The health and safety of our employees is our top priority. Our activities, initiatives and offerings in prevention and care make us a benchmark in terms of workplace health promotion and occupational safety – after all, we have a responsibility towards our employees and society.
Our top priority is to ensure that our employees come home as healthy as they are when they go to work. We do a lot to achieve this and have been continuously developing workplace health promotion and safety for many years. Two key points play a decisive role here: we are continuously working on reducing the frequency of accidents and increasing the health rate. Many small and large, well-coordinated measures are necessary for this – from Group-wide safety standards to periodic safety quarterly meetings, education and awareness-raising to the optimal care of patients.
health & safety is firmly anchored in our organisation. “Corporate health & safety is headed by the Chief health & safety Officer, reports directly to the Management Board of voestalpine AG, and promotes Group-wide cooperation on health and safety. Together with a health & safety committee made up of employees from the four divisions and the Works Council, Corporate health & safety is working intensively to reduce the frequency of accidents. This has been reduced by 55% since 2016. The LTIFR defines accident frequency as the number of reportable work accidents with more than three days lost per million hours worked. The LTIFR has already been significantly reduced in recent years – thanks to measures and education! The implementation – working together on a divisional basis – supports the fact that we live an active health & safety culture in which colleagues look after themselves and others in their day-to-day work.
The LTIFR defines accident frequency as the number of reportable work accidents with more than three days lost per million hours worked. The LTIFR has already been significantly reduced in recent years – thanks to measures and education! The implementation – working together on a divisional basis – supports the fact that we live an active health & safety culture in which colleagues look after themselves and others in their day-to-day work.
Our employees benefit from low-threshold on-site services, e.g. for vaccinations or check-ups.
Prevention, health promotion and patient care: Sustainable success is only possible with healthy employees in a safe working environment.
The Steel Division was once again awarded the seal of approval of the Austrian Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ÖNBGF) for the period 2025 to 2027. Many companies in the Metal Engineering Division with sites in Austria have also been awarded this seal of approval. This confirms the professionalism of our health promotion programmes and other initiatives that are conducive to the well-being and safety of our employees, such as the Steel Division’s “WIR” programme to promote respectful and appreciative interaction with one another.
In order to achieve all of this and ensure it for the future, we need something concrete. To stay in the world of medicine: The cardiovascular system is the interplay between workplace health promotion and occupational safety.
We operate our own occupational health centres at the two larger locations in Austria. The Linz occupational health centre treats acute illnesses or injuries, carries out preventive medical check-ups, offers physiotherapy, vaccination campaigns and psychological counselling, for example, and provides the occupational medical care required by law. Our employees benefit from bowel and skin cancer screening, TBE and flu vaccinations and, as a certified travel and tropical medicine centre, also those that protect against illnesses in distant countries, e.g. on business trips or holidays. Physiotherapy treatments and massages promote physical fitness and the “Strong back” programme – an online course run twice a week by a qualified physiotherapist – reached a total of 2,503 colleagues in Linz who enjoyed exercise in 66 sessions in 2024.
The range of services offered by the Metal Engineering Division’s occupational health centre in Donawitz extends from active support for the entire occupational health system to health promotion in the workplace and compliance with the Employee Protection Act. In other words, supporting employees in matters relating to maintaining and promoting health in the workplace, planning workplaces, work equipment, work processes and working materials as well as providing assistance with occupational physiological, occupational psychological and ergonomic issues. The so-called §49 examinations, which are required by law before starting work and at regular intervals, are a central topic of the work. The organisation of first aid, reintegration measures into the work process and the identification and assessment of hazards are also important.
The facility in Donawitz has been an outpatient centre for occupational diagnostics for around two years. The 750 square metres of medical facilities available there make it possible to obtain findings quickly, e.g. X-ray, ECG, laboratory diagnostics, ultrasound and much more. Free vaccinations in Austria, such as the influenza vaccination, are also offered as part of the health promotion programme at the Donawitz site. Other Styrian companies also make use of the wide range of services offered by occupational medicine in Donawitz for their employees. At smaller sites, we work together with selected external partners. Or at the Hamm site (Germany), where a physiotherapist, who also acts as a company paramedic in emergencies, has not only been treating the physical complaints of his colleagues since 2020, but is also available as a health expert for all health issues. He also works closely with a medical assistant, who is on site once a week, and the company doctor.
Due to the many points of contact, e.g. in the ergonomic design of the workplace, occupational medicine is in close dialogue with occupational safety. Our health programmes and campaigns and those of our occupational safety department are well coordinated and go hand in hand. Speaking of hands: Incidentally, hand injuries are currently the focus of our educational work across the Group in 2025. When working on systems and in production, there are usually work routines that are always repeated. This also increases “operational blindness” and therefore the risk of injury. The “Handle safely” campaign was originally an idea of the Metal Engineering colleagues: The successful occupational safety campaign “Sicher hab’ ich mehr vom Leben!” in Donawitz entered its second round with a focus on “Handle safely!”. As hands and fingers are also the most frequently injured body parts (40%) in other places, we declared “Handle safely” to be a best practice and placed the “Corporate Health & Safety” calendar 2025 under the “Handle safely” banner. In doing so, we are focussing more attention on the prevention of hand injuries. Internationally we follow the “red lines”, in Linz the five “iron rules”:
These are just two examples of the awareness-raising work in occupational safety at our sites.
Occupational safety and health have also been given new effective locations in Linz. The sichergesund centre was established in 2023. It not only holds safety training courses for our employees, but also provides training in safety-related behaviour at various stations. Hazards can be experienced “live”, so to speak, in a safe learning environment. The training stations range from ergonomics in the workplace, occupational medicine and psychology, electrical and physical hazards to the correct handling of hazardous substances and correct load and rope securing. And at a virtual reality station, employees train the correct behaviour when working on crane runways. How to use personal protective equipment is also explained there and, above all, tried out. After all, the most sustainable way to learn is to do it yourself. The sichergesund centre is a permanent location that is designed to leave a lasting impression on the training participants.
In 2024, the works outpatient clinic in Linz underwent a comprehensive modernisation that will continue to ensure the best possible care for patients in occupational medicine. Among other things, this was necessary in order to continue to fulfil the legal requirements of the state of Upper Austria. The modernised occupational outpatient clinic now offers the ideal conditions for offering and practising medicine at the highest level and “state of the art”, as well as a space in which patients feel well looked after and cared for. The works outpatient clinic now also visually reflects what it is: a modern facility in which the health of our employees takes centre stage.
The modernized Linz plant outpatient clinic
This enables state-of-the-art medical care for our employees at the site.
In Linz, “365 days safe & healthy” is literally a talking point: talking about health is an essential part of raising awareness and the first step towards prevention. Short presentations by occupational physicians and an occupational psychologist on topics such as stress management, fitness for the soul, shift work, heart health, mental health, addictions, nutrition, mindfulness and many more will focus on health as a whole – keeping health a constant topic of conversation.
Last year, we focused on men’s health in the workplace health promotion program in Linz, and a MOVEMBER initiative called for prostate cancer screening, which was carried out by external urologists in the company medical department. This year, women’s health will be the focus of preventive measures. We are organizing urological prostate cancer screenings for our Styrian colleagues and we are also taking over the organization of other prophylactic examinations for our employees at the ÖGK in Graz.
For our shift workers in the Metal Engineering Division, the “Health Week” at a therapy center in Bad Gleichenberg (AT) offers the opportunity to prepare for the health effects of shift work. The varied supporting program motivates employees to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
In addition, stress is counteracted with various measures as part of occupational health care: The “Nature Park Time-Out Days” to increase mental health, reduce stress and increase mindfulness in nature take place as a two-day event in the heart of the Zirbitzkogel-Grebenzen Nature Park. And in the seminar “CARABINER Stress Management 1.0 – So that stress doesn’t stand a chance!” our employees learn to recognize stressors. This gives them the opportunity to deal better with stressful situations and avoid burnout in the long term. During the seminar, relaxation exercises are tested with physiological measuring devices to visualize the effect on the body.
In collaboration with a sports scientist, we offer holistic health coaching and individual consultations on health topics such as exercise, nutrition, mental health, stress management, healthy sleep and workplace ergonomics at the Donawitz site. Fitness courses are also offered in the 144 m² gym. Colleagues can use the gym for strength and endurance training every day from 05:00 to 23:00.
Mental health has been a key focus of workplace health promotion in Linz in recent years. According to the World Health Organization, one in four people in Europe will suffer at least one episode of mental illness in the course of their lives. As society has become more aware of issues such as stress, depression and anxiety disorders, mental health has gained increasing attention in recent years – here in Linz too!
An important tool for providing employees with confidential psychological advice is the helpline that was set up during the COVID crisis and which we subsequently established as a permanent point of contact. A clinical health and occupational psychologist talks to people who are looking for a sympathetic ear in times of crisis. Those affected find help through solution-oriented support and professional guidance.
Die voestalpine ist ein weltweit führender Stahl- und Technologiekonzern mit kombinierter Werkstoff- und Verarbeitungskompetenz. Die global tätige Unternehmensgruppe verfügt über rund 500 Konzerngesellschaften und -standorte in mehr als 50 Ländern auf allen fünf Kontinenten. Sie notiert seit 1995 an der Wiener Börse. Mit ihren Premium-Produkt- und Systemlösungen zählt sie zu den führenden Partnern der Automobil- und Hausgeräteindustrie sowie der Luftfahrt- und Öl- & Gasindustrie und ist darüber hinaus Weltmarktführer bei Bahninfrastruktursystemen, bei Werkzeugstahl und Spezialprofilen. Die voestalpine bekennt sich zu den globalen Klimazielen und verfolgt mit greentec steel einen klaren Plan zur Dekarbonisierung der Stahlproduktion.
