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Case Study: PGM Freiburg, Germany — Progress toward Zero-Accident Safety Culture

After six years of intense work on improving the EHS culture, the Freiburg, Germany manufacturing site has significantly improved its lost time accident rate from 3.4 in 2001 to 0.4 in 2006. This result is due, in part, to a robust management system but also to various constructive programs on the themes of "always safe at work", "always safe at machines" and "always safe commuting".

With monthly safety talks and hearings conducted by all supervisors and managers, they have been able to sensitize and train both leadership and staff. This consistent culture of colleague engagement and leadership commitment has been pivotal to realizing the standard that exists today.

The site wanted to take yet another step it their way to a zero-accident culture. To make sure that EHS improvement efforts reached everyone, everywhere, they relied on the principle of mutual responsibility and an active culture of peer-to-peer coaching. To ensure and ascertain if the site was mature and conscious enough to go this extra mile, a colleague survey was conducted so that the level of consciousness and commitment of everyone involved could be evaluated. The Safety Culture Assessment Tool developed by the Pfizer Global Colleague Safety Network was implemented to support this effort. Questions were translated to German and more than 250 colleagues finished the questionnaire and provided feedback. The results were analyzed, summarized, and discussed by a cross-functional team to identify potential areas for further improvement of the EHS culture.

The success of the Freiburg program is not just reflected in the metrics such as the lost time accident rate, but also an expression of personal attitude that has become a chief component of leader behavior.

“Peer-to-peer coaching” results indicated a very good status while the results in the categories of "personal responsibility" and "management demonstration" achieved an excellent rating site-wide. Site colleagues have shown how self-evident and important safety culture is to them. It also demonstrates that not just individual behavior reflects these high standards, but mutual responsibility and accountability for their fellow colleagues is as important.