Workplace safety: Consistent occupational health and safety
Health comes first!
"Health is not everything, but without health everything is nothing." Like the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who declared health the greatest good almost 200 years ago, Kubota Brabender Technologie considers health and safety an absolute priority. Our employees are our first concern. They are the ones who embody us as a company; they are our knowledge, our skill, and our most valuable capital. Accordingly, we attach great importance to workplace health and safety. It is our mission to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for each of our employees throughout their entire working life.
Playing it safer every day
In Germany, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Occupational Safety Act create the legal framework for health and safety in the workplace. However, Kubota Brabender Technologie upholds even stricter standards. As part of the Kubota Group, we also implement the Japanese corporation's health and safety measures – and for many years, Kubota has been implementing worldwide, consistent and uncompromising occupational safety according to the highest standards. Security experts from Osaka regularly visit our company, audit it from top to bottom, and suggest changes to allow a further increase in safety. Just as we continuously optimize the quality of our products, we also constantly update and refine our measures for health and accident prevention in the workplace.
Successful modifications in production
A recent adjustment in our production is, for example, the refitting of our forklifts. When a forklift is in motion, a blue spotlight now illuminates the ground in front of it, meaning that employees can see it coming early on. Also, the vehicles can no longer exceed the maximum allowed speed of 5 km/h in the assembly hall. In addition, the hall is now divided into immediately visible sectors by floor markings in different signal colors. The safety color red marks areas in which vehicles like forklifts move. Among other things, yellow indicates the fixed location of equipment and resources, while green indicates zones that can be entered without safety shoes.
"We are on the right track," says Waldemar Podworny, safety specialist at Kubota Brabender Technologie. "The latest measures have reduced the risk of collisions even more. And not only that – we have also reduced clutter at the same time. Equipment is now stored in an orderly manner where it belongs.“ The next measures are already in preparation.
Safety through "gemba": Proximity to the real place
Good and responsible management is crucial when it comes to implementing effective health and safety measures in the workplace. Executives are called on to identify risks that can lead to serious accidents, to take these risks seriously, and to create a working environment in which employees deal openly with the topics of workplace hazards and safety. They also ensure that all employees are well-informed about safety practices – especially the people assigned as safety officers. Last but not least, executives should be in constant contact with employees. Kubota Brabender Technologie follows the principle known as "gemba": proximity to the real place – the place of events – called gemba in Japanese.
Effective leadership is only possible if leaders know, experience and perceive on-site processes and the needs of employees. After all, the experiences, opinions and suggestions of the employees who carry out potentially hazardous work are of decisive importance here. A lack of gemba does not merely cause communication problems, loss of motivation, and lack of efficiency – in the worst case, it can lead to mistakes, perhaps even accidents. This is exactly what must be prevented.
Carelessness – the biggest challenge
The causes of accidents are diverse. Defective electrical equipment can cause fires; inadequate or improperly used personal protective equipment can lead to injuries. In a large number of cases, however, the root cause is a hurried action taken without safety measures, an uncoordinated attempt by several employees to move a heavy machine, or simply an employee carrying out a new task without sufficient instruction. A short instant of recklessness or negligence can be enough to cause a serious incident. Thus, one of the most important measures to protect employees is to provide them with comprehensive training – and to motivate them to make safety procedures an integral part of their work routine.
Inform and motivate
All employees of Kubota Brabender Technologie GmbH receive regular trainings and instructions, ensuring that they are well-versed in the mandatory safety procedures and consistently implement them to prevent accidents. Our annual Safety Day also focusses on safety. Here, employees receive a variety of information about a safe and healthy working life. This year, the day was not merely about "obvious" safety matters such as hazardous substances, proper lifting and carrying, skin protection, and personal protective equipment. We also brought up topics like respectful interaction with others, good communication, and avoiding and dealing with psychological stress. We take a broad approach: we want the people in our company to lead all-round good and healthy lives.
Individually optimized workstations
Not every person – and not every employee – has the same needs. What the optimal workstation looks like depends on the respective person and their specific task, and can be very diverse. The needs and requirements of Kubota Brabender Technologie's employees are particularly diverse, because we see diversity as an advantage. Accordingly, it is important to us that we offer each employee a workstation individually tailored to them. For example, we enable our older employees to work in an age-appropriate manner by providing brighter lighting and additonal workplace ergonomics through height-adjustable tables. This means that the experience, the profound knowledge and the routine of our older employees remain available to us for a long time, combining with the energy and fresh approaches of the younger ones to create a variety of perspectives and competencies.
Safety at the scene of events
Effective management and well-informed, motivated employees are two cornerstones of a safe working day – but there is yet more needed for optimal safety. At Kubota Brabender Technologie, our long-standing safety specialist Waldemar Podworny as well as five safety officers from administration, construction, production electrical engineering and production mechanics provide applied expertise in occupational safety in day-to-day operation. In addition, 21 first responders ensure that competent help is on site immediately in the event of an accident. "Legally, only nine first responders are needed – just as we would only need four safety officers," says Waldemar Podworny with a smile. "However, more than twenty people volunteered.“ A speaking sign that the company's employees are also committed to health and safety.
The honorary safety officers are employees who take on the task voluntarily. They complete two to three training courses a year and advise other employees on all matters related to safety and health in the workplace. They are also directly at the scene of events, ensuring that all employees consistently adhere to the implemented measures and instructing them if they do not conform to required safety procedures.
Well regulated: Protective routine
The measures and procedures that ensure the protection and safety of Kubota Brabender Technologie's employees are regularly audited and updated. Before beginning their work, employees inspect all tools and machines for defects. Before new equipment and materials are taken into operation, possible hazards are identified, the necessary safety measures recorded in the operating instructions, and all affected employees informed in a detailed safety briefing. Regular safety exercises and drills ensure that employees know how to act in the event of a fire or other emergency.
Behavioral principles such as "Stop, Call and Wait" ensure a safe work routine. This guideline specifies that employees who notice a deviation during their work first interrupt work (Stop). They examine the problem, and if they can fix it without putting themselves in danger, they do so. Otherwise, they call their supervisor and the security specialist (Call) and wait (Wait) until the problem is solved and they can safely continue.
Learning from mistakes all over the world
Despite all precautions, accidents can never be completely ruled out. Should an accident occur, its effects must first be limited as much as possible – and the incident must then be analyzed in detail. The causes are determined, problems and contributing factors are identified, and all involved employees are interviewed. On this basis, we develop improvements and measures to prevent such an accident from occurring again.
A special advantage is that Kubota Brabender Technologie does not only learn from its own mistakes. We receive reports of incidents from the entire Kubota Group worldwide and check each report to see if such an accident might also be conceivable at our facility. For example, a defective lithium-ion battery spontaneously combusted in a Kubota factory outside of Germany, causing a fire. As a consequence, we checked all batteries and charging cabinets in Duisburg and disposed of several batteries.
Customer and consumer safety
Our focus on safety is not limited to our own employees. Through our solutions, we also contribute to the safety of our partners and customers as well as consumers. Good examples of this are our devices for the FOOD sector, where reliable, controllable and recordable quality in Hygienic Design is important. Our solutions for the production of batteries and other products where toxic, highly flammable or explosive materials are processed also guarantee the highest possible level of safety.
In terms of safety and health, the Kubota Group sets the highest of standards worldwide.