In production plants and on construction sites, safety is ensured by our own health and safety team, as well as cooperating external inspectors. Professionalization of assembly teams on construction sites, the equipment provided to them, training sessions and meetings held twice a year for employees as part of the OHS campaign, allow to ensure safety that is significantly greater than on traditional construction sites.
The Group organizes introductory training and annual periodic training in the field of occupational health and safety and fire protection organized as well as thematic training, training within the framework of safety campaigns conducted in the Group, training when purchasing new equipment and meetings with the crew as part of the “Minutes for safety”. Once a year, the OHS Service organizes the “Safety Month”, during which activities are undertaken to increase employees’ awareness of hazards and harmful factors in the work environment, as well as to improve working conditions.
Construction sites operated by Pekabex are one of the safest in Poland, as the prefabrication technology requires the involvement of small assembly teams. The teams are also very well equipped and thoroughly trained in safe assembly. The Group raises the awareness of all participants of implemented investments (as well as employees of production plants) in the field of occupational safety through:
- introductory training at the construction site / production plant,
- regular training in the field of health and safety and fire protection (initial, periodic),
- practical exercises in evacuation,
- first aid training,
- regular meetings of employees and management as part of the “Minutes for safety”,
- daily checks before starting work,
- thematic safety campaigns (eg work at height, work with chemicals, excavation work).
In order to improve health and safety at work, the principle of combined forces is applied, which consists of employee involvement, the activity of people supervising work and the determination of the Management Board, which sets strategic goals in this area and settles their implementation. The following have a significant impact on the level of security:
- developed methods of safe work, especially in the areas of increased risk,
- daily workplace inspections, weekly health and safety audits and monthly reviews of working conditions,
- personal and collective protective equipment, appropriately selected in terms of the size characterizing a given hazard,
- work equipment / tools certified and technically efficient,
- an information board devoted to safety and an accident board,
- information, warning, order / prohibition signs and pictograms on machines required by law
In 2020, the Pekabex Group implemented a health and safety management system based on the ISO 45001: 2018 standard. It covers employees of the Group companies, as well as persons who do not have such status, but whose work or place of work is controlled by the Group. The implemented system includes, among others: hazard identification, accident investigation, as well as emergency situations, legal requirements and contractor safety management.
HEALTH AND SAFETY DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
In the field of safety and health protection of people working during the COVID-19 epidemic, the Group has implemented procedures required by law and complied with the recommendations of state administration bodies. The Group’s preventive measures include:
- conducting information campaigns among employees on reducing the risk associated with exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection at work,
- application of measures to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the premises of the Group’s workplaces, i.e. ensuring physical distance, remote work where possible, limiting direct contact with people outside the workplace, strict compliance with hygiene rules in the workplace, appropriate rules of disinfection,
- providing personal protective equipment and adapted workwear,
- installation of dispensers with hand disinfectants at workplaces and construction sites where the Group’s employees are present,
- additional disinfection of common areas – door handles, doors, furniture in dining rooms,
- a decision to turn off air conditioning, which could become a potential source of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus in all company buildings,
- decision to design and implement, in cooperation with the start-up ReBuild, an automated line for sewing protective masks and then distribute them among employees.