Safety always come first at Bekaert. Throughout our long tradition of operational excellence, safety has taken up a pivotal role in our activities. This is why safety objectives are a mandatory component of the annual business plan for each Bekaert plant. Performance in this area is monitored continually and compared globally.
A safety model that spans the globe
In 2009, we further implemented the ‘Bekaert Safety Tree Model’ in our steel cord plants worldwide. All plant managers and plant safety coordinators received extensive training after which the model was rolled out to the different production plants. To facilitate this, the requisite tools were made available to them: checklists for performing safety audits, the procedure for conducting risk analysis and observations, and the group-wide system to report and solve unsafe situations. For their part, the plant managers and plant safety coordinators trained the local staff.
Every three months the Bekaert ‘Safety Tree Model Scorecard’ was used to monitor the implementation process. The number of lost-time accidents dropped from 43 to 18. In preparation of the opening of our new production plant in Lipetsk we integrated the Bekaert Safety Tree Model into the new organization there. Several teams participated: the Bekaert Russia team, representatives from local authorities, representatives of contractors, and trainers from other Bekaert organizations.
Safety has been a key concern at Bekaert since the company was founded: it is embedded in our long
tradition of operational excellence.