EMPLOYEE SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT

Quanex employees are our most important asset, and we strive to ensure that our workers return home safely every day. Our “What is your Why?” philosophy is at the core of our safety program. Our safety programs emphasize and reinforce our employees’ motivation to stay safe and keep each other safe.

Communication

We believe that safety incidents can be prevented through proper risk management, employee involvement, behavioral observations, standardized operations and equipment, and attention to detail.

Safety and wellness programs and training are provided across Quanex to ensure that employees and managers have effective tools to help identify and eliminate both unsafe conditions and at-risk behaviors. Our safety program is overseen by our Board of Directors and our Executive Strategy Council, with support from a dedicated Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Department whose leader reports directly to our CEO. In addition, employee-led health and safety teams help identify, analyze, and communicate safety issues within each facility.

Quanex hosts monthly meetings that include the CEO, CHRO, and General Counsel along with various HR and EHS team members in addition to plant management at every facility. During these meetings, the group discusses every recordable injury that occurred during the preceding month. The meetings start with senior leadership’s recognition and acknowledgment of plants with great safety records and achievements and end with comments from the CEO. Our two North American segments each have periodic division-wide safety calls to discuss preventive safety measures. In addition, the Quanex Custom Components (QCC) segment biweekly safety meeting shares plant safety improvements so that similar actions can be considered at other QCC plants.

Accident and Injury Prevention

We continually strive to improve and protect the safety and wellness of our employees. Our root cause analysis process reveals that many injuries are related to ergonomics or other body alignment issues. The nature of the manufacturing process often requires repetitive motion; however, proper form and stretching exercises can reduce or minimize the aches and pains associated with repetitive motion. We’ve implemented a program at every location to provide on-site physical therapists (PT) or exercise physiologists. Employees can see these health professionals for both work and non-work-related issues. Onsite PT consultation removes the need for employees to schedule separate appointments outside the work hours. The onsite PTs take the time to walk the floor to better understand our practices and meet our employees so that they can make recommendations for ergonomic or process improvements.

The EHS staff have received professional training in Ergonomics and they routinely conduct ergonomic evaluations to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Quanex is now using an AI Ergonomics software program, allowing plant users the ability to perform quick and intuitive job task analyses. The software analyzes a short video clip of a workplace task to provide nearly instantaneous results, allowing our teams to assess ergonomic stressors and identify alternative work methods. Automated machinery has been installed in nine locations that manufacture window screens; this machinery alleviates the ergonomic stress created by the hand rolling method of manufacturing screens. We continue to evaluate the benefits of automation to reduce ergonomic risks and find new opportunities for automated equipment.

Management of Change

When it comes to safety and wellness, change – whether with process, equipment, or procedure – always poses a risk. At Quanex, we work to minimize change-related risks through a robust Management of Change (MOC) Policy. We initiated our MOC process nearly a decade ago and have continually improved it through the years. Our Management of Change Policy requires that all changes are reviewed and approved by appropriate departments, including Plant Management; Research & Development, Engineering, and Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS). All change requests are tracked by the EHS Team, and the MOC process must be completed before the initiation of any substantial change.

TRIR and DART

Over the past nine years, our Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) has decreased from 4.5 to 2.4 and Days Away Restricted or Transferred (DART) has decreased from 1.9 to 1.2. We have continued to achieve superior employee safety performance as benchmarked against the U.S. Department of Labor’s Injury and Illness Incidence rate (IIR). Quanex’s 2023 fiscal year worldwide employee IIR of 2.4 (which included no occupational fatalities) compares favorably against the current U.S. non-governmental, private manufacturing sector (NAICS codes 31-33) employer average IIR of 3.3 published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for calendar year 2021. IIR is calculated the same as TRIR [(number of illness and injuries X 200,000)/total hours worked].