PPE: MATERIALS, MACHINERY AND TECHNIQUES FOR THEIR PRODUCTION GORE SAFETY FOOTWEAR ON THE SWISS RAILWAYS REDUCES THE ACCIDENT RATE CASE STORY The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB in German, CFF in French and FFS in Italian) is the most important transport and travel company in Switzerland and one of the biggest in the continent of Europe. It is the most punctual in Europe, with 951,000 travellers per day (347.1 million passengers a year) in 2010, 28,000 employees, 13,100 million tons per kilometre in the field of freight traffic and some 298,30 million Swiss francs of benefits. The year 1994 was a very bad one for SBB due to serious accidents in March in Däniken and Affoltem, and in June in Lausanne, which led to regarding the improvement of safety as a strategic factor with the aim of reducing accidents as the top priority. The following PPEs and gear have been progressively introduced: in 1996 protective helmets (EN 397); in 1997 high visibility garments (EN 471); in 1988 safety goggles (EN 166) and safety footwear (EN 345); and in 1999 protective gloves (EN 420). Within this plan, WL Gore & Associates has shown itself to be a valuable partner of SBB, both in the Windstopper Soft Shell solution for its workers workwear and in the safety footwear for the track maintenance personnel and the ticket collectors. Protection and profitability with the the same functional fabric SBB, in collaboration with Gore, has followed an innovative strategy, applying economic scale criteria. It has also unified jackets made from the same material for the ticket collectors and for the maintenance staff, and although the activities both groups carry out are totally different, it was possible to satisfy the requirements for use in both jobs. A feasible solution was soon found: a three-layer fabric with Windstopper, formed by a fine lightweight polyester layer for the outside, which acts as a windcheater and is highly abrasion resistant, water-repellent, and at the same time breathable; a Windstopper membrane and a woven lining on the inside. The success of the new SBB uniforms was reflected in the level of satisfaction reported in the survey, showing that 78 percent of the employees are happy or very happy with their new corporate clothing. Investment in safety footwear, a success According to Markus Degen, SBB’s Purchasing Manager, since an agreement was reached in 1994 with Gore for equipping personnel working in dangerous areas with safety footwear, accidents to the feet have been reduced by 50%. The rate of time off for accidents at SBB was very high, in excess of 13.8%, the average with other countries. These 14,000 workers were equipped with safety boots and the results after two years were spectacular. Days off were reduced from 67,000 to 24,000, which represented a saving of 64 million euros, and the insurance premium was reduced from 24 million in 1994 to 11 million in 2010. Markus Degen: ”Our annual purchases are 3.4 million on PPEs, and 3.2 million on workwear Which areas of SBB use PPEs? For the employees working on shunting at railway stations, in the construction departments, at industrial plants, equipment handling, track laying, electrical installations, for train drivers and for cleaning staff For how many employees does the central purchasing department buy PPEs? For 28,000. Of these, approximately 21,000 are equipped with clothing / footwear, and 5,500 employees carry out functions like train conductors, ticket sales, and representation. What characteristics to suppliers of footwear and clothing have to demand in order to satisfy the requirements of SBB? They must offer high standards of quality and a good quality-price ratio, be reliable, committed to reliability of supply and be innovative. How does the buying department make known the PPEs offered to the SBB employees? We communicate this information through our safety agents, leaflets and the SBB bulletin. The PPEs may be ordered through our online store, and orders are sent straight to the work centres to be delivered to our personnel. The workwear and footwear are the only exception and are issued direct from our central store at Brugg. How long does a PPE last? It depends. The helmets for 4 to 5 years, shoes from 1 to 2 years,work garments from3to4years,... What’s the annual cost per employee? These are approximate figures: in PPEs and footwear 3.4 million CHF (Swiss francs), in work clothing 3.2 million, giving a total of 6.6 million CHF. Dividing this total by 27,000 employees, twe have an approximate expenditure of 245 CHF per employee. Can youy give us an easy example of how a company can make savings when equipping its employees with good quality PPEs? SBB was losing 10,000 day of work as a consequence of accidents at work. The amount of direct costs for each day is about 600 CHF, and the indirect costs are 2.5 times higher. Just in foot and toe injuries we’ve reduced the loss by a half since 1994. Since then, our insurance premiums have also drastically diminished. BY 50% 107