We have a commitment toward our employees who, through their experience, dedication and ideas, contribute decisively to our joint success. Their health and safety are our top priority. This maxim was further reinforced in 2023, as BLG LOGISTICS additionally prioritized responsibility for occupational safety at our locations within the framework of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG). In addition to avoiding accidents at the workplace, targeted offers of support also help our employees stay fit and healthy.
Proven systems and clear responsibilities
At Board of Management level, our Labor Relations Director is responsible for occupational health and safety. Our employees can address their questions and concerns in this regard to various points of contact: The HR department, the central company health management system, the social counseling service and the representative body for persons with disabilities are all happy to assist. In addition, intercompany services deploy company physicians at each of our locations, who are qualified in line with statutory guidelines and are known to all employees.
Occupational health and safety is of paramount importance in logistics. At BLG LOGISTICS, the central Safety and Environment Protection department (PSU) performs essential work in this field with regular facility inspections, workplace inspections and preventive processes, along with corresponding training. The staff in the department all have the legally required qualifications to carry out their work. We attach great importance to feedback from employees who are directly involved in performing activities and implementing processes on a day-to-day basis. We therefore encourage them to actively share concerns and suggestions regarding occupational safety with us – anonymously via our external ombudsman if they wish. In turn, we provide them with regular and comprehensive information on our occupational health and safety measures, for example through meetings at operational level and via our employee app. Employees with personnel responsibility have access via the intranet to the safety and environmental protection portal. In addition to an overview of binding standards and processes, this contains current templates as well as risk assessment forms and provides information about new legal requirements. Management staff with responsibility for occupational safety also receive corresponding training in line with BLG LOGISTICS’ occupational health and safety policy and the supplementary guidelines. For around 50 employees, this formed part of the “New BLG Managers” training series in the reporting year. Specifically for office workplaces, occupational health and safety instructions are available via the Tutorize training platform.
Following certification of the BLG LOGISTICS GROUP with the central PSU department, the company BLG Cargo Logistics and the AutoTerminal Kelheim in accordance with ISO 45001 for their occupational health and safety management system, our BLG AutoTerminal Bremerhaven location with the company BLG AutoTec domiciled there began the certification process in the reporting year. Thanks to defined occupational health and safety standards for BLG Germany it is also easy to transfer existing systems to certification at further locations.
Clear processes ensure safety
Jobs in logistics are often physically challenging – this is particularly true of activities in warehouses and ports. In these areas there are often interfaces between people and machines, making special safety precautions necessary. In this context, hazard assessments and regular effectiveness checks are the cornerstones of an effective occupational health and safety system. The hazard assessments are used to derive concrete operating instructions and induction guidelines that our employees follow in their daily work. Each location also has its own Occupational Health and Safety Committee, which implements new measures on site as required. In addition, alarm and hazard prevention plans are in place that contain important instructions in the event of an accident or fire, as well as information on first aid.
To facilitate the creation and regular updating of hazard assessments, a corresponding software tool was purchased in 2023. The integrated work steps were individually adapted to BLG’s processes by the central Safety and Environmental Protection department. In a future project phase, it is planned to interface the “Works Incidents” log book with the “Hazard Assessment,” which will ensure that accident prevention measures derived from accident investigations flow directly into the hazard assessment.
Across all German companies in 2023, 403 reportable work accidents were registered that led to sick leave of more than three days. The increase in the number of reportable accidents compared with the previous year (353) despite fewer hours worked led to a 12.5 percent increase in the 1,000 employee rate from 36.1 to 40.6. By contrast, the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), which indicates the frequency of injuries at the workplace resulting in at least one day’s absence from work, fell to 26.4 per 1,000,000 hours worked (previous year: 35). In addition to our own workforce, our accident statistics also include employees who work for us through personnel service providers.
Reportable work accidents
Number per 1,000 employees
To enable us to better analyze the increasing number of accidents and derive conclusions for preventive measures from the investigations, the new “Safecon” digital works incidents log book introduced in 2022 was expanded to include the classification of the cause of accidents according to predefined hazard factors. The assignment of hazard factors enables us to identify key focus areas when assessing accidents. The available figures show that in the year under review accidents involving tripping, slipping or falling (TSF) made up the largest percentage, accounting, for example, for 40 percent of accidents to be assessed at the Bremen car terminal and 29 percent at Industrielogistik Bremen. This confirms the trend noted in German companies by many of the German Social Accident Insurance Institutions (Berufsgenossenschaften) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin – BAuA).
The topic of occupational health and safety was included in the target agreements of BLG management staff for the first time in the year under review. This step emphasizes the importance given to occupational health and safety at BLG and is intended to help further strengthen the preventive approach. Occupational health and safety was also anchored in the newly developed sustainability goals in the reporting year. The overarching goal is zero fatal accidents. Moreover, we are planning to replace the 1,000 employee rate as a remuneration-relevant target by the internationally established LTIFR from 2025, from which time on we have set ourselves the goal of reducing the LTIFR by ten percent each year.
All employees – whether in-house or external – are trained, instructed and kitted out with personal protective equipment in the same way. When providing employees with safety gear, we not only ensure that safety requirements are met, but also as far as possible take personal needs into account, for example by providing custom-made hearing protection in exposed areas. The safety regulations are also communicated to guests, suppliers and other persons who have cause to visit our locations. To ensure that our employees are able to move around safely at their workplace, we provide comprehensive training on topics such as fire prevention or dangerous goods handling. This is generally carried out by external instructors, with support from our central PSU department depending on the content.
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accidental deaths & from 2025 10% reduction of our accident rate annually
Our Sustainability TargetsFit through more exercise
BLG LOGISTICS supports its employees with various modules to help them stay fit and healthy. One of these is our “Fit & Fun” prevention program, which has proven particularly popular over the years. Together with an external provider, we give our employees access to over 8,000 partner studios across Germany – from fitness studios and yoga to swimming and bouldering, participants can choose from a wide range of activities every day. If they wish, they can also take advantage of online courses via the corresponding app. In the final quarter of 2023, 1,330 employees were enrolled in Fit & Fun.
It is also important to us to support our employees in promoting health and wellbeing in their daily work and again organized health days at a number of locations. The focus in 2023 was on diabetes and strokes. As well as being offered practical tests, employees could learn about prevention, early detection and how to live with these conditions. We also developed a new format, the “Digital Health Day”, which was primarily aimed at our administrative areas. This day of action offered employees the opportunity to watch a presentation and practical exercises on back health, independently of their location or even when working remotely. The session is available Germany-wide in our employee app.
Many of our employees are on their feet a great deal and cover a lot of ground every day. Following the introduction in retail logistics at the initiative of the general works councils in 2022, all employees BLG-wide can now take advantage of the offer to have their feet individually measured. Where required, suitable insoles are then issued for their work shoes, which increase wearing comfort and help to prevent foot problems.
Ergonomic workplace design, for example with height-adjustable desks and work tables, also contributes to prevention. As part of the MEXOT project, we are testing a concept for intelligent work ergonomics that comprises the subsystems of an intelligent exoskeleton and a driverless transport vehicle with follow-me mode. The focus is on researching the interaction of the two technologies to improve ergonomics in order picking and assembly processes. In another research project entitled “Resource development in service work – RessourcE”, technical solutions and concepts for health-promoting work design are being tested and examined with regard to their generalizability. BLG is represented as an application partner with its Bremen logistics center.
Reintegration promotes a positive return to work
We want to maintain our employees’ capacity for work over the long term, and therefore support those who have been absent from work for more than six weeks within a 12-month period through our company reintegration management system. Together with the colleagues, we design individual concepts to ease them back into work, either gradually or accompanied by medical and occupational rehabilitation programs. Absenteeism appraisals help us ascertain whether and to what extent the workplace impacts on employees’ health, and what we can do to mitigate this in order to reduce absenteeism due to sickness and promote our employees’ long-term health.
The work incapacity rate in 2023 fell compared with the previous year by 0.56 percentage points to 10.33 percent. The rate of continued pay during sick leave was down from 7.84 to 7.39 percent. Through our company social counseling service, we offer professional support to employees, managers and officers with personal issues or their professional role. In the reporting year, 2.8 percent of employees in our area of responsibility took advantage of this service.