Health and Safety
(GRI 403-1; 403-2; 403-3; 403-4; 403-5; 403-6; 403-7; 403-8)
The health and safety of our team members is paramount. We are committed to providing safe work environments and working conditions for our team members across all JBS facilities.
In practice, we are responsible for the health and safety of our workforce, business partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Throughout our operations, we work to build and disseminate a culture that values health and safety, individual accountability, and shared vigilance, and is led by the example of our business and team leaders. We then strive to instill this same responsibility in our team members through development, training, and education, with support from our Code of Conduct and Ethics and Global Health and Safety Policy.
Our health and safety principles:
- Engage, develop, and train employees, giving them responsibility for ensuring and fostering a safe and healthy work environment;
- Anticipate and prevent incidents and accidents, assuming that all accidents are preventable;
- Drive continuous improvement of our processes, machinery, and equipment, and implement measures to eliminate or minimize incidents;
- Ensure compliance with legal requirements, our own health and safety programs, and other applicable health and safety standards; and
- Develop and disseminate a culture of health and safety, individual accountability, and shared vigilance as values, with leaders of role models.
Our safety governance structure and management approach are guided by our Global Workplace Health and Safety Policy and aligned to the relevant regulatory requirements of each country in which we operate. We defer to governing bodies like those listed below to evaluate the effectiveness of external safety audit processes, collect feedback, and make necessary adjustments.
Our Regional Approaches:
Australia:
In Australia, each jurisdiction enforces their own Work Health and Safety Act and regulations, and our facilities comply with them in each region. Our overarching safety management...
Australia:
In Australia, each jurisdiction enforces their own Work Health and Safety Act and regulations, and our facilities comply with them in each region. Our overarching safety management system framework in Australia aligns with the National Audit Tool (NAT) for self-insurers, which is based on the Australian Standard 4804 Occupational Health and Safety Management and Australian Standard 4801 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
Brazil:
In Brazil, occupational health and safety management is in line with the Regulatory Norms (NR) of the Ministry of Labor. In total, there are 37 standards that outline the health...
Brazil:
In Brazil, occupational health and safety management is in line with the Regulatory Norms (NR) of the Ministry of Labor. In total, there are 37 standards that outline the health and safety measures that must be followed by the company.
Canada:
In Canada, our Health and Safety Management System is aligned with the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) law. In addition, our Alberta facility is a holder...
Canada:
In Canada, our Health and Safety Management System is aligned with the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) law. In addition, our Alberta facility is a holder of a Certificate of Recognition (COR) through a certified auditor, Alberta Food Processing Association (AFPA).
Europe:
In Europe, our programs meet the Health Safety Executive RIDDOR (Reporting of Incidents Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations.
Mexico:
In Mexico, our team tracks data according to the government Secretaria del Trabajo and the Safety and Health regulations, which comply with OSHA standards.
United States:
Our U.S. and Puerto Rican facilities operate in alignment with U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.
To ensure successful implementation of our health and safety policies, safety data is integrated across digital platforms, allowing us to better share best practices and identify enterprise-wide trends. This enables us to develop data-driven corrective actions to our processes, including team member observations, safety inspections and audits. We also update our safety programs regularly by detailing new challenges, auditing techniques, and providing straightforward solutions. Our safety teams focus on safety training, performance, measurement, and the sharing of best practices across our businesses.
If a team member notices an unsafe act or unsafe condition, we empower them to speak up and make sure unsafe acts are stopped and unsafe conditions are rectified. Everyone is encouraged to report and correct unsafe acts and conditions without fear of retribution, as company policy prohibits retaliation in all such cases. Each team member is also empowered to remove themselves from any situation they deem to be unsafe.
To continuously improve, we set companywide and facility-specific safety goals each year and track leading safety indicators weekly. These leading indicators include monitoring observations for unsafe behaviors, working surfaces, machine guarding, safety gaps, electrical safety, drive cam coaching effectiveness, preventable vehicle accident rates and corrective actions. Performance is reported daily, weekly, and monthly to management teams so that decisions that impact health and safety can be made swiftly and have the utmost priority. All of our operational supervisors are required to conduct multiple safety observations each week to identify unsafe behaviors and intervene with helpful coaching prior to the occurrence of an unsafe act, condition, or injury.
Finally, we track a Safety Index at each of our facilities to measure the frequency of severe incidents per hour of operation. A severe incident is defined as an amputation, hospitalization, vision loss, fracture or second- or third-degree burns resulting in greater than fifteen days lost time, any injury resulting in greater than fifteen days lost time or a fatality. We have set a goal to collectively improve our Global Safety Index by 30% by 2030, compared to a 2019-2020 average baseline.
(GRI 403-9; SASB FB-MP-320a.1)
Our Safety Performace
(GRI 403-9)
| JBS Brazil | JBS US & Pilgrim's US | JBS Canada | JBS Australia | Pilgrim's Mexico | Pilgrim's Europe* | ||
| 2019 | Hours Worked | 231,042,736 | 139,803,205 | 5,530,870 | 16,999,215 | 27,289,589 | 33,757,101 |
| Safety Index | 0.30 | 0.23 | 0.51 | 0.62 | 0.02 | 0.30 | |
| 2020 | Hours Worked | 239,741,327 | 139,378,346 | 5,376,010 | 17,512,099 | 26,733,949 | 31,547,831 |
| Safety Index | 0.25 | 0.14 | 0.04 | 0.53 | 0.02 | 0.16 | |
| DART Rate | N/A | 2.49 | N/A | N/A | 0.04 | 1.28 | |
| TRIR | N/A | 3.91 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| LTIFR | N/A | N/A | N/A | 11.30 | N/A | N/A | |
| 2021 | Hours Worked | 253,431,036 | 139,431,101 | 5,611,592 | 16,552,736 | 26,554,735 | 30,355,198 |
| Safety Index | 0.18 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.48 | 0.02 | 0.07 | |
| DART Rate | N/A | 2.63 | N/A | N/A | 0.04 | 1.30 | |
| TRIR | 5.10 | 4.19 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| LTIFR | N/A | N/A | N/A | 11.16 | N/A | N/A | |
| 2022 | Hours Worked | 262,517,767 | 142,800,620 | 5,590,666 | 20,538,199 | 29,320,766 | 38,955,562 |
| Safety Index | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.04 | 0.56 | 0.02 | 0.03 | |
| DART Rate | N/A | 2.32 | N/A | N/A | 0.04 | 0.94 | |
| TRIR | 3.13 | 3.77 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
| LTIFR | N/A | N/A | N/A | 12.98 | N/A | N/A | |
*Includes Pilgrim's UK and Moy Park
Training and Education
We center our health and safety management approach on training and education, as well as controlling or, to the extent possible, eliminating job-related hazards, to reduce the number of work-related injuries and illnesses throughout our facilities. Our in-depth safety training consists of new team member orientation, job- and task-specific training, departmental safety meetings, and regular refresher training for team members. All newly hired team members must complete both classroom and department-specific training, which are made available in multiple languages, and we have written job-safety analyses for all non-corporate JBS positions.
Audits
Each year, JBS locations undergo a comprehensive safety management system audit, fleet safety audit, and occupational health audit based on applicable legislation and company procedures. Many of our facilities also conduct comprehensive safety analysis audits to identify and reduce potential hazards. These audits focus on early detection of risks and an in-depth review of policies and programs related to preventing falls and slips, electrical safety, machine guarding, and ergonomics.
Corrective Actions
While we focus on education, training, process improvements, and cultural accountability, accidents do occur, and we must acknowledge, report, and learn from safety-related incidents. Our facilities have formal incident investigation procedures and/or committees to investigate and reduce, mitigate, or eliminate injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. The incident investigation process assists operations in preventing the recurrence of similar incidents and in identifying injury and illness trends, potential weaknesses or failures in our safety management, and proximate and root causes of incidents. This process allows us to develop effective corrective action plans. In addition, within each business unit, locations regularly share incident investigation information to facilitate learning and prevention.
Innovation
We continue to find new ways to leverage cutting-edge technologies to enhance team member safety and implement virtual reality technology to train team members on food and team member safety protocol.
In parallel with our increased focus on preventing injuries, our partnership with Scott Technology, a leading global developer of automation and robotic solutions, has allowed us to decrease the potential for injuries and identify solutions to safety and automation challenges by establishing cross-functional teams to identify ways to utilize their technology. For example, we have a goal to transition to BladeStop® Bandsaws, which are designed to reduce serious injuries by mechanically stopping the blade when the unit senses the operator has come in contact with the blade. In addition to BladeStop® technology, Pilgrim’s has partnered with Scott to develop an automated whole bird trussing machine, and in Australia, two of our lamb production facilities have implemented automated lamb deboning technology from Scott. In addition, various business units have piloted wearable technology and many facilities are using machines to validate knife sharpness and perform calibrated knife sharpening to ensure team members are performing their duties in the most ergonomically optimal manner possible. As a result of this innovative technology, the number of injuries has been further reduced.
We are upgrading our current safety and health system with a new system which will further assist with root cause analysis, trend analysis, and data-driven insights. We have installed robotic knife sharpeners in several facilities as well, which allows for consistently sharper knives and results in reduced strains and reduced repetitive motion issues. We are also expanding our use of wearable technologies to map body movement and assist with identifying both improvement opportunities for training and which processes should be changed to further minimize the impact on any team member.
Independent Contractors
Although independent contractors account for a small portion of our total workforce, we take our responsibility for their health and safety seriously.
Our Regional Approaches:
Australia:
In Australia, all independent contractors are required to meet the Australian Standard 4804 Occupational Health and Safety Management and the Australian Standard 4801 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
Brazil:
In Brazil, the Code of Conduct for Business Associates, which outlines health and safety guidelines, is attached to all independent contracts. In addition, suppliers ...
Brazil:
In Brazil, the Code of Conduct for Business Associates, which outlines health and safety guidelines, is attached to all independent contracts. In addition, suppliers receive forms containing all applicable security requirements for accessing JBS operational units.
Europe and Mexico:
In Europe and Mexico, all independent contractors are required to meet our health and safety standards.
United States and Canada:
In the U.S. and Canada, contractors are required to have an “A” or “B” grade to work at our facilities, as determined by third-party assessors. Those contractors with “C” and “F” grades must have...
United States and Canada:
In the U.S. and Canada, contractors are required to have an “A” or “B” grade to work at our facilities, as determined by third-party assessors. Those contractors with “C” and “F” grades must have a variance form on file granted by the site Safety and Health Manager and the General Manager. Contractor grades are derived from Contract Safety Information, which includes safety, injury, and illness statistics; aggregate insurance requirements, OSHA inspection history, workers’ compensation experience modifier (EMR), OSHA forms 300 and 300A, written health, safety and environmental programs, safety-training documentation; and safety briefing online training.
Case Studies:
- Skills Management: A training program focused on developing the skills required for team members to perform their jobs safely.
- Security Monitors: On-site champions who verify the correct implementation of procedures, ergonomic exercises, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and detection of unsafe acts or conditions.
- 5-Minutes Talks: Quick, regular discussions aimed at raising awareness among staff for the safe development of daily tasks.
- Onboarding: Initial training to ensure new staff are competent to carry out their activities safely from the point of orientation through the development of their skills and the formation of their values.