OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
This section addresses the sustainability topics of occupational health and safety in accordance with ESRS 1.
Actions related to occupational health and safety
A Group policy ensures that the senior managers of each company make adequate financial, human and material resources available to fulfill the tasks in the focus area of occupational health and safety and ensures sufficient qualification and training of skilled staff. Volkswagen AG’s Group Occupational Health and Safety organizational unit is tasked with standard-setting, information provision, communication and monitoring.
Mandatory establishment and ongoing improvement of an occupational health and safety management system
The Group has issued a Group-wide policy requiring the companies to introduce and obtain certification for an ISO 45001 management system at all production sites with more than 1,000 employees, which must be implemented to promote occupational health and safety. The certification itself is the responsibility of the respective companies. As part of the Group audit program, internal audits are conducted on the basis of ISO 45001 requirements and Group policies. Four (three) Group audits were conducted in 2024. Completion of the required ISO 45001 certifications by 2026 is planned.
Certification of the management systems on occupational health and safety has also been underpinned by a target. Information on the action’s progress and effectiveness can be found under section “Targets related to occupational health and safety”.
Conducting a systematic health & safety risk analysis
To evaluate the Group companies’ current performance in occupational health and safety, in this reporting year the Volkswagen Group conducted a risk analysis based on self-assessment questionnaires at the level of the companies. The scope of the 2024 risk analysis was defined on the basis of risk-based criteria, incorporating the previous year’s results. As a result, it was possible to identify improvement potential and introduce measures to reduce sustainability-related risks, for example. In addition, regular dialog took place as part of communication with the companies. The good practices identified give rise to potential for the Group companies.
The Volkswagen Group conducts systematic analyses of the status quo of occupational health and safety in the Group each year. From these analyses, it derives measures to minimize work-related risks where a need for action is identified. These cover all the Volkswagen Group’s employees and are made accessible to them through targeted communication.
Through the two actions described, the Volkswagen Group promotes employees’ occupational health and safety and, in this way, contributes to the actual and potential positive impacts on employees by creating healthy working conditions.
The effectiveness of the risk analysis and the actions derived from it to minimize work-related risks is tracked using spot checks of the companies – even those without identified risk indicators.
Targets related to occupational health and safety
The Safety First strategy and the Group policy on occupational health and safety require all Volkswagen Group production sites to comply with the standards of ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management systems. All production sites (including the Chinese joint ventures) with more than 1,000 employees are to be certified in accordance with ISO 45001 by 2026.
The development of the target was intentionally advanced in accordance with the ILO recommendation on the certification of occupational health and safety management systems and the sustainability reporting standards prevailing at that time.
At the same time, the development process took account of the particular local characteristics of the location and industry through the restriction of the target to production sites with more than 1,000 employees. Specific capital market requirements that were brought to the Volkswagen Group’s attention through ESG ratings were also integrated into the reporting through additional reporting on the coverage of the certified management systems.
Collecting metrics is a core element for assessing the effectiveness of our actions. To monitor the target, an analysis is done each year of how many of the Group-wide production sites with more than 1,000 employees are ISO 45001 certified and how high the associated coverage of employees is. At the end of 2024, a total of 80 (72) Group production sites (including the Chinese joint ventures) were certified in accordance with ISO 45001. This corresponds to coverage of 74 (51)% of the employees at the Group production sites (including the Chinese joint ventures) with more than 1,000 employees. The metric is calculated by dividing the number of employees at certified production sites with more than 1,000 employees by the total number of employees at production sites with more than 1,000 employees.
Since the target was set, no changes have been made to the target itself or to the underlying methodology. Based on targeted and constant communication with the companies affected in the relevant steering committees, we are not currently aware of any significant obstacles to achieving the target.
In addition to the number of ISO 45001-certified production sites and their level of coverage of employees, the Volkswagen Group also uses the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) for employees as a key performance indicator for reporting. This is recorded as an accident frequency index and provides information on the number of accidents at work as a proportion of the total of all hours worked. It is calculated as the number of accidents at work reported with at least one day lost multiplied by 1 million divided by total number of hours worked. In 2024, the accident frequency at the Volkswagen Group was 6.4 (3.6). Compared with the previous year, the metric’s scope was expanded in the reporting year from all production sites including the Chinese joint ventures previously to employees of the Group’s consolidated companies excluding the Chinese joint ventures. In addition, the Group switched from weekdays to calendar days for the calculation of days lost. Comparability with the prior-period figures is not possible due to the change in methodology.
The Volkswagen Group attaches great importance to reducing the LTIFR to below 1 for all brands and companies by 2040. This target was set as part of the Group sustainability strategy regenerate+ and is a strategic metric in its own right, and the accident frequency target was developed taking account of ESG rating requirements. The documentation obligation for work-related accidents that is necessary for obtaining the metric is set out in the occupational health and safety Group policy.
The target referred to above also addresses ILO recommendations on occupational health and safety and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting standards used at the time of development. The targets of ISO 45001 certification and the number of work-related accidents are not measured against either a specific baseline or a specific base year, as the Volkswagen Group measures itself against the aim of having as few work-related accidents as possible each year, and none of them fatal.
The Group uses Group regulations to provide Group-wide information in the event of fatal accidents involving employees or non-employees who work at the Volkswagen Group’s sites. On this basis, actions can be taken to prevent similar accidents across all sites in the future. Accidents are analyzed locally and appropriate measures are introduced to prevent further accidents.
As part of the sustainability reporting based on the requirements of the ESRS, the metric for the calculation of accident frequency in the reporting year was switched from the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) to the total recordable injury rate (TRIR) so that significant work-related accidents are now included in the calculation regardless of the employee’s absence. In the reporting year, the TRIR at the Volkswagen Group was 11.7.
Employees and non-employees were not involved in the process for defining the targets.
Metrics related to occupational health and safety
A total of 83% of employees are covered by the Group’s health and safety management system based on legal requirements and/or recognized standards or guidelines. 46% of employees are covered by such a health and safety management system that has been audited or certified by an external party.
There were four deaths in the reporting year. Of these, three deaths concerned Volkswagen Group employees. One death concerned other workers, such as workers in the value chain at Volkswagen Group sites.
In the reporting year, employees had 10,819 recordable work-related accidents, which equates to a rate of 11.7 for the TRIR. It is calculated as the number of significant accidents at work reported multiplied by 1 million divided by total number of hours worked.