The Health and Safety Policy at Novo Nordisk was strengthened in 2003 by requiring the entire organisation to set targets for improving the working environment. The focus on prevention has borne fruit; the number of occupational injuries has dropped significantly.
While the Health and Safety Policy has long stated that Novo Nordisk will “set high standards and continuously improve health and safety performance as a natural part of our social responsibility”, target-setting now adds more muscle to the policy. The overall long-term target is “a continuous decrease in the frequency of occupational injuries”. Each affiliate is responsible for setting its own targets based on its own needs while the entire organisation is expected to meet the long-term target. In 2003 the focus on prevention has borne fruit; the number of occupational injuries has dropped significantly.
Focus on prevention
The long-term target focuses on prevention by requiring that at least six incidents/near-misses are recorded for each occupational injury with absence. This means that employees are encouraged to report incidents, such as improperly functioning machinery or unsafe conditions, so that problems can be resolved.
In 2003, we met our target of collecting health and safety data for the entire organisation. The data will serve as a base for sharing better practices and for establishing a common approach to the future development of health and safety work.
In 2003, a Novo Nordisk Working Environment Award was introduced to highlight the focus on the working environment and to motivate additional efforts in this area. In 2003 the award winner was the diabetes pharmaceutical production site in Bagsværd, Denmark, chosen because of its enthusiastic, systematic and focused approach to improving the working environment. This site had the highest frequency of occupational injuries among the production sites, but their efforts to allow more time, attention and careful analysis of potential health and safety problems led to a reduction in occupational injuries at the site.
Thanks to our new target-setting, coupled with our continued high standards for the working environment, we expect to see other good examples in coming years.
