Health & Safety in the Workplace
Thinking Safely, Acting Safely
We met our 2010 safety goal for Lost Workday Case reduction well ahead of
schedule and established a more aggressive target. By the end of 2007, we had
achieved a worldwide rate of 0.33 per 100 employees, and now aim to reduce this
by an additional 10 percent to a rate of 0.30 per 100 employees.
Historically, traffic accidents have been the most frequent cause of
employee injuries. Abbott broadened it's Accidents per Million Miles (APMM)
measure for our sales fleet vehicles from a domestic to a global level, and
adjusted our 2010 Fleet Accident Rate goal from a 10 percent to a 30 percent
reduction based on 2004 levels.
Moving to Zero
Contributing to our success, we have developed Moving to Zero Incidents, a
set of behavior-based initiatives which provides employees with tips to promote
safety and environmental responsibility in the workplace and at home. We
believe that all EHS incidents are preventable and that safety is the
responsibility of every manager.
"At Abbott, we want every employee to be able to work safely every
day," said Rick Gonzalez, Abbott president and chief operating officer, and
sponsor of the safety culture expansion. 'I'm confident that Moving to Zero
Incidents will enable us to become the example of the safest global
workplace."
During 2008, we expanded our Moving to Zero Incidents program to many
international sites. This behavior-based initiative encourages employees to
adopt good safety habits in the workplace and at home.
Our commitment to Moving to Zero Incidents will be demonstrated through an
increased management focus in three major areas:
- Increased Communications on Safety
Our communications efforts will include special emphasis on our accomplishments
as well as areas for improvement.
- Increased Management Safety Observations in the Workplace
Senior management will discuss safety at all employee meetings, and other
managers and supervisors will also talk with their staff about EHS on a regular
basis. EHS issues affect all employees, whether you are located in the office,
laboratory or production plant, or are a sales representative.
- Implementation of Business-Specific Safety Actions
These actions will vary depending on the issues in a business unit and the
effort necessary to become injury-free. By focusing our efforts, we can prevent
injuries from occurring and achieve our vision of zero injuries.
United Kingdom
We piloted a Moving to Zero training program at our diabetes care facility
in the United Kingdom. Moving To Zero: Focus on Behaviors includes four
behavior-based modules in the workplace as well as a DVD for employees to share
safety and environmental awareness with their families. The program uses one of
Abbott's core values, Caring, to promote our EHS culture:
- Concentration – Focusing on the task at hand helps reduce injuries and
environmental incidents.
- Attitude – Understanding the attitude we bring to a task is important; the
right attitude translates into action.
- Recognition – Heightened awareness enables us to spot an unsafe condition
and prevent incidents.
- Everyone – Together, through increased awareness of both personal behaviors
and recognition of potential hazards, we can enhance our EHS culture both at
work and at home.
Coyoacan, Mexico
In July 2007, Moving to Zero (Movimiento Cero) was launched at the
pharmaceuticals manufacturing site in Coyoacan, Mexico. Plant management
outlined EHS guiding principles for all employees and the activities and
programs they planned to implement in order to promote and achieve a culture of
zero incidents. To emphasize on- and off-the-job EHS awareness, all employees
were provided with a take-home magnet with hints for a safe home and a pamphlet
with Emergency Response Information.
Expanding our Training Programs
In 2006, Global EHS Training Services offered 290 EHS Web-based and
instructor-led training programs, 42 of which were new curricula.
Performance Data on Safety
Safe Driving
To promote safe and responsible driving, Abbott established a requirement
for hands-on, behind-the-wheel training for all new hires, managers and
high-risk drivers throughout the company. The year 2008 was a record year for
training, with a total of 5,210 training sessions conducted worldwide, a
63-percent increase from 2007. In addition, capture of international fleet data
from all affiliates and on-site program reviews at commercial offices worldwide
has increased the focus on vehicle safety.