Evonik opens interactive Safety Street: for an even more enforced safety

• With some 1.050 employees and an average of around 250 contractors, it is crucial to keep safety principles constantly in mind.
• Learning by doing' is the basis of the new interactive and practice-oriented approach.
• The objective is to guide almost all employees and contractors through the Safety Street this year to an even more conscious way of working safely on the site.

Antwerp, 20 June 2022. Evonik, the special chemicals company from the port of Antwerp, opens the interactive Safety Street to give the safety mindset an extra boost. The Safety Street is housed on the site in a specially designed 330 m2 hangar. It is a place to be fully immersed in a
combination of theory, but above all lots of practical exercises and simulations. Today the official opening takes place in the presence of Mr Thomas Wessel, Chief Human Resources Officer and Director of Industrial Relations Evonik Industries.

Anyone entering the Evonik site to carry out work there is required to be informed about the safety measures. Usually this is done via a video or a presentation, the classic 'toolbox' meetings. Evonik goes a step further and puts the slogan 'learning by doing' into practice. Every accident is
definitely one too many. Making safety training tangible and interactive ensures that practiced scenes are easier to remember than words on slides or watching videos.

Sasha, as a permanent reminder and supporter of safety 

Thanks to the very recognisable mascot 'Sasha', this name is derived from Alexander and stands for the 'protector' of our employees, attention will be drawn to safety on a regular basis. In a playful and entertaining way, a dull subject is made manageable and very lively. Wherever Sasha appears, the focus on safety will immediately arise, every day, at any time, for everyone.

"The safety and health of our employees and contractors are essential for Evonik Antwerp. With this Safety Street we are bringing the operational safety systems closer to our employees and contractors. Safety is and remains our priority," says Ivan Pelgrims, Managing Director of Evonik
Antwerpen NV.

Werner Van Acker, workshop engineer and founder of Safety Street at Evonik Antwerp: “Safety does not stop with training, which until now consisted of attending presentations and films. With this new approach, we are now creating an interactive event, a do-centre, where the
participant actively participates and experiences in order to better put theory into practice. You learn by doing.”

"As part of "Safety at Evonik 2025", our roadmap for the coming years, we are also looking for best practices at Evonik sites. With the new Safety Street, Evonik Antwerp immediately catches the eye. The fact that Safety Streets will also be created on other sites is a success story that started here in Antwerp. You can all be very proud of that. It shows that we learn from each other and share our knowledge with each other," says Thomas Wessel, CHRO of Evonik Industries AG.