Xact: Global initiative for greater safety

Our global safety initiative “Xact” is aimed at gradually lifting the safety culture of LANXESS to a higher level. Starting with senior management, all employees are to work together to improve safety throughout the company. This is driven by our firm belief that every industrial accident is avoidable. We have set ourselves the target by 2025 of reducing the LTIFR by more than half compared to 2016.

LANXESS uses the recordable incident rate (RIR, the number of injuries per 200,000 working hours that are reportable as per OSHA rules) and the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR, known as MAQ in Germany and describing the number of lost time injuries for every million hours worked) as indicators for evaluating occupational safety. The LTIFR was 1.7 in 2017, lower than the level of 2.0 recorded in 2016.

This positive development is due not least to a range of safety projects, especially in Germany, which made it possible to reduce the number of lost time injuries. As in the previous years, there were no fatal accidents in 2017. The RIR, which also includes injuries that do not result in lost time, was 0.8 in 2017, up year-on-year from 0.7. The substantial reduction in the LTIFR shows that the measures implemented in recent years to improve occupational safety at LANXESS are taking effect.