Being a manufacturing company, we have made the health and safety of people one of our core principles. We strive to deliver leading performance in health, safety, environment and security (HSE&S) with a vision to deliver zero injuries, waste and harm through operational excellence.

In our role as responsible employer, AkzoNobel has implemented a global health, safety, environment & security management program, through which we strive to ensure that the highest standards are applied to our activities and sites. In addition, our Life-Saving Rules program embeds eight key safety rules that must be applied with zero tolerance, along with one golden rule – all our employees are empowered to stop work that they recognize as unsafe. In 2021, 66% of our locations were reportable injury-free for more than one year, and our total reportable injury rate (TRR) is 0.21, which is an improvement of 25% over the last 6 years.

Own operations

In 2021, due diligence focused on our internal operations, and this demonstrated that there are effective and suitable controls in place for our employees and contractors. This is evidenced by our strong safety record. A description of our health and safety controls is provided in our annual report. We continue to monitor the effectiveness of our controls and are committed to achieving zero injuries. 

Business partners

In our role as business partner, we are screening and monitoring our business partners through formal processes, of which health and safety is an integral part. 

2022 due diligence actions

In our roles as a manufacturer and a community member, we realize that the health and safety risks across our value chain require more than due diligence.

The human rights risk assessment identified areas for further due diligence: 

- Sale of products: Due to the nature of our products, we acknowledge there is an inherent risk of impacting the human rights of the end users of our products. In 2022, we will continue with our proactive approach to the review and management of hazardous substances in our products.

- Raw materials: a new Raw Materials Sustainability Group (RMSG) representing the different functions in the company determines the sustainability strategy for raw material use.