Occupational health and safety
Health in times of the pandemic
Once again, flexibility, agility, and collaboration were put to use in another year challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic. Health protocols were maintained, but concern about employees increased and was not restricted to care regarding the spread of the coronavirus.
In this scenario, the Company's emphasis on the employees' mental health and on the balance between personal and professional life was important, aspects that have been focused on since the beginning of the pandemic in the Living Well Program, through various actions developed in the Physical Health, Mental Health, and Social Health pillars. Leadership skills were broadened so they can quickly be put into practice while caring for their own mental health and that of their teams. Access to the free online psychotherapy platform was extended from employees to their dependents and several conversation circles were also held, in which listening spaces were opened and several topics were discussed, including financial health. Klabin made all its support channels available to employees.
The Health, Care and Well-Being Week was held in an online format, in all units, with workshops and webinars given by guests and focused on self-care, disease prevention, and financial health. The event included more than 1,700 participants.
Workplace safety
Safety is one of the necessary foundations for Klabin's sustainable growth and was one of the aspects recognized in the internal Culture Thermometer survey (see Cultural evolution) as a Company value. The company's Occupational Health and Safety Management System (SGSSO) is guided by ISO 45000 in all manufacturing units and in the forestry unit. Its guidelines and procedures are focused on loss prevention and on continuous improvement of processes to preserve people's lives, health, and physical integrity. This system, supported by the diffusion of the health and safety culture, relies on the partnership of the leadership as an essential factor to dissseminate three fundamentals: visible commitment, line responsibility, and operational discipline.
In 2021, the work for strengthening and consolidating the SGSSO continued, with actions aimed at continuous improvement guided by the PDCA methodology (Plan, Do, Check, Act) in the standards, models, and guidelines that are more consistent and adherent to the business.
Klabin concentrated its focus on the Critical Activity Requirement (RAC) of power blockage, because it understands that this is one of the main issues related to the history of potentially serious and fatal occurrences. Also in 2021, the project and subsequent start-tup of Paper Machine 27 (MP27) at the Puma Unit represented a major challenge for maintaining a safe and protected work environment for a significant contingent of own and contracted employees. In addition, since Klabin is in the expansion phase of the forestry business, there was full operation of the packaging units acquired in October 2020, which reflected in an increase of manhours of risk exposure.
Indicators
Even when faced with so many challenges, the Company achieved an Overall Frequency Rate (TFG) of 8.23, a 23% reduction from the previous year, this number refers to a reduction of 21accidents between the years 2020 and 2021, even with an increase of 12 million hours of exposure to risk for the same period. This rate is calculated taking into account the number of accidents per million man-hours of exposure to risk, in a given period. A sustainable reduction in the TFG signals the consistency of the company's work in consolidating its Management System, resulting in increasingly safer operations with a focus on the identification and risk management of critical activities, employee training, technological investments, continuous improvement of safety tools, and resolution of reported deviations.
Another indicator, however, is still cause for concern to the company. Even with tireless work on safety culture and investments in initiatives and tools, there were two fatalities in the company's operations in 2021. Klabin deeply regrets this fact. It places the Company in a state of alert, mobilizing the attention of the entire operations area to issues such as Process Safety and Energy Blocking, which will continue to be the focus of the company's work in the coming years. The Company also pursues its purpose of providing safer work environments for employees, with the least possible impact on people's lives. The theme is treated as a target in KSDGs of the Klabin 2030 Agenda.
On Work Safety, also see: Message from the Board.
Pillars of Occupational Health and Safety Management
Ensure equipment safety and reliability. Improve and maintain the work environment offered to professionals.
Continuously improve how safety is handled in the company's routine. Keep a critical eye on accident prevention and mitigation procedures by creating and reviewing policies, guidelines and requirements.
2021 Highlights
I block accidents:
The Energy Blocking topic was addressed in a communication campaign which, focused on various audiences, extended throughout the year and achieved the goal of promoting awareness, significantly improving the quality of conversations among the operational teams, and mobilizing the hiring of business targets.
Relato de Segurança [Safety Report]:
The tool is a WebApp available to own and contracted employees, aiming to promote protagonism in safety, allowing the employees themselves to intervene in unsafe situations or recognize safe behaviors. In 2021, more than 91,000 records were resolved, which means more participation in risk identification.
Segurança em Foco [Focus on Safety]:
This tool was reformulated and deployed and is now available in the application gallery of the My Klabin portal. It supports the leadership in the observation exercise and in the conversations for understanding the reality of the front line. It addresses several topics, constituting an important channel for the recognition of safe practices in operations.
EPI Fácil [Easy PPE]
The application, which has been deployed in all units, consists of a WebApp that ensures more autonomy for the user and efficiency in the control, cost management of the flow of personal protective equipment (PPE) delivery and record cards (meeting legal requirements) for 100% of own employees and temporary workers. In 2021, a pilot project began for PPE delivery machines (Vending Machine) at the Angatuba and Monte Alegre units, aiming to further facilitate the interface with employees.
Safety in logistics operations
The unified Safety Committee was structured in logistics operations, with interaction and direct participation of our contractors. Progress was also recorded in the Sustainable KM Recognition program, with awards for drivers who presented the best safety performance.
Be a safety leader
The 2nd cycle of the safety module within the Being a Leader Program was promoted in an online format, targeting supervisors and operational leaders. The program is currently being updated for the beginning of the next cycle.
Hazard and Risk Management
In 2021, the migration from Operational Risk Analysis (ORA) to Hazard and Risk Management in Occupational Safety and Health was continued. With the full implementation of Hazard and Risk management, which is guided by ISO 45001:2018, the expectation is to improve health and safety-related governance in the Company, minimize losses, and make the response to change more effective, protecting employees in proportion to the growth of the company, among other benefits.
Contract management program
Improvements to the Performance Assessment Program for contracted companies were continued, with the objective of attuning third-party companies to Klabin's safety practices in an active and preventive way. The results can already be seen in the significant reduction in frequency and severity rates among contractors.
What still challenges Klabin
The evolution of the safety culture at Klabin is one of the aspects still considered challenging. In 2021, the safety culture procedure was prepared and disseminated throughout the Company, aimed at guiding the diagnosis, calibration, and action plans for safety culture evolution. After this review, based on the standardized criteria of the Hearts and Minds (H&M) methodology, the Company understands that its safety culture is on an evolutionary journey.
Plans for 2022 include performing a culture diagnosis on the units acquired in 2020 and follow-up on the action plans focused on the safety culture drivers in the business units.
Next steps
Process Safety: from a diagnosis to survey opportunities for improvement in its structure, Klabin promoted benchmarking with the main Brazilian and multinational companies that employ best practices in Process Safety and invested in an exclusive area within the Corporate Safety Management that will operate as of 2022.
Life Protection Policy: because it understands that safety is everyone's responsibility, Klabin, following its cultural evolution plan, has begun discussions to enable the implementation of a Corporate Life Protection Policy, the objective of which will be to nurture a just culture that cares for both the well-being of employees and for the business strategy at the same time, transforming failures into learning that can drive safer processes and activities for all, reinforcing intolerance of unsafe behavior.
See indicators 102-7, 403-1, 403-2, 403-3, 403-7, 403-8, 403-9 and 403-10 and others related to the Occupational health and safety topic in the ESG Panel.
