Maintaining a safe and healthy workplace is fundamental to RHI Magnesita’s culture and mindset. The Group assigns the highest importance to the health and safety of its employees and contractors. Our operations by necessity involve hazardous and higher risk activities and maintaining high safety standards is a minimum expectation for all stakeholders.
Our approach to safety centers on people and safe work practices, fostering a safety-oriented culture through clear procedures and risk management.
RHI Magnesita Global Health and Safety Guidelines
We maintain a comprehensive set of Global Guidelines as part of our Health & Safety Management System, regularly updated to reflect industry best practices and insights from incidents and ISO 45001 audits. Every individual working within our controlled locations is expected to adhere to these guidelines.
Workplace risk assessments
RHI Magnesita’s business includes high-risk activities for which hazard identification and risk assessments are carried out, documented, involving multidisciplinary teams and following a “Hierarchy of Controls” approach. RHI Magnesita provides training on safety awareness and a “Stop Work” procedure, encouraging immediate reporting of unsafe situations for swift corrective action.
Occupational health
In addition to prevention of workplace accidents, RHI Magnesita seeks to safeguard the long-term health and wellbeing of its people. A variety of measures and programmes are in place to establish a safe work environment with minimal potential adverse effects on health and wellbeing.
In addition to accident prevention, we prioritize long-term health and well-being, conducting workplace risk assessments that cover areas like noise monitoring and emissions. Occupational Physicians are engaged as necessary, and RHI Magnesita offers healthcare, awareness campaigns, and medical support for the whole workforce.
Global standardisation for health and safety excellence
We pursue global standardization to enhance safety performance, seeking ISO 45001 certification and integrating safety into standard operating procedures. The following locations achieved a successful initial certification against ISO 45001 Occupational Health & Safety Management System in 2023:
Due to the ongoing expansion of Group’s production network, the integration of other plants has also commenced. We seek to engage with local senior management and the workforce from the beginning to ensure that our values and standards are adopted.
Customer focus is the core of RHI Magnesita’s culture which features four key dimensions: innovation, openness, pragmatism and performance. The Group fosters an open-minded and transparent approach to work within a diverse, respectful, and safe environment. Our culture guides our decision-making processes. With a pragmatic mindset, we facilitate effective collaboration across all functions and regions. The performance is rooted in accountability and responsibility.
As part of our culture activation program, we have built a powerful global network of Culture Champions, who inspire others to believe in the company’s missions and values as well as look for new methods to bring culture to life. Read more here.
As a core value, diversity is promoted within RHI Magnesita’s corporate culture. The company is committed to providing equal opportunities for all employees, regardless of age, gender, skin colour, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability. Through its diversity and inclusion strategy, the Group’s goal is to provide a culture of inclusion and wellbeing for all employees. RHI Magnesita believes that companies should reflect the world around us. Embracing diversity and building inclusion into everything the company does is important for the success of the business and helps to connect with the customers we serve. Employee diversity is key to this, as it gives rise to new ideas and approaches. A broad range of talent and perspectives from a varied workforce is required, assessed based on gender diversity, international representation, and generation management.
RHI Magnesita is committed to fostering an inclusive culture across its global operations. The Group introduced a new Global Equality Policy in 2023 setting out its commitment to diversity and inclusion irrespective of race, age, gender and sexual orientation. We are committed to upholding human rights and labour rights. 74% of our employees belong to unions, are represented by works councils or are subject to collective bargaining agreements.
RHI Magnesita’s internal global women’s network helps to shape the company’s gender diversity agenda. RHI Magnesita supports several initiatives like the Global Internal Mentoring Progremme and the Internal Global Women´s network, which helps shape the company´s gender diversity agenda. Female representation on the Board of Directors at year end 2023 was 29%. Currently, 28% of all senior leadership positions are held by females (2018: 12%) including the Executive Management Team (EMT) and their direct reports. RHI Magnesita’s goal is to increase the share of female leaders at both Board and EMT plus direct report level to 33% by 2025.
RHI Magnesita focused on keeping employees safe and informed. Extra efforts to engage were made through new communications channels, while home-working guidance and psychological support were offered. “RHIMindset” Channel aims to cultivate a positive and resilient mindset and promotes overall wellbeing at work. Weekly articles on mental health topics, monthly action calendars on wellbeing and other proactive measures further contribute to our employee wellbeing programme.
The Group has launched an employee app in 2023, providing a tailored and de-centralised experience that caters for the diverse needs of our global workforce. Unlike previous platforms with more limited scope, the app is fully accessible for plant employees, including those without a corporate email address. A smart activity feed facilitates personalised and efficient communication, while collaboration sub-spaces promote teamwork and resource sharing.
Three Employee Representative Directors sit on RHI Magnesita’s Board of Directors, providing a voice in the boardroom on a range of issues, in particular those which directly impact the workforce, such as remuneration, agreements to accommodate working conditions under COVID-19, and plant closures. More than three quarters (82%) of the Group’s employees belong to unions or are covered by works councils or collective bargaining.
At RHI Magnesita, we are committed to helping people grow. We encourage life-long learning and help all our employees, regardless of their role or location, improve their current skills or acquire new ones, needed for their future within RHI Magnesita.
Regardless of age, gender, or nationality, every RHI Magnesita employee is a valued asset of the global network we’ve established. That’s why we care, support, and invest in our employees by offering a wide range of benefits.
