Safe work environment - “we provide our employees, associates, subcontractors and suppliers with suitable and safe working conditions. Everywhere where we do business we abide by the law, requirements concerning the natural environment, health and safety. We care about work safety and we eradicate any and all situations and circumstances that may pose a threat. We adhere to the rules of safety in the work environment.”
For years the PZU Group has been focusing on prevention: it points to proper behavior, it supports preventive campaigns and it demonstrates its care for rescue services.
Safety on the road is a special area of activity. PZU has consistently supported edcuation and training for road participants and administers social campaigns to augment the safety on Polish roads. The company also transcends industry standards in handling the consequenes of accidents and provides among other things unrivaled support for injured parties.
Two seasons of the series entitled “Seconds that altered life” have been broadcast in Polish Television since mid-2017. 12 episodes of this documentary series advancing safety on the road have been produced two times now thanks to PZU’s support. This was a tale of breaking barriers and overcoming difficulties. This series has helped raise Poles’ awareness of safety, prevent accidents, analyze their causes and instill proper models of conduct by presenting the frequently dramatic fate of the protaganists. This program has made it possible to convey safety-related content to several million Poles (based on viewership polls). A third season of this series is being planned.
PZU has shown special care for the safety of the youngest members of society on the roads. Cultivating an awareness of this subject among children at an early age about how to move about on the street will have an enormous impact on their lives and health. In 2018 a nationwide campaign was organized under the name of “Reflectors: keeping children safe on the road” as a result of which 1.6 million reflectors were given to pupils.
The campaign entitled “Reflectors: keeping children safe on the road” engaged not just the youngest children in education, but also their parents and teachers. A broad campaign was prepared under the patronage of the Minister of National Education, and in early September the PZU Group gave away reflectors with the image of the Unfrightened One (Niestraszek) to all the children attending grades I-III in primary schools. This campaign’s range spanned public and private schools, a total of 14 thousand educational units.
In its efforts to care for all road traffic participants, including drivers, under this campaign PZU started to cooperate with NaviExpert - drivers who exceeded the speed limit in the vicinity of all 14 thousand primary schools received a message through their navigation unit requesting that they slow down. This information was read aloud using a child’s voice, and every driver could record the very same message with his or her own child in this role.
Safe holidays with PZU
PZU conducts this prevention campaign whose aim is to disseminate knowledge among children and adults about how to protect themselves against the most frequent accidents that occur during summer recreation. Under this project the “Sunny Station” of Polsat Television was organized. Over seven holiday weekends this TV station paid visits to seven tourist communities.
PZU’s safety zone included the following: the city of unfrightened ones (Niestraszki) for the youngest participants of the campaign, health advice offices for adults and a physical activity zone for all holidaygoers. The unfrightened ones educated the youngest children through fun and games to show them how to behave close to water, in the mountains, on the road and how to prepare to travel safely and how to safeguard their homes.
Spectacles with the unfrightened ones were staged on the main stage of the “Sunny Station”. Qualified trainers invited people to take part in athletic games and fun events in the health zone. The holidaygoers could pay a visit to the PZU Zdrowie office and participate in consultations with a dermatologist or a dietician and measure their body mass.
This campaign is slated for continuation in 2019.
The PZU Foundation has been running a proprietary project called the Academy of Safety targeting primary school pupils since 2017.
PZU Foundation’s Academy of Safety:
The Academy of Safety is a day-long event including fun and multimedia workshops run in selected schools across Poland. The police and medical services provide assistance in running the project. Academy experts visited 16 regions and 27 primary schools during the first edition of the project lasting from December 2017 until June 2018. 11 thousand pupils and several hundred teachers and guardians took part in these events. More than 20 thousand safety-related gadgets were also handed out. Training sessions were delivered during the second edition (September-December 2018) for more than 7 thousand pupils in 15 schools from 8 regions.
Rehabilitation stays for children with post-accident trauma
Since 2013 PZU has been running a comprehensive psychological support system for parties injured as a result of accidents whose perpetrator was a holder of a TPL policy with PZU. To mitigate the consequences of accidents the company underwrites the costs of stays for children with post-accident trauma and their guardians at rehabilitation stays during the winter break and summer vacation. This is a form of residential psychological therapy conducted in the therapeutic centers of the Teddy Bears Rescue Children’s Lives Association in Dźwierzyna and the Siemacha Association in Odparyszów. Annually, PZU lends a helping hand to roughly 120 persons.
For many years PZU has been collaborating with selected rescue services. Mountain rescuers are among the ones who can count on receiving assistance. PZU got involved in avalanche training organized by the Polish Freeskiing Association and TOPR. The participants learn how to engage in proper planning on mountain trips, how to avoid the avalanche hazard and how to behave after an avalanche. Mock rescue operations are also organized with the use of detectors; they also learn how to find people buried in an avalanche and how to administer first aid to avalanche victims.
Social involvement of foreign companies
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PZU has been supporting the Voluntary Mountain Rescue Service (GOPR) since 2005. The support given to GOPR contributes to enhancing the level of safety in the Polish mountains.
Various activities have been run over the last 14 years. Among others, equipment was purchased to administer rescue campaigns (e.g. 12 quads in 2018 and at the outset of 2019), training courses were financed for rescuers, educational efforts were taken jointly with GOPR (e.g. Safe Winter with GOPR) and an e-learning platform on safety was implemented.