Safety
Safety Performance
Our commitment to employees' health and safety is absolute. Caring for people is our company's highest value. To that end, we intend to create an environment with zero injuries. One measure we use to monitor our health and safety performance is the recordable incident rate. Our target is to reduce our recordable incident rate to less than 1—that is, fewer than one recordable injury or illness per 100 employees per year. In 2008, our RIR was 0.98, the lowest in our history and among the best in our industry.
This level of safety performance was once considered impossible. It’s the result of a “determined decade.” In 1998, when Weyerhaeuser’s recordable incident rate was 4.48 and we first targeted an RIR of less than one, we accepted the challenge and focused our passions. Over the last 10 years, we’ve analyzed our operations and tasks, created or adopted proven safety processes, and formulated innovative safety practices. We’ve embraced leadership and employee accountability, health and safety auditing, common incident investigation and reporting processes, contractor safety management, a culture of caring for fellow employees, and a focus on risk management. We’ve demonstrated incredible determination.
We also set a target to reduce our lost-workday rate to less than 10. This rate measures the severity of injuries. In 2008, our lost-workday rate was 11.8.
While we have not met all of our targets, through active, visible leadership and engaged employees, we have made improvements in our recordable incidents, lost-time injuries and days lost, year over year. We reduced the rate of recordable incidents in 2008 by 25 percent compared with 2007. The number of our manufacturing facilities without a lost-time injury in 2008 increased to 75 percent. Lost-time injury rates fell by 18 percent, and lost workdays declined by 31 percent.
Safety Performance
Safety incidents and fatalities1
|
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
| United States and Canada |
| Employee RIR |
2.0 |
2.1 |
1.7 |
1.2 |
0.98 |
| Unsupervised contractor RIR |
– |
1.81 |
1.8 |
1.6 |
1.01 |
| Days-away case rate2 |
0.52 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
0.3 |
0.31 |
Days-away rate2
|
16.92 |
21.7 |
19.0 |
12.8 |
11.8 |
| Fatalities worldwide |
| Employees |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Contractors |
6 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
Employees' health and safety and reducing our RIR are integral components of our Roadmap for Success. See our health and safety policy for more information.
Fatalities
It is not acceptable to Weyerhaeuser that any person lose his or her life while working for us. Regrettably, we experienced an employee fatality at our iLevel Lumber facility in Idabel, Okla., when a build-up of propane gas ignited unexpectedly.
This fatality was reviewed by the senior management team and the board of directors after a thorough investigation. Lessons learned from the incident were communicated to the entire company and recommendations implemented.
Injury Analysis
- 28%
- Percentage reduction in injuries to fingers, arms and hands in 2008
- 100%
- Percentage of senior vice presidents who personally visited at least one "safety focus unit" in 2008
The most common types of recordable injuries sustained in 2008 were:
- Fractures, cuts and bruises to hands, fingers and lower arms (26 percent)
- Strains and sprains to backs and shoulders (13 percent)
Employee behaviors that most frequently contributed to incidents were failure to follow safe work procedures, pay attention to one's surroundings, and maintain the correct position for the task.
The most frequent root causes of recordable incidents were:
- Work standards or procedures
- Work planning
- Management systems
- Engineering or design
Areas of focus for reducing injuries in 2009 include:
- Preventing injuries to fingers, hands and arms.
- Learning from sites that use a focused approach to manage the key sources of their injuries and from businesses that use a disciplined approach to return-to-work programs
Senior Management Team Focus Units
Committed leadership is an essential part of our safety progress. Following this principle, every member of our senior management team in 2008 personally visited one or more of 10 "safety focus" operations—those identified as being in greatest need of improved performance. The visits were in addition to routine visits to operations under their direction.
Each daylong visit included:
- A walk-through inspection
- Interviews with employees
- A review of the unit's safety improvement plan
The results are promising. The operations visited reduced their recordable incident rate by an average of 73 percent compared with 2007. The severity of injuries declined by 65 percent as measured by the days-away case rate. Workers Compensation costs were reduced by more than $500,000 for the affected operations.
The program continues, with visits to 10 sites planned for 2009.
