Health and safety objectives for 2025 – ISO 45001
Hankook’s occupational health and safety management system sets objectives in accordance with the ISO 45001 standard to prevent accidents and damage to health.
Based on an assessment of events in previous years, the company has set targets that, if achieved, will bring about a significant and effective positive change in the occurrence and/or severity of such events. Planning (PLAN), implementation (DO), checking and evaluation (CHECK), intervention in weak points (ACT) is a constant cycle of the management system (PDCA), but an analogy can be drawn with the 1, 5, and 10-year milestones that define our lives, when we review where we are, what we have achieved, where we have made mistakes, and what we need to change in order to achieve our desired goal.
The result of PDCA is continuous improvement, reinforcement and continuation of positive changes, and identification of weaknesses in the system.
Let’s see what goals we set and achieved almost entirely this year:
1. Training
The prevention of accidents and health hazards is a never-ending struggle for all responsible parties. The sharing of information is a basic requirement, which is why the employer has set an annual target of 360 minutes per year for all manual workers. We ask everyone to pay attention during training sessions, read the training materials, and apply the knowledge in their work. Achieving the targets is a goal in itself, but it only makes sense if employees consciously follow the rules in their daily work and the severity and/or frequency of accidents decreases.
2. Visual representation of risks
Everyone can learn from accidents that have occurred, but until now, this information has only been available in periodic training materials. The so-called “OUCH” cards only describe the specific accident and how to prevent it, and are only displayed in the specific area or on the specific machine, thus providing specific information to the target audience who may experience the accident described. If you encounter one of these at your workplace or in the restroom, read it and pass on the information to each other, especially to new colleagues, as our workforce will grow by about 15% with the TBR plant.
3. Complete revision of risk analysis
Risk refers to the probability of an accident or health damage occurring during our work, the product of the severity of the hazard (negligible 1 > serious 5) and the probability of its occurrence (impossible 1 > frequent 5). Activities in all areas and all jobs must be assessed in this way, and measures must be taken to keep the risk low and under control. We ask everyone to immediately and directly notify EHS Team if they experience an unexpected event during their work that could have had serious consequences. Do not ignore dangerous situations, because what happened to you may happen to someone else.
4. Promotion of health protection
Despite the fact that periodic fitness tests are as thorough as if we were preparing for surgery, our company also provides us with an additional opportunity to get an overview of our health and participate in other tests, such as melanoma screening and abdominal ultrasound. This was organized again this summer with a participation rate of nearly 80-90%, indicating that the program is popular among employees.
5. Safety of mechanical material transport
In an ideal world, fork truck and pedestrian traffic should be able to “coexist” without accidents, but over the past two years there has been an increase in the number of injuries caused by trailers, particularly among pedestrians. In addition to training, we have also implemented technical solutions to reduce accidents. For example, we have installed rounded bollards at intersections where trailers can get stuck in angular barriers, so that they bounce off instead of getting stuck. We will equip gates with heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic with a warning system. According to the plans, a camera system installed on the gates will warn pedestrians in the blind spot of the gate with a light signal when a forklift is approaching.
We wish all our colleagues accident-free work and conscious presence!