Harmonious Workplace / Occupational Safety and Health Management
Occupational Safety and Health
Occupational Safety and Health Management System
WNC headquarters and main manufacturing bases have introduced the ISO 45001 occupational safety and health management system 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 2023, 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 and committee meetings are held quarterly in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act to review the implementation results with 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. In 2023, the election of labor representatives was held in December. These members work as a safety and health communication platform between WNC and employees. WNC holds an annual organization consultation meeting to communicate and promote occupational accident prevention to construction contractors. In 2023, a total of 420 contractors participated.
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Production safety committees established for China sites hold monthly production safety management meetings. Department-level managers from various units and labor union representatives 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.
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A Labor Health and Safety Committee is set up at WNCâs Vietnam sites, and a labor safety and health meeting is convened quarterly and attended by 15 labor representatives from each unit, including two union committee members. These representatives are responsible for reporting on occupational safety and health administrative matters to WNCâs management representatives at union meetings.
Risk Identification
In order to lessen the impact on WNC of occupational safety and health risks, every unit conducts risk identification every year, evaluates risk levels through matrix analysis (likelihood, severity, frequency), proposes corresponding control measures and objectives for high-risk operations, and conducts monthly tracking (such as: when there are changes in operations, technologies, engineering, operations/design specifications; injury events with more than one day of incapacity; repeated occurrence of false alarm incidents; hidden danger notification).
Hazard identification
Risk evaluation
Control measures
Review of effectiveness
Emergency Response
To improve employeesâ ability to respond to emergencies, emergency response teams have been established and a plant-wide evacuation drill is held every year. In 2023, to assist relevant personnel in familiarizing themselves with their roles and responsibilities within the emergency response team, increasing operational proficiency, and enhancing crisis management and emergency response capabilities when emergencies occur, 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. 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 compound disasters and conducting disaster relief exercises. A total of 7 plant-wide evacuation drills were held during day and night shifts of Taiwan sites.
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In addition to holding firefighters’ firefighting skills and disaster prevention safety drills monthly in Kunshan sites, in 2023, Wistron NeWeb (Kunshan), WNC Kunshan and WebCom (Kunshan) held a total of 16 plant-wide fire evacuation drills for day shifts and night shifts. WebCom (Nanjing) held one fire-fighting evacuation drill for the entire plant. The Vietnam sites held four plant-wide evacuation drills.
Occupational Safety and Health Training
Pursuant to occupational safety and health measures, WNC holds educational and training courses to enhance employeesâ awareness and skills related to occupational safety and health and boost their ability to predict hazards. WNC Taiwan sites provide a three-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 2023, a total of 6,474 participants attended the courses, accumulating a total of 10,346 training hours.
Occupational Injury Statistics
In 2023, all 25 occupational injuries resulting in disability at WNCâs sites were due to 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 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
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Total working hoursNote1 | 24,461,016 | 21,262,912 | 23,969,608 | 23,162,848 |
Number of recordable occupational injuriesNote2 | 29 | 39 | 17 | 25 |
Recordable occupational injuries rateNote3 | 1.19 | 1.83 | 0.71 | 1.08 |
Number of serious occupational injuriesNote4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Percentage of serious occupational injuriesNote5 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Total disability injury lost days | 238 | 331 | 166 | 348 |
Severe disability injury severity rate (S.R.)Note6 | 9.73 | 15.57 | 6.93 | 15.03 |
- Note 1: Total work hours = Number of employees in the category at year end Ă total number of working days Ă 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 Ă 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 Ă 1,000,000
- Note 6: Severe Disability Injury Severity Rate (S.R) = total disability injury lost days/ total working hours Ă 1,000,000
Occupational injury statistics of non-WNC employees in the recent four years
Subject | Item | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
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Contractor personnel | Total working hoursNote1 | 110,461 | 36,744 | 391,159 | 1,017,560 |
Number of recordable occupational injuriesNote2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Recordable occupational injuriesNote3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Number of serious occupational injuriesNote4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Percentage of serious occupational injuriesNote5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
On-site contractors | Total working hoursNote1 | 568,040 | 969,735 | 781,344 | 940,096 |
Number of recordable occupational injuriesNote2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Recordable occupational injuriesNote3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Number of serious occupational injuriesNote4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Percentage of serious occupational injuriesNote5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Dispatch employees | Total working hoursNote1 | 522,000 | 272,135 | 1,114,200 | 242,744 |
Number of recordable occupational injuriesNote2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
Recordable occupational injuriesNote3 | 1.92 | 7.35 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
Number of serious occupational injuriesNote4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Percentage of serious occupational injuriesNote5 | 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.
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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 is expected to be expanded to WNCâs sites in China and Vietnam in 2024.
Accident occurrence
Including false alarms, abnormalities, personal injuries, and major accidentsReporting
Collect accident-related informationInvestigation
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 preventionContractor 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 the notification of in-plant hazards and educational training for safety and health organized by the Industrial Safety Dept. 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.
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WNC conducts contractor review annually to evaluate contractorsâ safety and health management capabilities. Guidance or replacement of contractors is executed according to review results. An online contractor evaluation system was introduced to enhance the efficiency of annual contractor assessments, and further optimizations were made to the system in 2023 to strengthen assessment standards. Based on the evaluation results, key contractors were provided guidance and improvement assessments to enhance their safety and health management capabilities and safety culture literacy. Starting from 2020, construction evaluations have 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 calculations 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 2023, a total of 8 new suppliers in the factory construction category were evaluated.
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Besides the designated contact person, contractors can also discuss with WNC contact persons regarding matters such as work safety and health management, on-site operations coordination to ensure operational safety via coordination meetings, toolbox meetings, hazard information education and training, vendor review, and on-site inspections.
WNC Contractor Evaluation
Subject | Category | Item | |
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Existing contractors | Annual evaluation (Once a year) |
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New contractors | Evaluation of new construction contractors (before construction project) |
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Equitable Workplace
WNC Taiwan cooperates with Hsinchu Mackay Memorial Hospital, National Taiwan University Hospital Hsinchu Branch, Hsinchu Science Park Clinic, Tainan/Madou Sin-Lau Hospital, Tainan Municipal Hospital, and Southern Taiwan Science Park Clinic to conduct general/special medical examinations, general/special on-the-job health examinations and offers occupational medicine specialists’ on-site health service. Annual health check-up attendance rate reaches as high as 99%. In 2023, WNC worked with Taipei Boren Hospital and Hongen Hospital to boost the convenience of medical check-ups for employees in the Taipei office.
All new employees in WNCâs sites in China are required to undergo general health examinations. In addition, according to the Occupational Disease Prevention Law of the People’s Republic of China, employees with potential occupational disease hazards will also be provided with new, in-service and pre-employment occupational health examinations for special projects. All employees in the Vietnam operating location are required to undergo general health examinations on a regular basis every year. In addition, according to the Labor Law and Occupational Health and Safety Law, and announcement 14/2013/TT-BYT by the Medical Department of Vietnam, employees with potential occupational disease hazards are also provided with semi-annual occupational health examinations for special projects.
WNC sites employ nurses with past clinical experience in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and intensive care medicine. The facility nurses compile analyses of employeesâ health issues, perform personal health hierarchical management, and plan annual health care and promotion activities accordingly to assist staff in enhancing their health awareness.
WNC Taiwan has purchased a health management system to facilitate the recording and management of employees’ health histories. Health grading management is divided into five grades from A to E according to the results of the inspection items. The higher the grade, the higher the health risk. Different management measures are provided at different levels, including regular tracking, security guard education, plant doctor consultation or outpatient and emergency re-examination. In 2023, 756 plant medical consultations were conducted, and the tracking rate of E-levels with the highest health risk reached 100%.
WNC sites in Taiwan implement different types of health promotion projects every year. After the COVID-19 pandemic waned in 2023, WNC adopted a professional corporate health promotion software. Exercise and knowledge videos were recorded for WNC employees. Complemented by body composition analysis, pre-and post-fitness testing, and weekly self weight monitoring, this fully digitalized online event helped employees overcome restrictions such as location, time differences, venue, and work attributes to participate. The body composition analysis and pre-and post-fitness testing was conducted in conjunction with the Department of Recreational Sports Management at Yu Da University of Science and Technology, the students of which gained much practical experience through industry-academic cooperation. The three-month activity saw 421 employees participate, among which 165 employees completed both pre-test and post-test weight assessments. Collectively they shed 350.2 kilograms, averaging a weight loss of 2.1 kilograms per person.
WNC has established a 24-hour facility nurse-on-duty hotline, periodically reviews emergency care personnel deployment and training, implements evacuation drills and training for sites, and audits and restocks the medical supplies of each unit. WNC headquarters has signed an emergency ambulance contract with the Hsinchu Science Park Clinic, so that emergency services can be provided immediately when necessary. Meanwhile, AED devices have been installed around our sites in Hsinchu and Vietnam, and related trainings provided.
Free quadrivalent influenza vaccination is provided every year for all employees (including on-site contractors). In 2023, a total of 2,329 doses of influenza vaccines were given, with a vaccination rate of 31%. Related expenditure totaled NT$1.56 million for influenza prevention work.
On top of caring for employeesâ physical condition, WNC provides employees with required mental health education, care, and report mechanisms for injuries or sicknesses resulting from official duties or personal issues, including injury and illness follow-ups, recommendations for a reasonable number of rest days, evaluations for resumption of work or suitable work, and assistance for the resumption of work. WNC’s Taiwan sites launched a digital employee assistance program, through which the company commissioned a counselling service provider to provide a variety of consultation and counselling services via a user-friendly app. Counselling services are conveniently offered through text, audio and video chats. In the first stage of consultation colleaguesâ concerns are listened to for free and without time limits. In the second stage, professional consultants offer consultation services in five areas: psychology, career path, health education, legal, and insurance and finance. Each employee can enjoy two free interviews per year. Starting in 2024, the free interview quota was increased to three hours per year.
As of the end of 2023, 23 people have used the first-stage free consultation hotline, and 105 people have used the second-stage individual interview service. In the second stage, there were 23 cases related to mental health issues, 42 cases were about legal issues, 5 cases concerned careers, 1 on insurance and finance, 1 on health education, and 33 cases related to other topics.
WNC has established regulations to prevent human-induced hazards, excessive workloads and workplace misconduct, and maternal protection. Through hazard identification, risk assessment, and job observation, measures have been taken to identify high-risk groups, prevent occupational diseases among these groups through workplace improvements, appropriate work allocation, and consultations with the company physicians. This includes establishing operational standards for hearing protection and respiratory protection, regularly conducting courses and seminars, and conducting workplace environment visits and process improvements by facility nurses, company physicians, industrial safety personnel, and managers of related units.
In 2023, 34 employees were arranged to wear respiratory protection and have completed physical assessment by the plant doctor.