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Occupational Safety and Health Management System

WNC headquarters and main manufacturing sites have introduced the ISO 45001 occupational safety and health management system, the scope of which covers all WNC employees, and passed third-party verification with regards to this. We regularly review operation of the occupational safety and health system to prevent occupational diseases and injuries and promote the physical and mental health of colleagues. In 2024, no major occupational accidents occurred at any sites. 

Occupational Safety and Health Committee

An Occupational Safety and Health Committee has been established for Taiwan sites in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Committee meetings are held quarterly to review implementation results with the President & CEO as well as worker representatives. The committee members serve a two-year term. Eighteen of the members are drawn from worker representatives, representing over 1/3 of the committee members. The communicated items and resolutions of the Occupational Safety and Health Committee in 2024 covered the following key topics: the development of response measures for food safety incidents reported in the news, emergency response plans made in response to the earthquake on April 3, 2024, and explanations regarding changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Policy. WNC holds an annual organization consultation meeting to communicate and promote occupational accident prevention to construction contractors. In 2024, a total of 220 contractors participated.  

 

Production safety committees established for China sites hold monthly production safety management meetings. Department-level managers from various units, labor union representatives, and three worker representatives (accounting for about 15% of meeting attendees) attend the meetings to discuss occupational safety and health management issues. In addition, each unit assigns an employee to serve as its safety officer, and these employees participate in safety officer training courses approved by related government agencies and acquire safety officer certification. This ensures that safety officers have the required skills and knowledge in occupational safety and health. 

 

A Labor Health and Safety Committee is set up at WNC’s Vietnam site, and a labor safety and health meeting is convened quarterly and attended by 23 labor representatives from each unit, all of whom are union committee members. Nine of the aforementioned labor representatives are from occupational safety and health management units, accounting for 39.1% of all labor representatives. This ensures that these representatives have the required amount of expertise in occupational safety and health management.  

Risk Identification

To continuously improve WNC’s occupational safety and health risk management, WNC has established a hazard identification and risk assessment management procedure. This procedure systematically identifies hazards and lists them in six categories: physical, chemical, ergonomic, biological, psychosocial, and other safety and health risks. Tasks relating to hazard identification and risk assessment are carried out by EHS officers, all of whom have completed training courses on ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 internal auditing to enhance their risk identification and management capabilities. Every unit at WNC conducts risk identification, evaluates risk levels through matrix analysis (likelihood, severity, frequency), proposes corresponding control measures and objectives for high-risk operations, and conducts monthly tracking in the following situations: when there are changes in operations, technologies, engineering, operations/design specifications; when injury events with more than one day of incapacity occur; when there are repeated occurrences of false alarm incidents; and when hidden danger reports occur.

Hazard Identification

The responsible department conducts an inventory of activities, products, services, etc. within its control that may cause personal injury, property damage, or environmental impact.

Risk Assessment

Risk level is evaluated through matrix analysis of operations exposure frequency, probability of occurrence, and severity of consequences.

Control Measures

Improvement plans are proposed for improvement items that eliminate hazards or reduce occupational safety and health risks within a department, meaning the objective of continuous risk reduction has been achieved.

Review of Effectiveness

Identify residual risks after control measures are in place, conduct monitoring and measurement to ensure the effectiveness of controls.

Emergency Response

To improve employees’ ability to respond to emergencies, emergency response teams have been established and a plant-wide evacuation drill is held every year. In 2024, to assist relevant personnel in familiarizing themselves with their roles and responsibilities within the emergency response team, the President & CEO served as the commander at WNC headquarters, while plant managers served as commanders at their respective sites. This approach improved the operational proficiency and enhanced crisis management and emergency response capabilities of relevant personnel.  

 

The HQ and the S1 plant have added war game simulations to their drill planning. The development and consequences of disasters are evaluated via drills. In response to the nationwide earthquake on April 3, 2024, a safety officer backup mechanism and lightweight emergency equipment were introduced to enhance flexibility in large-scale disaster response operations. The drill planning at the S3 plant assesses the on-site self-defense firefighting team’s response capabilities during real chemical disasters and fires, simulating the development of disasters and conducting disaster relief exercises. 

 

A total of five plant-wide evacuation drills were held during day and night shifts of Taiwan sites. In addition to holding firefighters’ firefighting skills and disaster prevention safety drills monthly in Kunshan sites, in 2024, Wistron NeWeb (Kunshan), WNC Kunshan and WebCom (Kunshan) held a total of 12 site-wide fire evacuation drills for day shifts and night shifts. WebCom (Nanjing) held one fire-fighting evacuation drill for the entire site. The Vietnam site held two plant-wide evacuation drills. 

Occupational Safety and Health Training

Pursuant to occupational safety and health measures, WNC holds educational and training courses to enhance employees’ awareness and skills related to occupational safety and health and boost their ability to predict hazards. WNC Taiwan sites provide a 3-hour general safety and health training course to new employees upon their entry. Additionally, regular training sessions are conducted for current employees each year to emphasize safety awareness and reduce the risk of accidents. In 2024, a total of 6,199 participants attended the courses, accumulating a total of 8,420 training hours. 

Occupational Injury Statistics

In 2024, all eight occupational injuries resulting in disability at WNC’s sites were caused by physical hazards, and there were no disabling injuries reported among non-employees, nor incidents resulting in permanent disability or death due to occupational injuries. Each incident has been investigated and analyzed. Responsible units have developed appropriate improvement and preventive measures in response to the increase in the number of employees and the changing environment to reduce operational risks for workers. 

WNC employees occupational injury statistics in the recent four years

Item 2021 2022 2023 2024
Total working hours Note 1 21,262,912 23,969,608 23,162,848 21,624,512
Number of recordable occupational injuries Note 2 39 17 25 8
Recordable occupational injuries rate Note 3 1.83 0.71 1.08 0.37
Number of serious occupational injuries Note 4 0 0 0 0
Percentage of serious occupational injuries Note 5 0 0 0 0
Total disability injury lost days 331 166 348 114
Severe disability injury severity rate (S.R.) Note 6 15.57 6.93 15.03 5.27
  • Note 1: Total work hours = Number of employees in the category at year end × total number of working days × work hours per day.
  • Note 2: Number of recordable occupational injuries: Same as the definitions of disabling injuries the definition of a non-fatal injury includes cases where the victim is unable to continue their normal work and loses work time for one day or more.
  • Note 3: Recordable occupational injury rate/ lost time injury frequency rate = number of recordable occupational injuries/ total working hours × 1,000,000.
  • Note 4: Number of serious occupational injuries: Injuries resulting in death or causing workers to be unable or have difficulty in returning to their pre-injury health status within six months are considered occupational injuries.
  • Note 5: Rate of serious occupational injury = number of serious occupational injuries (excluding fatalities)/hours worked × 1,000,000.
  • Note 6: Severe Disability Injury Severity Rate (S.R) = total disability injury lost days/ total working hours × 1,000,000.

Occupational injury statistics of non-WNC employees in the recent four years

Subject Item 2021 2022 2023 2024
Contractor personnel Total working hours Note 1 36,744 391,159 1,017,560 474,184.85
Number of recordable occupational injuries Note 2 0 0 0 0
Recordable occupational injuries Note 3 0 0 0 0
Number of serious occupational injuries Note 4 0 0 0 0
Percentage of serious occupational injuries Note 5 0 0 0 0
On-site contractors Total working hours Note 1 969,735 781,344 940,096 1,239,780
Number of recordable occupational injuries Note 2 0 0 0 0
Recordable occupational injuries Note 3 0 0 0 0
Number of serious occupational injuries Note 4 0 0 0 0
Percentage of serious occupational injuries Note 5 0 0 0 0
Dispatch employees Total working hours Note 1 272,135 1,114,200 242,744 55,456
Number of recordable occupational injuries Note 2 2 0 0 0
Recordable occupational injuries Note 3 7.35 0 0 0
Number of serious occupational injuries Note 4 0 0 0 0
Percentage of serious occupational injuries Note 5 0 0 0 0

Incident Investigation

In Taiwan, to fully understand the process by which near misses, abnormalities, injuries, and major accidents occur and to prevent their reoccurrence, the company performs accident investigation and analysis in accordance with an Accident Investigation Management Procedure and has formulated measures to prevent the re-occurrence of incidents. Inspection is conducted across all sites. At the same time, the 5 Why technique, FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) and domino analysis methods are used to conduct a more in-depth review and discussion of the real causes of accidents and improve processes and safety standards and standardize specifications, as well as strengthen fool-proofing mechanisms. 

 

To enhance accident investigation efficiency, explore root causes, and prevent recurrence, an accident investigation approval system has been implemented. The system for Taiwan sites was established in 2022, and the e-flow system on incident (including injuries, abnormalities, and false alarms) investigation became operational in 2023. The system was expanded to WNC’s sites in China and Vietnam in 2024.  

Accident occurrence
Including false alarms, abnormalities, personal injuries, and major accidents
Reporting
Collect accident-related information
Investigation
Simulate the accident and identify its cause.
Improvement
Draft and implement improvement measures across sites.
Recurrence prevention
Long-term implementation of response measures to prevent re-occurrence.
Execution of measures in parallel
Conduct inventories of plants and implement prevention measures in parallel to achieve early prevention

Equitable Workplace

Contractor Management

WNC has drawn up a Contractor ESH Management Procedure to ensure the safety of both contractors and employees, maintain facility safety, and observe related ESH regulations. This document clearly demarcates the powers and responsibilities of company units and contractors and describes ESH issues requiring attention. Contractors are required to sign a Commitment to Work Safety for Contractors in WNC Plants before applying to conduct in-plant operations, and are required to participate in training sessions on in-plant hazards and safety and health knowledge organized by the Industrial Safety Dept. In 2024, 3,038 persons from 390 contractors took part in the aforementioned training. After in-plant operations are approved, employees of contractors must participate in a tool-kit meeting to understand the hazards that personnel should pay attention to in the plant along with relevant safety procedures, and conduct in-plant operations after confirming operation details with the responsible managers under supervision and assessment of the ESH management units.

 

WNC conducts contractor review annually to evaluate contractors’ safety and health management capabilities. Guidance or replacement of contractors is executed according to review results. In 2023, we optimized our digital contractor evaluation system. Contractors were categorized into three grades based on their evaluation scores, and those with scores below 3.5 were provided guidance and improvement assessments to enhance their safety and health management capabilities and safety culture literacy. Construction evaluations have also been added for new contractors, and the contractor evaluation items, scoring standards and calculation formulas have been more clearly and specifically defined to ensure the standardization of evaluations and reduce manual calculation errors. In addition, to strengthen the management of hazardous operations of contractors, a checklist has been drawn up for higher-risk operations including hot work, roofing, elevated, and restricted operations, to ensure that contractors follow the safety standards before, during, and after operations. In 2024, a total of six new suppliers in the factory construction category were evaluated.

WNC Contractor Evaluation

Subject Category Item
Existing contractors Annual evaluation (Once a year)
  • Training records
  • Operational protective measures
  • Automatic checks
  • In-plant violations
  • Certification requirements
New contractors Evaluation of new construction contractors (before construction project)
  • Disclosure of major occupational injuries
  • Certification requirements
  • Work inspection mechanism
  • Management system for onsite construction
  • Sub-contractor review mechanism