How is BASF supporting the victims and their families?

Margret Suckale:
We will help the families and provide them with tangible support; we have said that from the start. But coping
with the grief and healing the psychological scars is much more difficult. We stand shoulder to shoulder with
the families.

The Works Council has been an enormous support to us. The employee support working group has made an
almost super-human effort. It is staffed by colleagues from the social counseling service, the critical incident
psychological support, and trained members of the Works Council, who have an almost impossible task – to
contact the families and tell them what happened.

Mr. Haselhorst and I also visited the families of the victims to talk to their relatives and try to answer their
questions. I think we succeeded in creating the trust that BASF needs. Some moments are so tough that they
are almost unbearable. What comforts me is that there is so much solidarity within the site fire department,
which is helping these families – the relatives both of those who were killed and of those who were injured.

Sinischa Horvat:
At the memorial, we stood together with the relatives to remember the fallen comrades and express our
sympathy. I think that was important for the families.

We have terrible days and hours behind us that will leave their mark on us forever. One difference that I think
is already noticeable is that we have all become closer.

Caring for the victims and their families is of course also an important concern of the Works Council, and one
that we included in the discussion very early on. But the staff as a whole is also enormously keen to help. We
heard that from the firefighters at the memorial, too. Our job now is to continue to support them.