Incident Management

Our safety management is focused on prevention. However, safety-critical incidents cannot always be prevented. Any incident that occurs across the Group and is of significance to health, safety or the environment is promptly logged in our electronic sustainability reporting system (SPIRIT). We evaluate these reports and track the measures taken. Reports on incidents with learning effects for other Group divisions or sites are processed and forwarded to any corporate units where the potential hazards are similar.

We report and log any safety-critical situations that occur within the Group. Employees in Germany can use our idea management system to quickly and easily report safety-critical situations. As a result, hazards can be identified and eliminated at an early stage before they lead to an accident.

Every WACKER site has an emergency response plan in place for regulating cooperation between internal and external emergency response teams, and dealing with the authorities. Once a year, the plant fire departments in Burghausen and Nünchritz conduct emergency drills in tandem with local fire and emergency services. These drills provide a practical opportunity for rehearsing a major emergency response. Afterward, the exercise is analyzed to identify and eliminate any weak points. Training drills are likewise regularly carried out at our major non-German sites, e.g. in China and in the USA.

WACKER’s plant fire department in Burghausen also trains fire departments from the local area. It invites the fire departments of other companies and municipalities to WACKER sites, where they can prepare their response to accidents involving dangerous goods. As and when needed, our plant fire departments at the Nünchritz and Charleston sites, too, support local firefighters responding to major emergencies.

TUIS: Accident Assistance

The German chemical industry established its Transport Accident Information and Emergency Response System (TUIS; German-language webpage only) in 1981 to provide assistance in the event of chemical accidents. WACKER has been involved in this network right from the start. Today, TUIS comprises some 130 chemical companies, along with their plant fire departments and specialists (chemists, toxicologists, production experts, etc). Public services, such as fire departments, the police and disaster control agencies, can contact TUIS for telephone consultation services or to request specialized equipment or assistance from experts. TUIS is part of the German chemical industry’s contribution to the Responsible Care^® initiative. WACKER’s TUIS experts can be called on to assist with accidents involving our products anywhere in the world.