International: Rhodia sets up joint global safety body

Rhodia, a chemicals multinational based in France, has set up a joint body with international trade unions to monitor the safety situation in its worldwide operations and recommend improvements.

On this page:
Global health and safety commitments
Global safety body established
ArcelorMittal global committee
GDF Suez management committee.

Global health and safety commitments

Rhodia, which has its headquarters in France, develops and produces speciality chemicals. It has a worldwide workforce of 13,600, of whom 46% are employed in Europe (including at three manufacturing sites in the UK), 21% in Latin America, 21% in the Asia Pacific region and 12% in North America.

In January 2005, Rhodia signed a "global corporate social responsibility agreement" with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), representing unions across its worldwide operations. The agreement, which was renewed in March 2008, commits Rhodia to observing various international labour standards (for example, on trade union rights, freedom of association, forced and child labour, and equality).

The agreement also sets out a number of company-specific commitments on matters such as:

• health and safety;
• mobility and employment opportunity;
• employee benefits;
• anti-discrimination efforts;
• responsible relations with suppliers and subcontractors;
• risk management and environmental protection;
• labour-management dialogue;
• "civic dialogue" (with local communities and non-government organisations); and
• the right of employees to raise concerns.

Health and safety is frequently an issue in global agreements or "international framework agreements" on corporate social responsibility and workers' rights, such as that at Rhodia. More than 80 multinational companies have signed agreements of this type - such as Aker - and more than 90% of them deal with health and safety. The Rhodia agreement, as revised in 2008, includes statements that:

• The health and safety of its employees is a priority for Rhodia, which will make every effort to ensure good working conditions and to manage risk on a daily basis.
• Rhodia has enacted demanding internal policies and insists on their stringent application. Its goal is to improve safety performance continually and to monitor regularly assessment indicators for its own employees and the employees of subcontractors.
• Rhodia is committed to creating healthy working conditions for all personnel, regardless of the job they perform and its related risks.
• Rhodia pledges that, from their outset, investment projects will not compromise the health and safety of personnel or nearby residents. In addition, the company supports solutions likely to improve existing situations.
• With the ICEM, Rhodia will create a "dialogue board" devoted to safety issues, which will monitor the Group's actions and results in these areas as well as the correct application of the corresponding provisions in the agreement.

The agreement with ICEM is linked to the "Rhodia Way", a set of company commitments on social and environmental responsibility, which include a guarantee of health and safety for all employees.

Back to top

Global safety body established

The commitment to establish a dialogue board on safety was added to the global agreement when it was revised in 2008. In June 2009, Rhodia and the ICEM agreed an amendment to the agreement that set out the details of the creation of the new body.

The amendment provides that the "worldwide safety panel" (also referred to as an "observatory") will be made up of:

• three representatives of Rhodia group management;
• two representatives of the ICEM; and
• four Rhodia employees appointed by the ICEM, representing Europe, Latin America, Asia and North America respectively.

The panel's role is to monitor the safety situation throughout the Rhodia group. To this end it has access to the safety indicators collected by the company. These include information on the rate of workplace accidents, hazard identification and risk assessment, and health and safety audits. Further, the members of the panel may agree to supplement these indicators with specific information, as and when required. According to the amendment, the panel is "committed to a continuous progress approach in its work" and will issue observations and recommendations for improvement.

The panel will meet at least once a year, and the parties may agree on additional meetings if necessary. Rhodia will meet panel members' travel and accommodation costs and any costs relating to organising meetings. The annual meeting will be held at a Rhodia site chosen by agreement, and will include a visit to monitor safety and working conditions, and compliance with group policies in these areas. A pilot site visit on health and safety issues has already been held in June 2009 at a Rhodia subsidiary in Freiburg, Germany.

The safety panel will gradually extend its work into the areas of workplace hygiene and the environment.

The amendment provided that the safety panel would be set up by the end of the first quarter of 2010. In March 2010, Rhodia and the ICEM appointed their representatives and agreed that the panel would hold its first meeting in the second half of the year. The ICEM representatives are Kemal Özkan, its rubber and chemicals officer, and Brian Kohler, its health, safety and sustainability officer. Following consultations with its affiliated unions, the ICEM has appointed regional employee representatives from France, the US, Brazil and China.

According to Özkan: "Dealing with health and safety at the global scale, using substantial contributions offered on a plant-by-plant basis, will keep standards high and serve to harmonise the standards across all company plants throughout the world."

Rhodia is not the first multinational company to agree with trade unions to establish a specific joint body at global level to deal with health and safety issues. There are several other recent examples of firms - especially in sectors where safety issues have a high profile - seeing value in working with unions at transnational level on this topic. Initiatives at ArcelorMittal and GDF Suez are summarised below.

Back to top

ArcelorMittal global committee

In June 2008, ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, signed a global agreement on health and safety with the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF), the European Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) and the US United Steelworkers union. As well as providing for the establishment of joint health and safety committees at all ArcelorMittal plants worldwide, and laying down rules for these committees' composition, operation and tasks, the agreement created a global occupational health and safety committee.

The aim of the ArcelorMittal global committee is to improve communication, collaboration and coordination between unions and management. It is made up of health and safety experts, with nine appointed by trade unions (four by the EMF and five by the IMF) and three by management, with the option of calling in expertise as and when required. All costs associated with the committee, which meets four times a year, are borne by the company.

The main role of the committee is to identify areas for improvement, offer guidance and act as a facilitator in harmonising safety performance across the group. Its tasks include:

• reviewing health and safety performance across ArcelorMittal;
• identifying common problems or areas for improvement;
• overseeing compliance with the global health and safety agreement;
• ensuring the establishment of health and safety committees in each plant;
• encouraging unions and management to work together;
• developing the role of safety representatives and training programmes; and
• developing a joint publication.

The committee has visited sites in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Romania and South Africa, recommending follow-up action in a number of cases.

Back to top

GDF Suez management committee

GDF Suez, the France-based energy and utilities multinational, signed in February 2010 a "group agreement on fundamental principles regarding health and safety" with trade union representatives from across Europe, plus two European trade union federations - the European Mine, Chemical and Energy Workers' Federation (EMCEF) and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU). Despite the fact that the employee-side signatories are all from Europe, the agreement applies to all GDF Suez operations around the world.

The accord sets out guidelines and principles on health and safety, lays down the role of managers and other employees in this area, and deals with management and communication systems. It promotes employee-management dialogue, through both local health and safety committees and a group-level "management committee on health and safety at work".

The group health and safety committee reports directly to the GDF Suez senior management executive committee. It is composed of management representatives and 10 members of the European Works Council (EWC), plus four representatives from companies outside Europe who attend meetings once a year. The committee's role is to: ensure compliance with the global health and safety agreement; monitor health and safety performance (defining the indicators to be used) in GDF Suez operations around the world; and suggest actions for improvement. Once a year, the committee presents a summary of its activity to the EWC, enabling the EWC to monitor implementation of the agreement and propose measures to improve it.

This article was written by Mark Carley, European editor.

European employment policy, practice and law, May 2010