3.8 Occupational health and safety

At Emmi, occupational health and safety encompass all measures that contribute to safe and healthy working conditions. All employees (including those from third-party companies) should be able to perform their duties without risks to their health, accidents or injuries. Health protection implies a good work-life balance and support for mental health.

3.8.1 Impact on the environment and society, and opportunities and risks for Emmi

Emmi takes its responsibility for the safety and health of the people employed by the Group very seriously. Nevertheless, business activities may have an impact on the physical and mental health of its employees. Significant risks to the physical health of employees include possible injury risks, such as those potentially incurred when operating machinery, from noise pollution or working in different temperature ranges. Regardless of the type of job, work can, in some cases, lead to psychological stress, due for example to the human environment, the existing framework conditions or the work to be performed. Absences or workplace restrictions due to accident or illness may impair the functioning of the company. In addition to health risks, serious incidents or demonstrable misconduct on the part of the company can entail litigation and risks to reputation.

By implementing occupational health and safety measures as well as promoting environmentally friendly practices, such as reducing pollutants and waste, Emmi achieves increased occupational safety and better health protection, which in turn leads to fewer occupational accidents and illnesses. A safe, healthy workplace increases employee satisfaction and motivation. This enhancement of the general well-being and health of employees leads to higher productivity. Ultimately, fewer accidents and illnesses – and thus fewer employee absences – mean lower costs for Emmi and the healthcare system, which in turn contributes to a more stable economy.

3.8.2 Management approach and goals

Focus on preventive measures

Emmi’s safety philosophy is based on the principle that all employees return home safely and healthy after work. To achieve its overarching objective of no occupational accidents, Emmi focuses its safety management policy on prevention. Preventive measures are taken to avoid possible accidents at work or health impairments, particularly through guidelines and instructions for conscious and correct behaviour in accordance with the safety slogan “Stay-Think-Act”.

Overarching objective – local responsibility

Health and safety management is of strategic importance to Emmi, for which Group Executive Management has set the long-term reduction of incidents as its overarching objective (see below for key figures). In line with this strategic orientation of the Group, responsibility for implementation lies with the country organisations. Appropriate measures and programmes are developed and implemented in the local occupational safety organisations. The topic of occupational health is supervised by HR and measures are planned and implemented in coordination with the occupational safety organisations.

Emmi’s health and safety management maintains a comprehensive system of key figures to identify potential for improvement and to check the effectiveness of the measures taken. Incidents and near misses are analysed. Based on these findings, safety management is then adapted and improved where necessary. The Group-wide knowledge transfer on occupational health and safety is regularly ensured on an ongoing basis via SharePoint, six calls per year in the “Health & Safety Community” and several exchange meetings.

Legislation and ordinances form a binding basis

Health and safety management at Emmi is based on legislation, ordinances and agreements under private law. The following principles apply to all Emmi locations and subsidiaries:

• Emmi ensures passive security by means of suitable conception, design and implementation, in particular with regard to infrastructures.
• Emmi focuses on active safety by handling and controlling its processes and systems.
• Emmi promotes the behaviour and ability of its employees to live and work on a healthy and safe basis.
• All employees have the right to be informed as well as to have a say in all matters relating to occupational health and safety.
• All employees must follow the directives and company rules regarding their own health and safety.
• Employees must immediately rectify or report circumstances or deficiencies that affect safety or health.
• Emmi provides information on how to avoid potential hazards depending on the situation and on a preventive basis.
• Emmi has established multi-level emergency organisations for incident management as part of its crisis management approach. The Post-Incident Analysis (PIA) tool is used to analyse causes and findings from which it implements measures for improvement.
• Emmi conducts risk analyses in all relevant areas and topics as required in order to identify potential hazards as well as to take targeted and economically justifiable precautionary measures.
• Emmi protects the life and limb of employees and third parties both at their workplaces and on company premises through appropriate preventive, active, passive and incident management measures.

In addition, the occupational safety organisations at the sites in Pamplona (Spain), Gattico, Lasnigo and Pero (Italy), as well as Mahdia (Tunisia), are certified in accordance with ISO 45001. In Switzerland, the certification partner conducts an annual external audit of the occupational health and safety system, which complies with the requirements of ISO 45001 but is not certified.

Handling health data

Employees’ health data, which are classified as very sensitive, are processed in accordance with the applicable country-specific data protection regulations (such as the Swiss Data Protection Act (DPA) and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is subject to binding regulations by country in internal data protection declarations.

Employee participation, consultation and communication

Emmi evaluates its safety management on a risk basis. In these audits, systems, procedures, processes and products are reviewed and the fulfilment of specifications and evidence is assessed. These audits are part of our continuous improvement process and are carried out by internal and external bodies.

In what is referred to as the “Health & Safety Community”, the global H&S managers present topics relevant to occupational health and safety. Events and incidents are also addressed to multiply important findings and suitable measures as part of the continuous improvement process.

Training and refresher courses

With the aim of supporting the health of the employees, relevant introduction programmes as well as legally mandatory training courses are carried out. Defined refresher courses are held for particularly high-risk activities, such as working at heights or in tanks or handling means of transport.

Other courses and training sessions on occupational safety cover occupational health, first aid, evacuation training, the correct use of climbing aids and behaviour in traffic. Various other training courses contribute to health promotion. Examples include training courses on health-conscious leadership and on how to improve personal resilience.

Promoting general health

In Switzerland, Emmi’s managers are qualified for health-oriented leadership through various Excellent Leadership programmes. The employees themselves are offered a variety of learning modules, such as strengthening resilience or dealing with stress. Employees are also made aware of health-related issues through regular publications. In addition, Emmi regularly supports participation in sports activities such as “Bike to Work” and running events. Apart from the measures available locally, the training programmes in Switzerland are gradually being applied in the international companies. To this end, all management teams are trained annually by HR as part of Group-wide function meetings in the Excellent Leadership programme.

Avoiding risks and mitigating impacts in the supply chain

The supplier evaluation includes questions on whether the supplier meets the occupational health and safety criteria and fulfils its responsibility in this regard. Specifically, certification according to OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45000 is required. If this is not the case, eight specific questions will then be asked.

The risk of working conditions that violate occupational health and safety in the supply chain can thus be reduced. In addition, Emmi encourages suppliers to sign the Supplier Code of Conduct. If a supplier does not accept the Code, an Experts Committee consisting of representatives from Quality, Sustainability, Legal and Procurement decides on the next steps, where discontinuation of the collaboration is the last resort. Like all other ancillary conditions on performance, compliance is verified in regular supplier audits (see section “Responsible sourcing”).

Occupational health and safety goals up to 2027

The Emmi Group uses the TIFR (total incident frequency rate) as the main key figure at Group level. To calculate the TIFR, the number of the following events is added together and represented in relation to one million hours worked:

• Occupational accidents without downtime
• Occupational accidents with downtime
• Occupational accidents with restricted activity
• Occupational accidents resulting in fatalities

For the Emmi Group, the target by 2027 is to significantly reduce the TIFR to less than ten events per million hours worked.

The operational goals are defined annually for each site based on its local situation (process risks, technical safety of plants, safety culture, legal requirements).

3.8.3 Developments in the year under review

Division Switzerland – safety culture

For division Switzerland, the safety culture was assessed with the health and safety GAP analysis for the first time in the year under review. In order to strengthen the safety culture in accident prevention, a concept has been drawn up to increase participation by managers and employees through specific behavioural objectives throughout Supply Chain Management (SCM) Switzerland. Based on this concept, specific behavioural objectives were defined for the sites as well as for overarching functions in the Business Unit Occupational Health and Safety. At an SCM Management Day, the managers declared their commitment to the defined behavioural goals. Implementation is integrated into the sites’ health and safety roadmaps and with explicit measures.

Kaiku Pamplona – FeelSafe

In Pamplona (Spain), the FeelSafe project raised awareness among employees to improve workplaces and safety-conscious behaviour, thus enabling a sustainable reduction in occupational accidents. This project enabled a new leadership style and a health-conscious approach to be developed and implemented for all employees. As a result, the TIFR was reduced by 87% compared with the previous year.

Quillayes Surlat – two campaigns and a new digital tool

The following three activities in the area Occupational Health and Safety were carried out at the subsidiary Quillayes Surlat (Chile), in the year under review:

• “Safety is my priority” is a comprehensive management development project focusing on safety, which is implemented according to the DEKRA SafeAlign™ model. The main objective of the programme is to train operational managers, in particular middle management, to acquire the tools required to carry out activities related to individual, group and physical safety. In the year under review, a total of 55 managers were trained in how to conduct safety contacts, workplace safety meetings and physical risk inspections. Accident numbers have fallen by 30% to date.
• The safety campaign “Take Care, Your Loved Ones Are Waiting for You”, which was put into practice over the past two years at all sites belonging to Quillayes Surlat, Chile, was also implemented in the year under review. The aim is to promote self-care and strengthen the culture of prevention among employees, addressing family as the main motivation for workplace safety.
• The digital tool “QS Incident Report” was introduced, allowing employees to report unsafe actions or situations by scanning a QR code that opens a form for submitting this report. Each employee can submit a report which is automatically sent to their direct manager, so that preventive or corrective actions can be taken. Around 800 reports were submitted in 2024, of which 40% were high-risk incidents. In addition, 70% of the action plans derived from these notifications have been completed, underscoring the company’s ongoing commitment to safety and risk prevention at all sites.

EDUSA – “SMETA-certified companies”

Emmi Dessert USA has worked on implementing and improving safety standards to meet the SMETA requirements (Sedex Membership Ethical Trade Audit). The aim of the SMETA audit is to understand and improve occupational, health and safety, environmental and ethical practices. These help to protect workers from unsafe conditions, low pay, discrimination and forced labour. Following the review of all facilities in the reporting year, several projects have been implemented to improve staff safety, ranging from staff training to physical improvements in facilities, such as emergency exits and the improvement of first aid kits.

Cypress Grove Chèvre – “Early Intervention Programme”

Early this year, the Cypress Grove Safety Team (USA) introduced an early intervention programme that allows employees to see a physiotherapist at the first signs of posture-related pain. Efforts to raise awareness of ergonomic working amongst employees, identify red flags earlier on and encourage people to take more active care of health and well-being have led to a 75% reduction in the number of days with work restrictions and a 50% reduction in the number of days of work absences. Overall, the result was a 33% reduction in TIFR-related events.

Emmi Roth USA – “Process improvement”

In 2023, five medical treatments and seven first aid treatments took place at the Emmi Roth site in Platteville (USA), at the cheese removal step, where cheese remained stuck in the moulds during the acidification process. The solution was to add a process step to the acidification process to rotate the cheese in the moulds in order to break the surface tension, making it easier to remove the cheese. Due to the measures taken, no medical or first aid treatments associated with cheese sticking to the moulds were necessary during 2024.

No occupational fatalities and decrease in work-related injuries

In 2024, 99% of employees were covered by an occupational health and safety management system (2023: 99%).

The most common work-related injuries are those related to fingers, ankles, knees and eyes. In 2024, the TIFR was 21.0 (previous year 24.0) and no fatalities occurred (previous year 0). While encouraging progress was thus made at the TIFR in the year under review, Emmi is still a long way from achieving its target (below 10 by 2027).

3.8.4 Outlook

In order to further reduce the TIFR, Emmi will focus on specific measures in the areas of training and awareness, risk assessment, ergonomic workplace design, analysis of incidents and involvement of employees in the joint development of a safety culture through safety-oriented behaviour. The exemplary function and support of managers continue to play a key role.