Safety

We recognise that a safe and positive working environment is essential to the well-being and productivity of our employees. Our production processes and services are designed to minimise the risk of accidents, with the ultimate goal of preventing them entirely.

Beyond ensuring physical safety, we are committed to fostering a workplace where employees find fulfillment in their roles and treat one another with respect. Together, we cultivate an open and inclusive organisational culture, where everyone feels safe, adheres to safety protocols, and engages in constructive discussions to drive continuous improvement.

Why is this important to us?

By implementing a good safety policy, we ensure that our organisation complies with all legal requirements related to the quality of products, services, safety, health and other working conditions, among others.

What are the risks and opportunities? 

Impacts and risks

An unsafe working environment or failure to comply with rules, guidelines and agreements can lead to accidents resulting in possible employee injuries and absenteeism. Effective implementation of safety policies leads to fewer unsafe situations and accidents, resulting in less absenteeism, fewer incidents, lower costs and less staff turnover.

Employees enjoy their work and treat each other with respect.

Opportunities

When employees and managers report risks and hold each other accountable for them, as well as for improvements in safety policy, we create an open corporate culture.

Approach and policy

As a family-run business, we are committed to fostering a safe working environment and preventing injuries and accidents. To support this commitment, we have established a comprehensive workplace safety policy aimed at accident prevention.

Safety policy oversight is managed by the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for dairy operations and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for transport operations. The Safety, Health, and Environment (SHE) department is responsible for implementing this policy and is allocated the necessary financial resources to ensure its effective execution.

Given the distinct working conditions in our dairy and transport divisions, we have developed separate safety policies tailored to the specific risks and challenges of each sector. To proactively address workplace hazards, we conduct Risk Identification & Evaluation (RI&E) assessments, enabling us to systematically identify risks and take appropriate action to mitigate them.

Dairy operations

The safety policy for our dairy operations is developed by the Safety, Health, and Environment (SHE) department, which is responsible for addressing all safety, health, and environmental matters. The policy is formally approved and signed by the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

The SHE team conducts thorough investigations into all incidents in collaboration with those involved. Based on their findings, appropriate actions are taken, which may include implementing additional preventive measures, introducing safety toolkits, or organising canteen information sessions. Furthermore, procedures, policies, work instructions, and Risk Identification & Evaluation (RI&E) assessments are updated accordingly.

To ensure effective communication, the safety policy is shared via intranet for internal stakeholders and published on the internet for external stakeholders. Employees are also informed through Speakap, narrowcasting, and other internal communication channels. Additionally, periodic consultations are held with the Central Works Council (COR) to maintain ongoing dialogue and ensure alignment with employee perspectives.

Transport operations

The safety policy for our transport operations is drafted by the SHE-department, which focuses on all safety, health and environmental issues, and signed by the CFO. SHE reports quarterly to the Works Council and all employees, via Toolbox on AB Connect, on new insights, improvements and outcomes of incidents. To raise awareness, specific incidents are discussed in separate posts on AB Connect. The Sustainability Report 2023, which contains the 2023 results, has been published and shared with all employees.

Near misses

Reporting 'near misses' is a crucial part of our safety culture. A 'near miss' is an occurrence where an accident almost happened, but was ultimately avoided through quick intervention, luck or other factors.

'Near misses' are important signals within a safety culture because they indicate existing risks that, if not recognised or addressed in time, could lead to serious incidents in the future. Reporting and analysng 'near misses' thus provides valuable insights to improve safety and prevent future accidents. In this way, we collect valuable information on high-risk situations that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Reporting 'near misses' is a crucial part of our safety culture.

Not only do we prevent accidents by reporting 'near misses', we also create open communication and a culture of responsibility by doing so. Employees feel encouraged to contribute to the safety of their colleagues without fear of negative consequences. This increases awareness of safety at all levels of the company, from the shop floor to management.

Objectives and achievements

As described above, reporting 'near misses' is an important tool to promote our safety culture. Therefore, we have set a target for 'near misses' for Royal A-ware: 1,920 reports per year. In 2024, a total of 1,690 reports were made. While this is a great result, we will continue to emphasise the importance of reporting 'near misses' in 2025. We will analyse the available information and see if additional measures on specific locations are necessary.

Apart from generic targets in the safety policy, staff members and/or representatives, such as SHE officers, set annual targets for their own site. These are identified and evaluated in the SHE management review and, like performance, can be seen in the four-weekly safety reports. Targets are updated based on a poll on knowledge of ten Life Saving Rules (see measures) and fortnightly safety reports on reports and incidents.

Measures and actions: how we achieve our goals

This chapter has outlined the risks, dependencies and opportunities around security. The measures below aim to mitigate material risks and dependencies and monitor their effectiveness. Also included are measures that can exploit material opportunities for the company.

General

• For our production sites, we have developed ten Life Saving Rules that help prevent injuries and accidents. These form our baseline for safe and healthy work. In 2024, the Life Saving Rules have been communicated extensively through, for example, staff magazine i-Ware and printed communication items at all production sites.

• For our transport operations, we have a similar approach: the Safety Culture Ladder. The Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) allows companies to measure safety awareness within the organisation and thus improve safety culture.

• 'Near misses' at production sites can be reported in a low-threshold manner. Employees can enter a report themselves, or through their manager, on the intranet. For our transport operations, we have a reporting system for incidents and 'near misses' (in Excel) and implement the Safe Working App (a digital reporting system) at Special Transport.

• The SHE teams investigate reported incidents and then set out improvement actions. All improvement actions are incorporated into reports that are discussed.

• The HR departments use the recording of 'near misses' to analyse trends and causes, together with the SHE-department.

• Every incident is investigated together with those involved by the SHE officer and actions are taken based on findings, such as additional preventative actions or toolkits, canteen information meetings, etc. Procedures, policies, work instructions, RI&Es are adjusted based on findings.

• We monitor the effectiveness of our measures (see also 'Our actions in 2024') as follows: 'near misses' as part of regular operations are picked up by the SHE teams. Other reports as part of regular work are taken up by the HR teams.

How do we involve our employees?

The Sustainability Steering Group was involved in drafting the target that was set by the management. Employees or Works Council were not involved. Those ultimately responsible for safety policy provided input for this.

The Works Council is regularly informed about the implementation progress of the safety policy, including reports on 'near misses'. During discussions on safety policy, the Works Council has the opportunity to propose insights and potential improvements. All employees are encouraged to share their suggestions and feedback regarding workplace safety through multiple communication channels, including their supervisor or a Works Council representative. Additionally, both the Works Council and employees can track annual progress updates in the Sustainability Report.

Other information