Case study: How BMW Brilliance promotes product safety
The safety of its customers is paramount to BMW Brilliance’s sense of product responsibility. Tweet This! BMW Brilliance takes an integrated approach to product safety, which encompasses both active and passive safety systems while also addressing such aspects as product labelling, safety training and avoidance of potentially dangerous materials.
This case study is based on the 2014 Sustainability Report by BMW Brilliance published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate that CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly is achieved by identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment and stakeholders and by measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
BMW Brilliance follows the global safety standards of the BMW Group to provide premium products and services for individual mobility in China, integrating active safety features into its vehicles to try to prevent accidents from happening in the first place and applying passive safety features to mitigate their consequences. After measuring and setting targets, BMW Brilliance took action to receive – and act upon – safety feedback, protect the lives and health of drivers, passengers and pedestrians through passive safety systems, prevent accidents through active safety systems, guarantee product and service information, offer driver safety training and use safe materials in its vehicles.
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) BMW Brilliance has identified;
- How BMW Brilliance proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by BMW Brilliance to promote product safety
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2014 Sustainability Report BMW Brilliance identified a range of material issues, such as occupational health and safety, product portfolio and research and development, energy consumption, air pollution emissions and climate change, talent attraction and retention, public policy, employee development, aftersales services, corruption and anti-competitive behaviour. Among these, as the safety of its customers and other road users is a top priority for BMW Brilliance and its stakeholders – and fundamental to its sense of product responsibility –, promoting product safety stands out as a key material issue.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups BMW Brilliance engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Shareholders
| · BMW Brilliance’s Board of Management reports to the Board of Directors, which represents BMW Brilliance’s shareholders |
| Customers | · Customer talks, surveys and interviews |
| Employees | · Open door and round table discussions between employees and senior management · Annual consultation sessions |
| Suppliers | · BMW Brilliance Supplier Days |
| Dealers
| · Dealer training · 5S dealer certification programme (Sales, Service, Survey, Spare Parts and Sustainability) |
| Policymakers | · Regular, open dialogue with political decision-makers, union representatives, associations and non-governmental organisations |
| Students
| · “BMW Days” · Launched a new Doctoral programme at the Northeastern University known as ProMotion |
| Society | · “Lead the Way to a Sustainable and Responsible Future – 2014 BMW Brilliance Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility Forum” |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
BMW Brilliance’s ongoing dialogue with its stakeholders is a continuous learning process for its business. BMW Brilliance uses targeted dialogues to understand various perspectives and to receive their input on strategically relevant topics. It identifies trends and key topics at an early stage which helps the company gain acceptance of its activities and decisions. BMW Brilliance wants to build long-term trust with its stakeholders. This is important to demonstrate its commitment to society and for its future business success.
BMW Brilliance’s main stakeholder groups are its shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers, dealers, policymakers, students and society. BMW Brilliance’s stakeholder engagement is reflected in its approach to key areas such as Product Responsibility, Human Resources, Corporate Citizenship, Production and Supplier Management. Dialogue with targeted stakeholder groups takes place in a wide range of formats that include dialogues, presentations, events, meetings, surveys and training. For example, BMW Brilliance conducts customer surveys and talks to understand customer expectations and needs, trains dealers to enhance their capacity and build greater customer satisfaction, arranges open discussions for employees with top management to understand their concerns and suggestions, conducts ongoing dialogue with central and local policymakers to share its expertise and interacts with students and society to jointly raise awareness about issues such as environmental protection and traffic safety.
To develop a solid basis for its sustainability management, BMW Brilliance reviewed its most relevant sustainability issues with its key stakeholders. BMW Brilliance invited 16 representatives of stakeholder groups to contribute their ideas and concerns in individual, detailed interviews. Key topics raised during the stakeholder interviews related to product safety, occupational health and safety and fuel consumption. In addition, in an internal workshop with participants from the BMW Group and different BMW Brilliance divisions, BMW Brilliance prioritised 28 potentially relevant sustainability issues according to each issue’s business impact on BMW Brilliance – considering the global context of the issues as well as where the most relevant impacts occur along the value chain. As a result, BMW Brilliance identified ten sustainability issues that are highly relevant for the company and its stakeholders. These issues are its priorities.
What actions were taken by BMW Brilliance to promote product safety?
In its 2014 Sustainability Report BMW Brilliance set the following targets for promoting product safety, based on the company’s approach to materiality – on taking action on what matters, where it matters:
- Receiving safety feedback
BMW Brilliance develops and manufactures products in strict compliance with the BMW Group’s quality management systems, monitoring its product performance and reviewing all safety feedback. If necessary, BMW Brilliance informs the responsible authorities about any customer safety issues and initiates any required safety measures. BMW Brilliance has established relevant processes and procedures to ensure it acts upon the feedback it receives from its customers and the marketplace.
- Protecting the lives and health of drivers, passengers and pedestrians through passive safety systems
BMW Brilliance’s vehicles have energy-absorbing crumple zones, safe passenger cells, restraint systems, airbags and many other passive safety features that protect the lives and health of drivers daily. In order to provide drivers and passengers with the greatest possible protection in the event of a collision, various safety elements work hand-in-hand. A networked system of highly sensitive sensors enables airbags to deploy in the appropriate situation and at precisely the right moment. Pyrotechnically activated seatbelt pretensioners and seatbelt-force limiters further minimise risk of injury. The vehicle front has various devices installed to protect pedestrians, including a shock absorber. This is integrated between the bumper carrier and panel to reduce leg injuries in a collision.
- Preventing accidents through active safety systems
Active safety systems include perfect chassis coordination, optimal traction and effective brakes. Electronic chassis control systems also contribute towards preventing accidents. One of the main ways BMW Brilliance increases safety is through driver assistance systems, which are being increasingly integrated into its model ranges. These systems provide a second set of eyes to observe what is happening on the road in order to warn and support the driver. The traffic jam assistant is another important support function. In long and monotonous driving situations, for example in traffic congestion, the traffic jam assistant helps to keep the car longitudinally and laterally positioned in the lane, easing the strain on the driver. Active battery management is also used to provide safety: the ZINORO 1E is equipped with an innovative battery safety system, which features a liquid cooling and heating system that can increase the battery adaptability and safety in various environments. In a low-temperature environment, it realises the ideal working temperature. And in a high-temperature environment, it prevents overheating. The battery management system features a self-diagnosis and management function. It monitors dynamically all key parameters of the battery such as storage, charge, discharge and operating status. In the event of an accident, it will disconnect the battery from the vehicle’s electric system. This will ensure all parts are electrically neutral and guarantee the safety of the vehicle and passengers.
- Guaranteeing product and service information
BMW Brilliance informs its customers if any potential risks and hazards related to its products exist, as well as about the environmental performance and proper use of its products and services. Information on vehicle safety and protecting customer health can be found in the respective manuals or in notes inside the vehicle (e.g. rescue card), as well as on BMW Brilliance’s official website. Additional background information on service, accessories, parts and BMW ConnectedDrive is likewise available online. BMW Brilliance ensures that any customer product and service information meets all technical requirements.
- Offering driver safety training
BMW Brilliance also contributes to protecting road users through driver safety training. The company offers 12 different training courses and in 2014 1,150 participants learned how to identify critical driving situations and respond properly. This included how to avoid such situations, if possible, in the first place.
- Using safe materials in vehicles
For each phase of the vehicle life cycle – from development through to use and disposal – BMW Brilliance’s specialist departments ensure compliance with worldwide legal requirements for product safety and human health. In the early development phase, a “Materials” interdisciplinary working group evaluates the potential materials to be used in a product to determine the risk potential and to eliminate any problematic candidates. The working group can then intervene in the selection and development process as well as in the production as needed. BMW Brilliance tests all current and future products according to the standards of the BMW Group. As well as series parts, all auxiliary production substances and process materials, such as paint and adhesives, undergo rigorous qualification processes. BMW Brilliance fully documents all chemical substances that are used in its production processes. These substances are first inspected to ensure their safety and then approved for a specific application through the company’s central recording system for environmentally relevant substances. The system also provides detailed specifications and tips on handling these products as well as on first aid, storage and transport.
Which GRI indicators/Standards have been addressed?
The GRI indicator addressed in this case is: G4-PR1: Percentage of significant product and service categories for which health and safety impacts are assessed for improvement and the updated GRI Standard is: Disclosure 416-1 Assessment of the health and safety impacts of product and service categories
References:
1) This case study is based on published information by BMW Brilliance, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page
3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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