Safety & Health

Dedicated to the well-being of our team, customers & neighbors

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Safety & Health is a priority at Lincoln Electric and our vision is an accident-free workplace with zero safety incidents. We Follow a Rigorous Health and Safety Program That Adheres to Stringent Safety Standards and Best Practices to ensure our manufacturing operations, related processes, and products do not negatively impact the health and welfare of our employees, customers and neighbors.

Our safety and wellness program includes:

Industrial hygiene program standards that exceed regulatory requirements.
Extensive auditing, measurement, and process redesign to enhance safety and health.
Training across a wide variety of safety topics, including peer-to-peer observations and interventions.
Employee led behavior-based safety committees help identify safety issues and promote safety awareness.
Thousands of annual preventative health screenings and evaluations to identify impact from occupational activities.
Wellness Committees organize sport and fitness activities, competitions, nutrition programs, and health fairs.

In addition to Company-led programs and employee engagement in behavior-based safety and wellness committees, we are actively engaged on safety and health standard development committees at key industry organizations such as the American Welding Society, the International Institute of Welding (IIW) and across various International Standards Organization (ISO) committees to ensure best practices for our employees and end users.

Safety Performance

At Lincoln Electric, we monitor and measure several safety metrics across our operations, including DART (Days Away, Restrictions & Transfers) and TRCR (Total Recordable Case Rate), which measure the frequency of safety incidents that occur within our facilities. We also track and measure leading safety indicators such as percentage of workers trained, and “near miss,” unsafe conditions and unsafe acts observed in our manufacturing sites.

Our 2025 global safety goal uses the TRCR safety metric as TRCR includes DART and all incidents other than first aid; making TRCR a more comprehensive metric and more commonly used in peer reporting.

Our 2025 goal is to reduce our TRCR by 52% as compared with our 2018 baseline.
In 2020, TRCR declined 34.4% to 1.20 as compared with 2018.
In 2020, we achieved an 85.1% reduction in our DART rate as compared with our 2011 baseline. This exceeds our 2020 goal of a 75% reduction.
In 2020, we incurred zero fatalities among our employees and contractors, which is consistent with the last seven years.

Safety Performance & Reducing DART Incidents by 75%

DART: Days Away, Restrictions & Transfers “DART” incidents per 100 equivalent employees

TRCR: Total Recordable Case Rate per 100 equivalent employees

The TRCR and DART safety data reflects performance across all Lincoln Electric manufacturing facilities worldwide, including acquisitions after their first year with the organization.

In addition to our own safety performance, supplier safety is also important to our operations. We monitor supplier TRCR and DART rates and investigate rates which appear excessive or are above industry standards for their sector.

SAFETY RESOURCES & INITIATIVES

Behavior-based Safety Programs

We maintain safety leadership programs across all facilities. The majority of our global manufacturing and hourly workforce are represented by an employee-led, peer-to-peer behavior-based safety (BBS) organization that educates and enforces safe work habits and behaviors to prevent injury and reduce workplace risk. BBS programs include:

peer-to-peer safety observations
peer-to-peer feedback
mentoring of new employees until they pass safety certifications and can mentor others and serve on safety committees
extensive job appropriate training

BBS was initiated in 2000 with the “WELD Committee” at our Cleveland, Ohio campus. Now in its twentieth year, local BBS organizations have expanded across our global footprint and engage workers at all levels to generate awareness, education and training on workplace EH&S issues. In China, the adoption of a peer-to-peer BBS program reduced lost work day incidents by 400% over a 3 year period and led to additional safety improvements—exemplifying the positive impact of a BBS program.

Additionally, our manufacturing facilities have employee-led and management-supported committees which meet regularly to discuss concerns and topical safety or environmental issues, regulatory changes, and improvement projects. These committees also leverage Gemba Kaizen to drive operational excellence and perform Gemba Walks through our facilities to develop continuous improvement expertise and leadership in the organization

Safety Data Sheets (SDS)

We provide Safety Data Sheets (SDS) to our customers to ensure proper product stewardship and workplace safety. Our catalog of SDS information can be accessed HERE.

Please note that no animal testing is carried out by Lincoln Electric in order to provide safety data sheet information. Toxicological and ecological data is provided from information services we subscribe to, and are derived from published research studies. This research data is utilized for development of compliant SDS and other documents, as required by law. Such information is crucial in providing customers with the information they need to use products safely, by best-protecting not only their employees, but also the environments wherein they operate.

Supporting Customer Compliance to Promote Safety

We prioritize customer and end user safety through a commitment to product safety standards and investment in systems to ensure proactive, comprehensive communication of product hazards in compliance with global harmonization standards (GHS) for the classification and labeling of chemicals . These investments are made in anticipation of regulatory changes to support our customers’ compliance requirements and to ensure health and safety in their workplace, which depends on the quality of GHS information provided by their supply chain.

Safety Tools for Customers

Arc welding is a safe occupation when sufficient safety precautions are in place to protect the welder from potential hazards. At Lincoln Electric, we are committed to providing professional welders, instructors and students with products, information and resources designed to ensure safety on the job site and in the classroom. These resources include:

Welding helmets, welding safety glasses, welding gloves, welding clothing, and other safety equipment
Weld fume control solutions including extraction and filtration systems
Welding safety video series
Free arc welding safety posters, brochures, FAQs, data sheets and DVDs

Responsive Technical EH&S Support to Promote Safety

Our goal is to provide our customers with the analysis and technology that can make their welding applications as safe as possible. We leverage our technical EH&S expertise to advise customers on the continuous improvement of operational processes and procedures to address product safety concerns and compliance issues. Today, we are the industry leader in providing fume analysis and welding application expertise to assist in improving customers’ fabrication processes to protect the health and well-being of their employees. Additionally, we field EH&S regulatory inquiries, provide educational seminars and webinars on regulatory changes that may affect customers, and utilize in-house technical research and laboratory testing for detailed, customized projects.

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