Put People First for a better world

At Knauf Insulation our values — challenge.create.care — have defined everything we do, but these values came to life in ways we never imagined possible at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the words of our Group CEO Jean-Claude Carlin, “In moments of crisis — when the boat is facing a storm and people have to decide what to do to save that boat in quarter of a second — you see the power of a company’s culture.”

All our people around the world, responded quickly and efficiently to the challenges of the crisis, working together in unprecedented new ways — and under enormous pressure — to ensure our colleagues, our customers and our communities were all ‘As Safe As Home’.

Jean-Claude said: “We’ve always lived our challenge.create.care values but when the pandemic swept the world I was proud of the way these values translated into action. Instantly. Everyone showed care for what is really important… each other.”

Our new sustainability vision, which we’ve called For A Better World, capitalises on this incredible energy by Putting People First.

You can read about our long-term commitments here and how they support the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, but our priority is now achieving the short-term concrete targets we have set ourselves for 2025.

By this deadline we will achieve targets to reduce our accident rate by 55%, help diversity thrive, make mental well-being a priority, ensure our people are the leaders of our industry and create a global community of volunteers.

Over the past decade we have created solid foundations for these targets. Here are just a few examples:

• Since 2010 we have reduced our Lost Time Accidents (LTA) by 56% with three of our plants going more than 1,500 days without an LTA.
• On June 11, 2020, the entire company achieved one hundred days without an LTA.
• Company-wide safety is being reinforced by our ‘As Safe As Home’ strategy and information campaign.
• Throughout the pandemic, our teams are offered mental health and well-being support through telephone hotlines and online counselling sessions.
• Last year we helped build new homes for Native Alaskans who were being forced to move because extreme weather is causing flooding and land erosion.
• We helped install 8,000 square metres of Earthwool insulation in every building in Birdsville — one of the most remote towns in Australia where temperatures can reach 49ºC.
• We encourage the best leaders to join us. There have been 1,300 applications for eight positions in the two years since the Knauf Insulation graduate programme started in 2018.
• We want to recognise the achievements of anyone who shows leadership and share them with the world. That’s why we hold annual Leadership Awards.
• We consistently support the communities where we work from sponsoring local sport teams and helping build playgrounds to our employees dedicating their time to local charities during six weeks of a plant closure due to refurbishment.

ABOUT FOR A BETTER WORLD

Knauf Insulation’s new sustainability strategy For A Better World focuses on four key goals: Putting People First, Achieving Zero Carbon, Delivering A Circular Economy and Creating Better Buildings.