The Nestlé Policy on Safety and Health at Work

Policy

Mandatory

August 2010

The Nestlé Policy

on Safety and Health at Work

Policy

Mandatory

August 2010

Issuing Function

Safety, Health and Environmental Sustainability

Author/issuing department

Safety, Health and Environmental Sustainability

Target audience

Public, all employees

Repository

All Nestlé Principles and Policies, Standards and

Guidelines can be found in the Centre online repository at:

http://intranet.nestle.com/ne stledocs

Approver

Executive Board of Nestlé S.A.

Date of publication

August 2010

The content of this document may not be reproduced, distributed

or disclosed to third parties without proper authorization. All rights

belong to Nestec Ltd., Vevey, Switzerland.

This document is also available as GI-18.000 via the Search and Find option at:

http://thenest-eur-hq.nestle.com/TP/TP_OPIN/Pages/HomePage.aspx

or can be directly reached via the following link

http://webappps1.hq.nestle.com/appl_technicalinstr/idc/Program/Catalogue/Google/Detail.

asp?Class=GI&IndexNumber=18.000

Design

Nestec Ltd., Corporate Identity & Design,

Vevey, Switzerland

Printing

Altavia, Switzerland

Paper

This report is printed on BVS, a paper produced

from well-managed forests and other controlled sources

certiﬁed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The Nestlé Policy on Safety and Health at Work

To be at the forefront of accident prevention in

the industry, we implement in all our sites the

mandatory Nestlé Occupational Safety and Health

Management System, which meets or exceeds

the requirements of the health and safety laws

applicable in the countries in which we operate.

Compliance

This Policy on Safety and Health at Work

is based on the Nestlé Corporate Business

Principles and the Nestlé Management and

Leadership Principles, which are binding for

the whole Nestlé Group.

At Nestlé, we believe that sustainable success

can be reached only through people. No other

asset in the company is as important as the people

who contribute with their work to our culture

and our business results.

Therefore, we devote all the necessary energy

and attention to protect employees, contractors

and any other people involved with the company

along the value chain, including suppliers,

customers and the public.

Safety is non-negotiable

We commit to perform systematic identiﬁcation

of hazards and to manage them with appropriate

risk assessments and subsequent actions to

minimise danger.

We establish emergency and contingency

plans to deal with residual risks. This approach

also minimises threats to the business, protecting

our shareholders’ interests.

Nestlé believes that accidents are preventable

and therefore “one accident is one too many”.

We integrate Safety and Health in the

management of our business in such a way that

all activities are considered with a perspective of

prevention of all types of accidents and protection

of the people at work.

To advance a strong safety culture that

effectively prevents accidents, we establish local

safety and health organisations that provide

specialist advice to managers and employees.

Strong safety and health organisation

The Nestlé Policy on Safety and Health at Work

At the same time, Nestlé judges that employee

involvement is indispensable to establish and

maintain safety and health in the workplace.

Respect of safety principles, standards and

procedures is a condition of employment.

Conversely, employees are empowered to:

– challenge any unsafe acts they see or perceive;

– put a task on hold if they judge that safety is not

adequate, until a competent person takes appro-

priate risk control measures.

Employees are responsible for working in a

safe manner to prevent injury to themselves,

fellow workers and other persons. They are asked

to become actively involved in programmes to

improve health and safety performance in the

workplace.

Nestlé recognises the critical role of senior

management to ensure a safe and healthy

work environment.

As an integral part of managing the business,

Nestlé managers – at all levels – are accountable

for managing workplace health and safety with

strong leadership and credibility. Their annual

objectives include a contribution to the safety

culture and performance.

To reinforce an already strong safety culture,

Nestlé sets ambitious goals and high standards,

as part of its Occupational Safety and Health

management process.

Leadership and participation

We base our improvement on the monitoring

of safety and health performance as well as on

the analysis of incidents that produce injuries and

of workplace activities whose cumulative effects

may lead to illnesses.

Our Occupational Safety and Health management

system is based on the concept of continuous

improvement. We improve constantly our per-

formance by designing and adapting processes,

work practices and systems in the direction of

better ergonomics and greater safety.

Continuous improvement

The Nestlé Policy on Safety and Health at Work

Behavioural approach

Nestlé attributes the highest importance to

people’s behaviours as the main factor for the

prevention of accidents.

We believe that every time an accident occurs,

the root causes can be traced to someone’s

behaviour.

Therefore, Nestlé implements programmes

that encourage employees to engage in dialogue

– with peers and management – about safe and at

risk behaviours.

Nestlé builds a proactive safety culture by:

– driving the implementation and continual

improvement of the Nestlé Occupational Safety

and Health Management System through com-

munication with employees, contractors and other

stakeholders;

– educating, training and equipping employees to

ensure that they are empowered to avoid unsafe

situations and to respond rapidly to unexpected

events;

– inﬂuencing training and education of contrac-

tors, suppliers and community.

Communication, education and training

The Nestlé Policy on Safety and Health at Work

Nestlé organisations in the different countries

in which we operate:

– communicate with local communities and

their emergency services, providing them

with adequate health and safety information

on our operations;

– ensure that contractors and other third parties

entering Nestlé sites have sufﬁcient relevant

information and training and are properly

equipped to execute safely their tasks;

– regard health and safety management as

an important consideration in supplier and

contractor selection;

– encourage employees to apply their safety

and health learnings in their private life,

at home and during leisure.

Nestlé’s business model is based on the creation

of shared value for the company and the society.

With our work to foster our company’s safety

culture – for example through safe driving

programmes for employees and contractors – we

also act on the safety culture of the communities

in which we operate, both by giving an example

of commitment and by reducing accidents

outside our sites.

Community, supply chain, contractors

and other stakeholders

Paul Bulcke

Chief Executive Ofﬁcer

Implementation, certiﬁcation and audits

Nestlé implements this policy through the Nestlé

Occupational Safety and Health Management

System, which includes periodic self-assessments

and speciﬁc audits.

Local management is accountable for its

implementation.

To ensure a consistent and coherent implemen-

tation worldwide, Nestlé submits all its manu-

facturing sites to OHSAS 18001 certiﬁcation by

independent accredited bodies.