"Every year, a factory building is evacuated. For training purposes."

The evacuation exercises can be explained by Mifa's special position within the Migros industry. In Frenkendorf, products from the "Home Care" division (e.g. the "Total" and "Handy" washing and dishwashing products) and "Nutrition" (e.g. the "Sanissa" brand) are manufactured. Detergents and cleaning agents deal with chemicals. An emergency manual contains appropriate measures for any hazards which, according to Kühnis, "can have an impact beyond the company premises".

The emergency concept is embedded in a professional occupational health and safety management system - SQS-certified in accordance with OHSAS 18001. The system is managed by Fredy Kühnis as Safety Officer and by Claudia Wälchli, Deputy Head of Human Resources, who is responsible for health protection. Anyone who talks to these two experts on site will be given a bundle of best practices to take with them. The obvious result-oriented cooperation in the occupational safety and health protection teams, the level of detail in A&G reporting and communication, the learning from events documented by concrete measures, and the institutionalized support for A&G concerns in the management are all recognizable. The following key points provide evidence of this perception.

Transparent system
The Federal Commission for Occupational Safety (EKAS) requires an operational safety management system with 10 points. Mifa goes beyond this: the A&G is an integral part of the comprehensive Mifa management system. All documents stored in it can be viewed by all employees on the document platform. This makes the system transparent for all users, enables effective controlling at various levels and helps to raise awareness of A&G issues. Feedback is welcome: this can be provided via the personnel committee, which is represented in the A&G team, or directly.

A&G - common cause, two teams
For historical reasons and, according to Claudia Wälchli, "also for reasons of protection when dealing with personalised data", there are two teams at Mifa - one for safety and one for health protection. The A&G mission is a joint programme of the teams, but their area of operation varies depending on the project, assignment or specialist area. Coordination meetings organise the missions, and synergies are regularly discussed at an A&G conference. Interdisciplinarity, extensive experience and A&G specialist knowledge come into play in the teams. The safety group, for example, is made up of delegates who can combine their many years of line experience with specialist training in the safety sector. The team's technical manager is responsible for the safety of installations, the head of infrastructure for fire protection, a logistics specialist for the transport of hazardous goods, another logistics specialist for operational first aid, etc. The operational head of the team is the safety engineer. The operational head of the team is safety engineer Fredy Kühnis. He also has various special training courses in his rucksack, for example the course on expertise in chemicals law or SUVA further training courses lasting several days in the area of accident prevention.

Exchange of experience at all levels
The Group's health experts, safety engineers and safety officers maintain an organised, intensive exchange of experience not only within Mifa, but also at the level of Migros Industry and Migros Cooperatives. They also benefit from the network of safety engineers associated with the Swiss Society for Occupational Safety (SGAS). Küh nis is one of these 300 or so experts.

Monitoring by the management
Health protection and occupational safety are regular items on Mifa's management agenda. The topics discussed are therefore included in the minutes. And, this is not an everyday occurrence, these minutes can be viewed on the intranet! The concerns are brought to the management board by the safety officer or the person responsible for health protection, and they are represented there by a member of the management board.

Numbers generate measures
An essential component in the case of absences is the analysis of figures. The focus is on: accident-free days since the last accident, accidents in the previous year and accidents in the current year. These three key figures are posted in the company. In the health sector, the time management system provides HR with an important basis for assessing and managing sickness-related absences. For example, the lost hours per 100,000 hours worked are interesting.

The management examines the figures, the events and the measures taken. Comparisons are made with SUVA statistics and with data from the Migros industry. The central goal is a healthy workplace, a "friendly workspace" aspect," Claudia Wälchli emphasises. From this, the required short- and long-term measures are derived. These include targeted plant tours, internal audits, risk assessments, e-learning programs, analyses of the maximum workplace concentration (MAK), first-aid and firefighting courses, lectures on handling chemicals, one-to-one tests of the emergency organization, and even evacuations of buildings.

Health and safety day for all
One A&G highlight last year was the two-day Health and Safety Day, which focused on identified problem areas. A great deal of know-how from the entire Migros industry was brought to bear here. The event was obligatory, and the feedback was exceptionally good. In a real working environment - in the middle of the factory or in the office - with the support of professionals from the Migros Club School, participants practiced how to reduce mental stress situations. Or physiotherapists from Medbase gave practical instructions on how to prevent back problems. An SUVA post instructed on safe walking, and a station with environmental experts was dedicated to the problem of waste.

"What does your day look like?" campaign.
This is the name of a campaign launched throughout Migros. According to Claudia Wälchli, Mifa's health management takes up this initiative "when it comes to supporting employees in individual cases or advising them on how to structure their working day". The starting point for this is absence management. This results in step-by-step discussions in which employees are accompanied. In a protected discussion situation, they try to find the right balance between the world of work and their private environment. Claudia Wälchli comments: "In any case, it is valuable to identify and discuss the problems that are usually not discussed. In more complex cases, institutions from the Migros network are available. In delicate situations, a medical officer can be consulted. Where helpful, the relevant superiors are advised on how to deal with the situation. This is also part of professional A&G management.