Prioritizing Health & Safety

Safety

Even with a solid health record and good safety performance, there is always room for improvement when it comes to the safety of Pfizer colleagues.

At Pfizer, ergonomic injuries continue to be the leading injury type in manufacturing and R&D. To improve our lost-time and total injury and illness rates, we have been focused on improving and prioritizing education efforts.

In particular, we aim to: 

• Maintain effective management of inherently high-risk operations. 
• Ensure the health and wellness of colleagues by carefully managing workplace exposure. 
• Have rigorous procedures and controls to protect employees from exposure to chemicals. 

Notable actions we are taking to ensure occupational safety include:

• Mandating implementation of company-wide safety standards that focus on higher risk areas – many of our products begin with the formulation and processing of hazardous materials such as flammable solvents and combustible powders. Our scientists and engineers look for opportunities to eliminate the use of these materials through our green chemistry and green technology initiatives. Where substitution or elimination is not an option, we assess the safety of process and designs, develop maintenance strategies, and share hazard information and control strategies across Pfizer. 
• Tailoring standards specific to business operations – we have documented standards that address specific risk to safety in our offices, with our contractor base, in our external supply, and at our laboratories. 
• Managing chemical and biologic exposure – we have rigorous controls in place to protect colleagues. By applying scientific risk assessment technologies to chemicals and biologicals in the workplace, we help ensure the highest level of colleague safety at every stage of development from discovery and manufacture to use and disposal. 
• Focusing on ergonomics and behavior change – musculoskeletal and repetitive strain injuries are some of the leading causes of time away from work. Good workplace and job design helps colleagues to do their jobs effectively while reducing the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Ergonomics principles, if applied properly, can reduce injuries, as well as work performance errors and lost time. 

Occupational Health

Pfizer has always been an organization committed to applying innovative science to improve world health. We ask Pfizer colleagues to bring their best to work every day so that they can make a difference for all who rely on us. 

For our colleagues to be their best, we must also be committed to their health and wellness. As such, an integral part of our business is colleague wellness and prevention. Our corporate wellness program, Healthy Pfizer, provides tools and resources for colleagues to stay healthy or make measurable health improvements. The program continuously yields healthy results for colleagues, family members, Pfizer and its shareholders. 

In particular, we aim to: 

• Live the principles we promote as a company, and to set a new standard of employer-sponsored health improvement in today's work environment. 

• Improve the health of our employees and their families – reducing health risks, identifying chronic conditions in early stages when treatment is more effective, and encouraging healthy behaviors (such as physical activity and good nutrition). 

• Make wellness and prevention a part of our overall culture at Pfizer – a "culture of health" – that is adopted company-wide as a core value for our organization and affects our ability to attract and retain the employees who are so important to our success. 

• Support our business – directly, by reducing health care costs, and indirectly, by decreasing presenteeism (coming to work when sick) and improving productivity. 

• Develop programs to support the health of all Pfizer colleagues, such as Healthy Pfizer Living, a global Employee Assistance Program, and cancer support programs. 

Notable actions we're taking to meet our Occupational Health goals include:

• Creating a work environment that supports colleague health, including healthy cafeteria offerings and on-site physical therapy and fitness centers. Fifteen of our sites feature an acute-care clinic staffed by an advanced medical practitioner. 

• Maintaining the Healthy Pfizer web portal, the primary, day-to-day online resource for all health and wellness tools. Programming such as health risk assessments, lifestyle modification coaching programs online or over the phone, onsite screenings and education opportunities along with incentive and rewards for engagement. 

• Providing colleagues with a Tobacco Free Workplace Policy that includes smoke-free campuses, and support programs for smoking cessation. 

• Providing colleagues with work-life resources such as our "Working in Harmony with Life" and Healthy Pfizer's "Stress Lifestyle Improvement" and "Life Management Resources" programs. 

• Supporting programs with valuable HR benefits that include a 100% reimbursement for preventative care – smoking cessation aids, health screenings, vaccines and immunizations. 

Our unique resources allow us to do more for people. Using our global presence and scale, we’re able to make a difference in local communities and the world around us.

Work With Us

Incredible things can happen when people come together with one shared goal. The future of medicine is happening here, and we’re eager to work alongside inspired and inspirational people who want to improve health around the world.