Cargo handling will come to a halt for half an hour today at facilities operated by APM Terminals.

The management has organised the 30-minute shutdown as part of the group’s Global Safety Day.

Chief executive Kim Fejfer and Henrik Kristensen, head of health, safety, security and the environment, are urging their 19,000 employees to scrutinise their working conditions and to pinpoint all of the areas in which safety standards need to be improved.

Fejfer said container terminals are dangerous workplaces and equipment, moving parts and manual processes all contribute to the risk of accidents occurring.

Netherlands-headquartered APM Terminals, part of the AP Moller-Maersk conglomerate, is aiming to cut the number of accidents to zero.

Kristensen and Fejfer hope that Global Safety Day and the half-hour stoppage will help get the message across to the workforce that APM Terminals is fully committed to a culture of safety.

The number of incidents that result in at least one lost working day per employee is calculated at around ten per one million man hours, the equivalent to 500 people working full-time for a year.

With fewer dockers working on the quayside, the black spots for accidents are more likely to be at either end of the process — by the dock gate or on the ship.

Kristensen is urging local managers to leave their offices today and talk to truck drivers and ships crews as well as their own staff about safety issues.

Feijfer said the company wants employees to take time out to discuss safety and engage in a dialogue with colleagues to ensure that the workplace is safe.

Feedback from today’s effort will be shared with facilities throughout the group in an attempt to improve the safety record. The information will also be passed on to other port operators.