Handling chemical substances and working with technical facilities always involve a degree of risk. To give our employees the best possible protection from accidents, LANXESS has introduced strict group-wide directives on health protection and occupational safety. These directives focus primarily on identifying risks in advance and implementing measures designed to prevent accidents and rapidly detect and respond to incidents.

If, despite all safety precautions, an incident does occur, it is recorded in the global electronic Incident Reporting System (IRS). The system documents the entire incident – from the initial notification and response to the definition of deadlines for implementation. As a result, crisis management always has an overview of accidents, environmental incidents and downtimes in production. The lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR), known as MAQ (injuries for every million hours worked) in Germany, is the key indicator used to assess occupational safety. The LTIFR in 2010 was 2.2, which represents a clear improvement on the previous year (3.0).

A Greater Sense of Safety
Naturally, individual responsibility is crucial. LANXESS aims to further lower the injury rate and continuously improve occupational safety by educating employees. One example of this approach is the “A Greater Sense of Safety” campaign launched in 2006. Posters, flyers and information material are helping to raise awareness of this crucial topic among employees and create a shared understanding of the high health and safety standards within the company. Our employees are also encouraged to submit their own ideas and suggestions for how safety in the workplace can be further improved. These proposals are systematically recorded and evaluated before being implemented in corresponding projects.