Technical risk management
Siemens has established globally binding requirements for fire safety and emergency management in order to protect employees, the environment and physical assets (real estate).
Careful precautions to prevent occupational accidents and other emergencies (e.g. as a result of natural hazards) and to create effective means of risk management are an integral part of our corporate strategy. As the responsible corporate department, Technical Risk Management has a number of action areas – the analysis and evaluation of damaging events, requirements for EHS emergency management and best practices from fire safety with regard to buildings, equipment and organization, the performance of risk assessments, the creation of protection concepts, and support for tenant- and lessor-related processes with respect to responsibilities and interfaces.
Every year, we collect data of relevance to environmental protection, occupational safety, radiation safety and technical risk management in an EHS reporting system that is binding throughout the company. The contents of the part “Technical risk management” include the nature and number of damaging events, the status of fire prevention measures and facilities and EHS emergency management. Sites are assessed on the basis of the risk-related report data. We evaluate the results of the queries, report to the persons responsible and derive corporate strategies to minimize risks.
Siemens takes careful precautions to prevent occupational accidents and has established globally binding requirements.
Fire prevention regulated worldwide
The safety standard “Fire safety” prescribes minimum requirements for fire protection with regard to organization, buildings and equipment which apply throughout the company. Their objective is to minimize the risk of fires and incidents that result in impacts on our employees, the environment, plant and property and our business processes. Using risk analyses, we derive suitable fire prevention measures and develop the corresponding protection concepts.
An important element in our organizational precautions is that fire safety aspects are taken into account from an early stage when we construct or remodel buildings and when we equip new industrial and office sites. During planning and implementation, the extensive experience of construction and project managers, fire prevention officers and safety experts can be leveraged.
The activities of Technical Risk Management as part of monitoring and supporting company units range from events and workshops, assessment of sites, protection concepts to initiation of specific fire and fire extinguishing tests.
EHS emergency management
The purpose of EHS emergency management at our sites is to protect employees, the environment and physical assets (e.g. real estate) by introducing effective means of preventing emergencies and emergency response at the company. EHS emergency management continues the basic duties of the former Company Disaster Prevention Organization (DPO). In compliance with our EHS standard, which is binding throughout the Group, it must be introduced and maintained and its effectiveness examined regularly.
Risk analysis is a key element of EHS emergency management. It has the goal of systematic identification of site- and user-related hazards and risks for employees, the environment and physical assets, as well as the assessment of hazard potentials and the development and implementation of protection concepts and measures that minimize risk.
In order to ensure efficient emergency response at the sites, risk-related emergency plans of action must be drawn up and the necessary functions in an emergency management team filled with qualified personnel.
Apart from prevention, there are also regulations on how to act in the event of emergencies. For example, there is a global system for reporting significant events that are related to EHS and have a particular impact on the health and safety of employees or on the environment. Such events must be reported immediately to the persons responsible, the local EHS officers and the corporate EHS department. It is also necessary to report events that are of significance for the public or business operations of the company, may entail fines on or criminal proceedings against company employees or damage the company’s reputation. The company units define the appropriate internal processes for this.
In order to ensure the effectiveness of EHS emergency management and with it an adequate assessment of risks, determination of measures and emergency response in the event of an incident, changes in site and logistical factors and in process and materials parameters are included promptly in the risk analysis and thus in the entirety of EHS emergency management for that site.
The degree of implementation and the maturity of EHS emergency management have both developed positively at the individual sites, even though levels around the world differ. In order to maintain this positive trend with regard to continuity and quality and achieve a more uniform level worldwide, systematic improvement in the maturity level of EHS emergency management has been anchored as one of the subgoals of “Zero Harm Culture” in Siemens’ global EHS program.
In addition, exercises, awareness training and regular inspection of processes and documents help ensure continual improvement.
2011-Mar-08 | Author
- Safety - Management approach
- Overview
- Occupational safety
- Technical risk management
- Radiation safety and dangerous goods