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TRAINING
In Juarez, onsite classes to earn equivalency diplomas
Employees at our plant in
Juarez, Mexico
, have been able to attend classes to prepare and earn elementary
and middle school equivalency diplomas. A teacher certified by the Secretariat of Public Education is onsite
two or three hours a day to support the volunteers through to the examinations. As the plant’s human
resources manager, Alfredo Arce, explains, «It’s essential for us to support the emergence of new talent,
attract the best people and encourage them to move up in the Mersen community. With this program, the
teams are more motivated and fulfilled, both personally and in their jobs.»
At the rate of 30-35 participants per year over the past six years, nearly 200 people have already graduated,
which will soon be extended with management education classes for managers.
What are themain dangers
in the production plants?
The main risks for employees are related to electricity,
of course, but also to the handling of heavy loads and
chemicals. In every case, we have installed safety
equipment, like insulated handles and emergency cut-
offs, and issued clear safety procedures that everyone
is expected to follow – for example, concerning certain
specified equipment or the use of forklift trucks for
heavy loads.
Whatwere themajor measures taken last year?
In2014, everyMersen facility inChinaperformedsafety
cross-checks in addition of the Group’s internal audits.
We nowhave12 local safety auditorswho are regularly
trained byour onsite experts. I train newauditorsmyself
in the primary principles, and then hold special sessions
for all the procedures relating to operating machinery or
handling chemicals.
In fact, the Yueqing plant received
an award for its safety process.
That’s right. We received the 2013-2014 Safety
Challenge. Over the past three years, the number of
incident-free days has steadily increased and now
exceeds 1,200 thanks to the dedicated commitment of
plant management. Their determination is also reflected
in the substantial investments made in equipment and in
successfully raisingawareness amongall our employees.
We are building a real shared culture of safety, a concept
that is still too rare inmany Chinese factories.
hinoises.
SAFETY
“We’re building a real culture of safety in China”
»
3
questions
to Iris Qu
Safety Manager,
Electrical
Protection, China
24 25
Highlights
Anaverage
10.4
hours
oftraining
peremployee
in2014
4
safetyvisits
per siteand
permonth
SKILLS TRANSFER
Sharing expertise across the organization in India
Because our advanced
industrial expertise
is one of
our key success factors, sharing and instilling skills across
the organization is a constant concern. In India, where
we have employed more than 200 people on
three sites since 1995
, the skills transfer process is
carefully tracked by management and the human resources
department. Mentoring teams and both in-house and offsite
training courses are helping to smoothly induct new hires
and prepare for coming retirements.