The Munk Group, based in Günzburg and Leipheim, now has it on paper that there are clever minds behind its products and the permanent striving for occupational safety. The Employer's Liability Insurance Association for Wood and Metal (BGHM) has now awarded its safety prize twice to the team of Ferdinand Munk, Managing Director and owner of the Munk Group. The first award was for a design change that makes the assembly of ladder shoes safer. The BGHM also awarded a prize for the modification of a manual forklift truck that was adapted to protect the operator's feet.
"With you, we can see impressively that the guiding principle 'Safety made in Germany' does not come from nowhere, but is really lived in the company. With the measures we have awarded you, you prove that you and your entire team have the safety of the users just as much in mind as occupational safety in your own company. That is truly exemplary," said Marc-Manuel Freitag when presenting the awards to the management of the Munk Group. Freitag is responsible for the Günzburg district at the BGHM as a supervisor in the south-east prevention district. Both the Munk Group as a company and the idea providers from the team of employees received corresponding certificates, and the entrants also received non-cash prizes as a small token of thanks from the BGHM.
"We are of course very happy about the award, because the employers' liability insurance association recognises our commitment to always offer our customers, but also our employees, the highest level of occupational safety. This is exactly what motivates us every day. With success, as you can see. I can only congratulate our clever minds for their excellent ideas," said Ferdinand Munk, Managing Director and owner of the Munk Group.
What the Munk Group has changed
In order to minimise the risk of injury when assembling ladder shoes and to simplify assembly, the Munk Group changed the design on the ladder stile so that the ladder shoe no longer has to be tapped in during assembly or later replacement, as was previously the case. Thanks to a design change in the stile, it can be placed in the stile without force and without tools and is then securely fixed with so-called tacking rivets. "This increases safety for us in production, but also directly for the user. And this is always the case when ladder shoes are replaced, for example, when they are worn out," explains Munk.
Internally, the Munk Group has raised the handling of manual forklifts to a new safety level. Here, an employee had injured himself because the caster of the forklift hit his heel while braking. "We have now fitted a special deflector that prevents the edge of the brake lever from hitting the lower limbs," says Munk.
For Ferdinand Munk, investing in safety for his team and his customers is a matter of course. "Our health is the highest asset we humans have. And it is precisely this that must be protected."
Safety with a system
When it comes to occupational health and safety, the Munk Group has been taking a systematic approach for many years, using its own company occupational health and safety management system that complies with the international ILO-OSH 2001 standard. In 2019, the company was explicitly awarded the "Sicher mit System" ("Safe with a System") seal of quality by the BGHM.
