People | BRB International CSR annual report

Health and safety of employees

Health and safety is one of the most important focus areas of our QESH policy and the driving force of the organization. When an employee starts working, the process of informing employees about safety and health starts immediately. There is an introductory process with extensive safety training that includes a toolbox, spill training, lift training and an ADR training. This is supported by means of an interview with the QESH department. In addition, the safety instructions are always available because they are presented on posters in the production locations in addition to being described on production receipts. Employees also receive the work instructions on paper (the employee signs for receipt), so that he or she can access it any time.

The managers of the various locations are responsible for health and safety matters. The work at the production sites is physically very heavy. It therefore remains a challenge to not let the ‘hands-on’ culture result in irresponsible lifting behaviour. We constantly keep an eye out to ensure that employees make use of the available lifting aids. Furthermore, an operational meeting takes place weekly where incidents are extensively discussed for learning and improvement purposes. After all, everyone within our organization feels responsible for one’s own safety and the safety of another. In 2019 a total of 459 health & safety incidents were reported consisting of 331 unsafe conditions, 127 incidents of unsafe behaviour and 1 incident where an employee had to visit the first aid.

There are 25 trained Emergency Response officers within BRB International, including a prevention officer. Through a conscious increase of communication around the topic of safety employees show to be more involved and more aware of their personal responsibility in the matter. Heavy lifting, and doing so responsibly, is something that is part of the job. However, putting the issue on the table with employees, management and customers, resulted last year in lowering the maximum weight of 80% of our products in pails from 25 kgs to 20 kgs. Employees were also trained on dealing with physical strain in the workplace.

In line with the focus on the physical wellbeing of our employees, our organization participates in a medical examination for all employees periodically. The last examinations took place in 2018.

Personnel structure

The workforce of BRB International in Ittervoort consisted of 145 employees and 35 temporary employees during the reference year 2019. If we leave out the warehouse and the workshop, where predominantly males work due to the physical nature of the work, the male/female ratio is about 55% / 45%. In 2019, 27 employees joined the company and 23 employees resigned; this count does not include trainees and temporary or holiday workers. The average age within our organization is 44 years old.

Personnel per age group

Personnel structure

“We care for our people and we are extremely proud to see that they are engaged and care for our business. It is our employees who determine our success!”

Comment by Inge Rutten, (Global) HR Business Partner

Employee Satisfaction

Our employees are decisive for our success and that makes it even more important that everyone comes to work with pleasure. A good atmosphere, good working conditions and committed employees are important aspects in which we like to invest

At the end of 2018, we therefore conducted an employee satisfaction survey among our colleagues in the Netherlands. This research has shown us good results and fortunately there is also room for improvement.

No less than 83% of our employees took part in this survey, which means that the results provide a representative picture.

We are therefore very proud to mention that the general satisfaction scored no less than 8.1! The star of the study was the employee’s involvement; involvement with the own team in particular scored 8.8, and also involvement in BRB as an organization scored 7.8. Our employees are also very satisfied with the content of the work, with the atmosphere and with their direct supervisor.

The results of the research obviously help us to work on areas for improvement. Each team has therefore received a report with its own results. In addition, we asked our employees to work with us to draw up an improvement plan with concrete actions for the entire organization. To this end, a sounding board group, with a representative from almost every department, was put together to determine together what is going well and what can be improved, to further improve job satisfaction.

Only together we can make our organization even better and more successful!

Inclusion

Danny Smeets

Westrom in Roermond and PSW Nederweert are local social workplaces that provide quality care and support to children and adults with intellectual disabilities. BRB International considers it important that people with a distance to the labor market can fully participate in society and in business. Therefore, we have been working with PSW since 2004. The knowledge, experience and guidance from PSW in combination with the ambition and determination of BRB International means that the cooperation has been going very well so far. We currently employ four employees via PSW. For BRB International the collaboration involves patience and understanding, but it gives us intensely motivated employees and increased involvement from the other employees. We therefore cannot imagine our team without them.

Danny Smeets has been working at BRB International since 2013 and is one of our four employees that are coached by a job coach from PSW. BRB International created functions within the organization for these employees.

Danny, tell us something about yourself.

My name is Danny Smeets and I am 35 years old. I have been working at BRB International since 2013 and I really like it. Every day I cycle back and forth for 45 minutes. In my spare time I like to cycle, swim, or do something fun with my girlfriend Wilma. I follow a cooking class every Thursday evening!

What do you do at BRB International?

I make sure the canteens and toilets are clean in our buildings in Ittervoort. I now have five canteens to clean. I clean everything every day and have a schedule for this. I also deliver the internal mail between the locations. I have been given a bicycle with a basket to do this, because the buildings are spread over the industrial area. Furthermore I check the stock of food and beverage supplies with the purchasing department. Then we order the products together.

And what do you like to do most?

I like everything I do. Everyday I come to work with a smile. I like my colleagues the most because they are always very cheerful and nice to me. What I really like is when I have been on vacation my colleagues say: “Danny, it’s good to have you back, we missed you!”