With this initial cooperation agreement between the German Social Accident Insurance Institution Raw Materials and Chemical Industry (BG RCI) and the industry association for foamed materials and polyurethanes, the Specialist Association Foamed Plastics and Polyurethanes (FSK), both organizations are for the first time starting a joint initiative for occupational safety in the polyurethane and foamed plastics industry under the new prevention strategy VISION ZERO. "The efforts in our industry perfectly match VISION ZERO, which targets bringing occupational illnesses and accidents at work down to zero," stated FSK Managing Director, Dr. Hans-W. Schloz. He went on to say, "We are trying to combine the German Social Accident Insurance Institution's prevention strategy measures VISION ZERO, 'Zero accidents - stay healthy at work!' with environmental protection measures in the foamed plastics and polyurethane processing industry and see this cooperation as a comprehensive package for a high level, uniform implementation of environmental standards and occupational health and safety measures in the industry". According to Helmut Ehnes, German Social Accident Insurance Institution RCI Head of Prevention, this is the ideal basis for practically implementing the recently adopted German Social Accident Insurance Institution's prevention concept ‘VISION ZERO‘in an industry example. It is hereby not only a matter of common goals, but rather about specific measures and steps that the German Social Accident Insurance Institution will implement together with the FSK. Environmental protection and occupational safety in companies working with chemical materials are very complex and demanding issues stated Dr. Thomas Martin, German Social Accident Insurance Institution RCI, Head of Office for Hazardous Substance Information. One of the key starting points for occupational safety measures is the knowledge of and proper handling of chemical substances in the companies. This generates risk assessment and operating instructions with polyurethane processors; also in order to meet legal obligations stated Dr. Martin. "This is why the cooperation between the German Social Accident Insurance Institution and the FSK will begin with the developing of a common database for materials management in polyurethane processing companies. The German Social Accident Insurance Institution will incorporate its experience from the GisChem database, to connect the FSK database with yet to be introduced data from the polyurethane and foamed plastics industry", said Dr. Thomas Martin. According to Helmut Ehnes, the German Social Accident Insurance Institution will also integrate findings from national and international projects in interfaces for material data sheets and for the data from electronic safety data sheets, in particular occupational safety relevant information. Based on this further measures such as training, occupational safety briefings but also consulting on environmental legislation and environmental issues will be implemented in the companies, said FSK Managing Director Dr. Hans-W. Schloz. This promotes the German Social Accident Insurance Institution's strategy objectives from VISION ZERO such as decreasing the risk of accidents at work, increasing the number of accident free companies, needs-based prevention offerings and prevention measures.
Further information on the cooperation can also be found in video statements on the FSK homepage under the link http://www.fsk-vsv.de/....
Further information on the cooperation can also be found in video statements on the FSK homepage under the link http://www.fsk-vsv.de/....
