As a responsible employer we have a moral and a legal obligation to ensure healthy and safe working conditions for all our people. We want to be an attractive employer and we know that a safe and healthy workplace supports attraction, engagement, as well as productivity. Our customers and partners also expect us to demonstrate best practices and ensure a consistently high standard across our global operations that safeguards our workers and the communities they work in.

Our health and safety strategy aims to inspire and empower our people to choose healthier futures, while providing a safe and healthy working environment that protects them from occupational injuries and physical as well as mental illnesses.

We aim to achieve world-class health and safety performance; to prevent accidents, injuries, and work-related illnesses and to build a proactive health & safety mindset based on leadership, processes, and people throughout the organisation

Our 2030 commitment

  • Injury Rate below 1
  • Total Injury rate below 15
  • Risk observation rate over 600
  • Close out rate over 60
  • Sickness rate below 3.5

Safe Workplace

Being able to return home safely every day is a basic right for everyone. Our safety program “Think safe, feel safe, act safe” is based on seven basic safety rules, a number of safety tools e.g. observation rounds and root cause analysis, soft skills training and a health and safety cultural self-assessment based on a standardized assessment model that focuses on achieving health and safety excellence by working to optimize the balance between leadership, organization and processes.

We organize safety days and training sessions on specific safety topics and expected safe behavior. The prime focus is to train and encourage all our people to think about safety before they

Our short term targets

Every year, we measure our safety results by the number (Injury Rate) and severity of accidents (Total Recordable Injury Rate). In the short term we aim for:

  • An absolute global maximum of 11 accidents with lost workdays per million work hours
  • Zero accidents with lasting consequences

How we calculate:

‘Injury rate of lost workday cases’ : ‘number of accidents with leave divided by total hours worked multiplied by 1,000,000)

Total recordable injury rate: ‘number of accidents with and without leave divided by total hours worked multiplied by 1,000,000)

Sickness rate: the share of sick leave hours out of total hours scheduled to be worked by employees for the same period.

Sickness management

Our sickness management principles focus on systematic follow-up through structured dialogue meetings, clear roles & responsibilities, early intervention, and safe early returns to work after sickness. All absence has an impact and can in some cases be a signal of an underlying health issue or another problem. Based on an early intervention approach we have built processes that focus on effective planning for a safe and respectful early return and minimize the risk of further absence.

Our target

Global 2030 sickness target:3.5%

Physical health

With the pace of change in society and at work, physical wellbeing is more important than ever in helping us stay resilient and able to meet the challenges we face. Physical activity and mental wellbeing go hand in hand. Physical activity can improve mood, reduce stress and anxiety, and help prevent mental health issues. While studies show higher intensity exercise to be the most helpful, research has also suggested that even low-intensity activity performed regularly, can be beneficial for our mental health.

We focus on 3 key health areas:

  • Working proactively on improving ergonomics and physical conditions to prevent strain on the body
  • Encouraging everybody to act on their own health by engaging in physical activities
  • Providing access to regular personal health checks.

Actions on physical health:

  • Preventive occupational therapist checks in all sites and offices including remote sales people minimum once a year.
  • Incorporating daily physical exercises with resistance bands in all sites and offices
  • Offering free bi-annual health checks for everyone
  • Introducing local health initiatives based on the outcome of the annual checks

Mental well-being

How to work with your mind to obtain more contentment and happiness in work and in life. Via insights into how the brain works and linking to Unibake Leadership tools and core values, mental strength will increase. Our mental health affects how we think, feel and act and determines how we handle stress. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being – and is equally as important as our physical health. When our general health is in balance, we can cope with the stresses of life, learn well and work well.

We believe we can obtain a higher degree of happiness and satisfaction in life if we better understand how our brain and body works. As an employer we have a huge responsibility for supporting our people’s mental well-being and preventing stress.

 

Our preventive initiatives provide

  • Insights on how the brain’s reward system works
  • Tools to enhance mental well-being
  • Insights on how to discover early signs of stress

Everyone can go down with stress and it must be dealt with individually. We have a clear process with access to professional support.

Actions on mental well-being and stress prevention

  • Trainings
  • Making free literature on mental well-being and stress prevention available for everybody
  • Facilitating special events with internal and external speakers
  • Offering meditation, breathing exercises and sleep management digital tools for everyone
  • Annual social wheel focusing on social arrangements in bakeries and offices
  • Trainings on how to discover early signs, symptoms and how-to-prevent
  • Self-assessment tools to monitor stress performance curve

Building a respectful and diverse workplace