. In the case of material handlers (forklift truck operators) in particular, an in-ear loudspeaker device is a code red risk. For them and for workers on production machinery, only music played through external loudspeakers is permitted, without disturbing others.
In connection with the changes, we would also like to draw your attention to the tightening up of the requirements for completing parts of medical examinations (laboratory tests and lung screening). This means that everyone must have a “CBC: blood and urine test” no more than 3 months old and a lung screening report no more than 1 year old when they attend their annual medical examination, without which the doctor cannot determine suitability. Our colleagues have more time to attend the lab and lung screening before their fitness to work expires, so they can easily meet their obligations. However, if you do not have a valid laboratory and/or lung screening report at the time of your medical examination, or if you fail to attend your medical test at the time scheduled without a valid excuse, you will receive a minimum of 3 points and a maximum of 6 points for each failure, plus a reminder with a date for the missed test. If the colleague fails to attend the examination at the make-up date, he/she will receive a further 3 points and will be temporarily suspended from work until the necessary examination has been carried out. Please note that this period will be a period of certified unpaid absence.
It is important to underline that the majority of workers will only get a broad and detailed picture of their health and fitness for work during the periodic fitness assessment, NOT at the family physician. Over the last 10 years, the occupational physician has diagnosed or informed workers of several non-work-related illnesses or suspicions of such illnesses, of which they were previously not informed. The annual fitness test is mandatory by law, but it is also essential for prevention, in the workers’ own interest.
Trainings
This year, our company is again focusing on education at as many levels and from as many sources as possible. We will keep the so-called “Weekly OPLs” introduced in 2017, available every Monday in ARENA or in the Standard EHS folder. From this year onwards, we will publish the weekly OPLs in four languages (Hungarian, Mongolian, Ukrainian, English), so that all employees can access these one-page EHS trainings in a language they can understand and which are MANDATORY to learn in a given week. Shift supervisors are required to submit the sign-in sheets for that week’s OPL to the EHS department in full on the first day of the following week.
We consider it important to ensure direct communication between the EHS team and the workers, which is possible through process-specific training. Process-specific means that, for example, in the workshop for cutting colleagues, only accidents that happened during cutting are presented, and the rules and specificities of the cutting process are discussed. During the workshop, everyone can give their opinions and ideas about safety (e.g. protective equipment).
We will also continue to distribute the so-called “OUCH” warning and information cards, which will give information about accidents on the machine. If an accident has already happened, let us at least learn from it! With this in mind, we have processed the accidents of the last 10 years and created the “OUCH” cards.
To sum up: the tire industry has always been a high-risk industry, and in our case it is carried out by our colleagues in a continuous work order. Especially during the afternoon and night shifts, there is a risk of accidents due to increased fatigue and inattention.
Please pay attention to movements or activities that require increased and complex attention during your work.
Always keep these in mind and prevent injuries! We wish you all an accident-free working day; take care of each other!
