Critical anchors

Tiger Brands faces a range of safety and health risks that are largely site-specific. Common workplace incidents such as slips, trips and falls, alongside more severe machinery-related injuries, are ongoing concerns. Transport-related accidents and security incidents within our route-to-market processes, exacerbated by external factors beyond our control, also represent significant risks. Additionally, contractor or temporary staff unfamiliar with our safety protocols contribute to heightened safety concerns. In 2024, we focused on managing route-to-market safety and enhancing contractor safety protocols.

Occupational health risks, while present, are not generally significant for our business. These risks include potential long-term health issues such as noise-induced hearing loss, respiratory problems from dust, exposure to harmful chemicals, heat, and ergonomic risks related to heavy lifting and repetitive tasks. We also recognise psychosocial risks like stress, burnout and harassment as critical factors that can impact employee mental health and wellbeing (see here). These risks vary by site, with some, like heavy lifting, posing immediate dangers, while others, like noise and chemical exposure, have longer-term effects.

Security is a key concern, particularly in South Africa, where socio-economic challenges and high crime rates increase risks. The location of our facilities and the appeal of our products expose us to both internal and external security threats. Labour disputes, sometimes conducted under strained conditions (refer here), can lead to strikes and security incidents affecting our employees and assets. Current security risks include internal theft, route-to-market hijackings and armed robberies, especially in our Albany business, as well as workplace-related threats and intimidation. These challenges have intensified in South Africa's challenging economic environment, marked by high unemployment and inequality.

Managing safety, security, health and environment (SSHE) is essential to our operations. Safety, alongside quality (see here), is non-negotiable. Our goal is zero harm: no fatalities, no workplace injuries and no process-safety incidents. This commitment is backed by robust support from our executive committee and board to enhance SSHE throughout the business.

Legal compliance forms the foundation of our SSHE approach, shaping our policies and strategies. Our policy framework is guided by key legislation, including the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), the Private Security Industry Regulation Act (PSIRA), and the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA).

Our risk-based SSHE management approach is informed by an integrated management system that prioritises building a strong safety culture, where leadership visibly sets the example. We continuously improve our processes to strengthen competencies, identify issues early, manage risks effectively, and audit our performance to prevent harm to employees, visitors and contractors.

We have a five-year strategy for each SSHE sub-function, focused on compliance, risk management, capability building and performance excellence, endorsed by the chief manufacturing officer. A key challenge is embracing digitalisation to improve SSHE performance, as our current systems rely heavily on manual data management and reporting. Enhancing skills and technical competencies remains critical, with regular competence assessments and SSHE training as key components of our strategy to address gaps and ensure our teams stay sharp.

Management

Our safety, security, health and environment (SSHE) management is integrated into the manufacturing, excellence, customs, and practices (MECP) management framework, which guides us toward manufacturing excellence by benchmarking our maturity against industry best practices. The SSHE component within this framework provides tools and guidelines for systemising daily management practices, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), target setting, risk assessments and reporting.

Currently, our SSHE efforts focus on establishing compliance-related due diligence and implementing SOPs. These procedures define our approach to key SSHE areas and serve as a reference for auditing our management processes. We have key performance indicators (KPIs) at group, category, site and individual levels to measure progress. Regular site level reports consolidate into group-level data, with all SSHE incidents and performance reviewed monthly. A monthly SSHE forum facilitates performance discussions across all sites, while our internal and external audit programme ensures system robustness and risk management.

At each site, plant managers and SSHE officers collaborate with our central SSHE team, which supports compliance and performance, addressing risks based on likelihood and impact. In areas with less visibility, particularly security, we rely on service providers for data and feedback, which is relayed through set reporting standards. We supervise the application of our management system through internal assessments and monthly meetings, tracking the resolution of discrepancies via corrective action plans. Priority risk updates are reported to the chief manufacturing officer, who oversees their resolution alongside the legally appointed representatives at each plant.

Since establishing the SSHE pillar of our MECP framework in 2022, we have assessed all manufacturing sites for compliance with foundational requirements. In 2024, we achieved all our targets for advancing SSHE pillar practices and standards, closing out all gaps at the foundational level. Now, having moved beyond the foundation phase, our focus in 2025 will shift to enhancing compliance with MECP excellence standards. This will be supported by targeted training on key MECP topics to embed these standards into daily practices and culture.

Performance

In 2024, we set a target of 95% compliance across all sites for our SSHE foundational practices, achieving a compliance score of 98%, excluding Chococam, Albany Manna and Peanut Butter, where we continue to address gaps.

Health

Our occupational health programme includes health risk assessments, occupational hygiene surveys, annual medical surveillance, primary healthcare, employee wellbeing support and initiatives to promote health awareness in daily activities across our operations.

We identify top health risks through occupational hygiene surveys and assessments within our manufacturing environment. These findings inform risk management, health awareness campaigns and training initiatives, driving continuous improvements.

Regular medical surveillance focuses on managing chronic diseases. All employees and contract workers are screened for lifestyle diseases, including diabetes, cholesterol, HIV/Aids and hypertension. Those diagnosed with multiple chronic conditions are encouraged to join our THRIVE wellness programme (see here). Our onsite clinics provide free occupational and primary healthcare for all permanent and temporary employees, helping manage infectious diseases and promoting overall health.

In 2024, we made good progress, continuing incremental improvements in managing occupational health conditions across our sites. We closed out recommendations from updated occupational hygiene surveys and strengthened compliance processes, particularly in incident reporting. Over the last two years, we have improved workstation design and behavioural practices to address ergonomic health risks since identifying them as a key gap in the 2022 risk assessments. New service providers were engaged to enhance occupational health management and ensure compliance across all sites.

Safety

Our health and safety strategy strictly adheres to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and related regulations, ensuring full compliance for operational licensing. We emphasise cultivating a safety-oriented culture through awareness initiatives and employee engagement, with safety performance tied to management remuneration, contributing 5% to variable performance rewards under our short-term incentive (STI) scheme (see here).

The primary goal of our safety management programme is to reduce our lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) through improved standards, operational discipline and behavioural compliance. Our safety management processes are integrated under the SSHE pillar of the MECP framework, supported by annual targets, strengthened discipline, and behavioural safety initiatives led by managers and leadership. We also address ergonomic challenges within our office and manufacturing spaces to ensure a safe working environment.

Safety protocols require root-cause analysis for every incident, enabling proactive prevention and ongoing improvements. While we enforce disciplinary measures where necessary, we prioritise understanding and addressing the true causes of incidents. Fatalities and lost-time injuries are investigated by a multi-disciplinary team, and findings are shared at the group level to promote learning.

The group safety team, chief manufacturing officer and plant managers hold site-specific sessions for any lost-time injury (LTI), ensuring accountability and enhancing preventive strategies. All significant incidents, including non-injury-related ones, are reported to the Department of Labour, as required. We maintain contact with injured employees and contractors to ensure their care and rehabilitation.

In 2024, we continued reinforcing safety foundations and prioritising safety culture through regular safety training, enhanced reporting of unsafe acts and recognition of employee contributions. Key efforts included behaviour-based safety programmes, SSHE workshops for Bakeries, Mills and Culinary and a strong focus on risk assessments, which contributed to a reduction in LTIs.

Managing route-to-market incidents remained a key focus, with significant progress made in addressing internal behavioural factors. Following insights from a 2023 stakeholder workshop, we incorporated drivers and van assistants into our behaviour-based safety efforts, which continued in 2024 and contributed to further reductions in incidents.

Performance

In 2024, we made notable improvements in safety performance across the group, with a reduction in both incidents and lost-time injuries (LTIs). This was driven by enhanced safety protocols, strengthened behavioural safety measures and improvements in managing route-to-market safety.

At the group level, our total recordable case frequency rate (TRCFR) decreased from 0,28 in 2023 to 0,19 in 2024 and our lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) dropped from 0,25 to 0.19. We recorded 55 LTIs in 2024, representing a 23,6% decrease from 72 in 2023.

Regrettably, we recorded one fatality from a route-to-market incident in 2024. All incidents were reported to the Department of Labour and we maintained contact with injured employees and contractors to ensure they received the necessary care and rehabilitation support.

Group safety performance 2024

	2024	2023	2022
Fatalities	1	1	3
Total fatal injury frequency rate (FIFR)	0,003	0,004	0,01
Total recordable case frequency rate (TRCFR)	0,19	0,28	0,62
Lost-time injuries (LTIs)	55	72	128
Total lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR)	0,19	0,25	0,45
Total medical treatment cases (MTC)	51	46	53
Total first-aid cases (FAC)	264	229	334

Manufacturing safety performance 2024

	2024	2023	2022
Manufacturing fatalities	0	0	1
Manufacturing lost-time injuries (LTIs)	26	37	72
Manufacturing lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR)	0,09	0,13	0,25
Manufacturing medical treatment cases (MTCs)	39	42	43
Manufacturing first-aid cases (FACs)	254	219	317
Manufacturing near misses	352 898	384 381	8 321
Manufacturing unsafe conditions	405 998	359 832	62 543
Manufacturing behavioural safety observations	296 361	187 225	47 463

Note: Both employee and contractor injuries are included in our total injury statistics. This practice has been consistent since 2022. In prior years, contractor injuries were not consistently reported, leading to the rise in our injury statistics between 2021 and 2022.

Approach

We consistently monitor current and emerging security trends, including cyber security (see here), and continuously work to improve security controls and management across our facilities. Our focus is on shifting from reactive to proactive security measures. We are building security knowledge across the organisation to ensure it is seen as a shared responsibility, not just the security function's responsibility.

Our approach is guided by the Private Security Industry Regulation (PSIRA) Act and the Firearms Control Act, ensuring full compliance with all relevant legislation. We work closely with law enforcement and industry stakeholders, including networking with security managers from other organisations.

Our physical security policy, along with our security strategy and procedures (e.g. access control), is an integral part of our overall security governance framework. The group security manager oversees policy updates, aimed at safeguarding assets, personnel and processes from threats such as theft, malicious attacks and protests. We have developed a site security design standard that outlines minimum security measures to ensure a standardised approach across all sites, with a focus on ensuring policies and procedures are fully implemented and complied with.

Over recent years, we have strengthened our security response plans to better handle emergencies or crises. This includes securing backup security service providers and focusing on skills development for rapid response to threats. We have also implemented a personnel protection policy, focusing on employee safety in response to persistent route-to-market incidents in our Albany business, along with a gun-free zone policy. Compliance procedures have been developed for both policies.

Management

Our security management is integrated into the SSHE pillar of the MECP framework. Quarterly risk assessments guide our actions to mitigate significant security risks. Our internal site security design standards, aligned with Marsh standards, follow best practices. Marsh South Africa conducts security risk control audits at our manufacturing sites and warehouses.

Physical security measures include perimeter fencing, security officers, CCTV cameras, access control systems and alarm systems. CCTV maintenance has been integrated into our standard operating practices, ensuring high-quality surveillance. Training and awareness are ongoing.

A group-level security steering committee, comprising business managers, plant managers and key directors, meets quarterly to review risk management programmes and security capacity. Service level agreements with contracted security service providers set performance standards, with site managers and contract managers regularly evaluating progress. The group security manager, along with SSHE officers, ensures compliance with security design standards.

We also hold monthly security forums to keep site-level staff and service providers updated and to discuss improvements. These forums are supplemented by performance evaluations to monitor progress and ensure collaboration between security and business operations.

In 2024, route-to-market incidents in the Albany business remained our top security challenge. Reducing these incidents continues to be a priority, with preventive measures such as armed security vehicle escorts on high-risk routes and continuous risk assessment. While the external environment remains unpredictable, we continue working towards solutions to address these sophisticated threats.

Beyond route-to-market, we closed all remaining foundational gaps identified through quarterly risk assessments in 2024, and from 2025, we will move onto the MECP excellence level standards. We also appointed new security service providers and implemented a rotational shift system for security officers to reduce insider risks. Security awareness activations were rolled-out through our corporate communications department.

Performance

In 2024, our security performance improved, with a 92,5% security practice score across all sites (excluding Chococam and Peanut Butter), up from 85% the previous year. We documented 140 security incidents, comprising 76 Albany route-to-market incidents and 64 site incidents. Most were minor cases of internal and external theft.

Unfortunately, one fatality and 28 LTIs were recorded from route-to-market incidents. However, the total number of incidents continued to decline, with 76 route-to-market incidents recorded in 2024 compared to 77 in 2023. Financial losses also decreased from R100 991 in 2023, to R446 791 this year.