cnx_vinyl/docs/worker-safety.md

# Worker Safety

Worker safety is a founding priority, on equal footing with the environmental
commitments:

- **Safety training**: proper, structured training for all operators and
  maintenance staff, starting with the vendor-led commissioning training and
  extending into an ongoing in-house program. The pressing line combines
  hydraulics (~180 bar), saturated steam (10 bar / 180 °C), and hot PVC, and
  every one of these demands trained, deliberate handling.
- **Clean rooms for galvanics**: silvering and stamper electroforming will
  run in dedicated clean rooms with controlled access, proper ventilation and
  exhaust, and decontamination procedures for people and equipment leaving
  the area. Plating chemistry stays inside its containment.
- **Personal protective equipment**: appropriate PPE (overalls, gloves,
  goggles, and process-specific protection) is mandatory per work area, in
  line with the equipment vendor's site requirements (exhaust work benches,
  fire protection) and local regulations.
- **Unified workwear (decided October 2026).** Every member of staff,
  office included, wears the same Engelbert Strauss workwear (the brand
  now trades as Strauss, [strauss.com](https://www.strauss.com/de/en/))
  with the company logo. Process PPE stays on top of it: chemical
  protection in galvanics, heat gloves at the presses, hearing protection
  where the noise survey asks for it.
  - **Kit** (catalogue prices including 19 % German VAT, which drops out
    on export, checked October 2026): production gets three pairs of
    trousers e.s.motion 2020 (from 65.33 EUR), three e.s. polo shirts
    cotton (from 15.35), two e.s. T-shirts cotton (from 7.96), an e.s.
    sweatshirt (from 18.92) for the air-conditioned rooms, and S1 safety
    shoes e.s. Vasegus II low (71.28 from 10 pairs; steel toe cap,
    antistatic): ~293 EUR before VAT, ~338 with the logo embroidered (logo
    from 4 pieces per motif; ~5 EUR a piece is an estimate). The office
    gets four polo shirts and a softshell jacket e.s.motion 2020 (from
    59.38): ~127 EUR with logos. Heavy cotton trousers are hot in the
    press hall; check the lighter Strauss lines with samples before the
    first order.
  - **Ordering and import:** Strauss delivers outside Germany where customs
    law allows, quotes the shipping when it confirms the order, asks for
    prepayment, and the forwarder charges the recipient duty and taxes
    ([B2B terms](https://www.strauss.com/de/en/Legal_information/Terms_and_Conditions/B2B)).
    Thai duty on work trousers (HS 6203) is 13.8 %
    ([customs-compliance.ai](https://customs-compliance.ai/duty/men-s-suits-and-trousers-hs-6203),
    March 2026); BOI does not cover clothing. The import VAT is reclaimable
    as input tax. Planning figure: one production kit a head a year and
    half an office kit, plus ~15 % shipping and ~14 % duty (estimates), so
    ~9k USD (~0.3M THB) a year at the start fleet's ~20 staff.
- **Lifting and machine service**: the overhead crane needs trained
  operators and slingers, a lift plan for every machine move, and the
  periodic engineer inspections Thai law sets for cranes. A machine is
  only disconnected and lifted after lockout: electrical isolation, steam
  vented, hydraulics depressurised including the accumulator. Welding and
  grinding stay in the workshop's hot-work corner under a permit. Detail
  in [crane, workshop and tours](crane-workshop-tours.md).
- **Visitors** never share the floor's hazards: tours run in a glazed
  corridor with its own air and no PPE requirement.
- **Health care for all staff (decided October 2026).** On top of the
  statutory social security, the company provides every member of staff,
  office included, with group health insurance (inpatient and outpatient)
  and a yearly health check-up. Staff in risk-factor work also get the
  occupational checks Thai law requires, which the general check-up does
  not replace:
  - **The legal minimum.** The Ministerial Regulation on health check-ups
    of employees (B.E. 2547, 2004) covers work with hazardous chemicals,
    heat, noise and similar risk factors: a check within 30 days of
    starting such work, then at least once a year, by a physician trained
    in occupational medicine, physical and mental, with the records kept
    until two years after the job ends
    ([summary](https://www.thailandlawoffice.com/legal-articles/266),
    [text](https://natlex.ilo.org/dyn/natlex2/natlex2/files/download/96400/THA96400%20Eng.pdf)).
    Here that is the press floor (steam heat, noise), galvanics (nickel
    salts, silver nitrate, acids) and maintenance; hearing, lung function
    and metal tests are the likely panel, for the occupational physician
    to set.
  - **Planning costs** (checked October 2026, no quote yet): group health
    insurance about 8,000 to 12,000 THB a head a year for local plans
    ([Thailand Starter Kit](https://thailandstarterkit.com/business/group-health-insurance)),
    AXA's SME plans 9,394, 14,925 and 18,006 THB at 25 staff
    ([CheckDi](https://checkdi.com/th/business-insurance/group-health?lg=th));
    the plan uses ~15,000. Check-ups at Rajavej Chiang Mai cost 1,290 THB
    (age 18 to 30), 1,790 (31 to 40) and 3,290 to 5,990 (over 40) in 2026
    ([programmes](https://rajavejchiangmai.com/en/pagekage/health-checkup-program-2026));
    the plan uses ~2,500 a head plus ~1,500 for the risk-factor tests
    (estimates).
  - **Social security**, for reference: the employer pays 5 % of salary
    up to a ceiling raised from 15,000 to 17,500 THB a month on 1 January
    2026, so at most 875 THB a month a head
    ([Sprout](https://sprout.co.th/en/blogs/thailand-social-security-contribution-2026-section-33)).

  The [press fleet calculator](fleet-calculator.html) costs all of this per
  head with the fleet's staffing.

Safety infrastructure (training program, clean-room specification,
decontamination workflow) will be planned alongside the equipment, not after
it.