Workplace Health and Safety

In 1999, Ford began a Safety Leadership Initiative aimed at making our workplaces safer. In the decade since, we have seen dramatic results, with overall injury rates dropping to a tenth of their previous levels. We are very competitive within our industry; however, we want to be the best. The practices established in this initiative are now so fully a part of how we run our business that we've dropped the term "Initiative" and now simply call it "Health and Safety Leadership."

The "health" part of health and safety is also an increasing focus for Ford. This is driven by growing recognition of the impact that health issues like heart disease, diabetes and obesity can have on the well-being of our employees, as well as the cost of providing health care to our current and retired workforce in the U.S. (See the Economy section for further discussion of health care costs.) By helping employees to prevent serious diseases and effectively manage chronic conditions, we can have a positive impact on our employees' quality of life and our bottom line.

Our top executives and managers remain committed to ensuring that our people remain safe and healthy while working as part of our ONE Ford team. Management compensation has been more heavily weighted to safety results, including serious injury performance.

We organize workplace health and safety programs using the framework described in this section.