Note 2: Health and safety
Our vision is to achieve zero injuries and harm through operational excellence.
As one of our core values, health and safety underpins our tireless commitment to creating a safe workplace and delivering leading safety performance.
We do this by consistently applying leading programs and processes in the areas of people, product and process safety. We report, analyze and learn from all our health and safety incidents to continuously improve our safety performance.
In order to deliver leading and sustainable performance and strengthen our commitment-based safety culture, we also invest in visible safety leadership and employee engagement initiatives.
Our strategic Health, Safety, Environment and Security (HSE&S) priorities are focused on driving:
- Continuous improvement of standardized HSE&S processes to achieve leading maturity levels
- The implementation of an integrated HSE&S management system
- A commitment-based HSE&S culture embedding operational excellence to achieve our vision of zero injuries and harm
Our leading HSE&S management system drives continuous improvement through operational excellence in all aspects of HSE&S. This includes company-wide standards, regular performance reviews, systematic data analysis, root cause analyses of incidents, training, self-assessments, annual improvement planning, independent internal audit and on-time action closure. It also incorporates promoting learning across the organization, including best practice sharing. Our corporate HSE&S management system is globally certified to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards, with ongoing transfer to ISO 45001.
Compliance assurance is one of our key HSE&S priorities. It’s particularly relevant to ensuring our license to operate and our business continuity, considering the fast-changing regulatory environment we operate in. We take a proactive approach to implementing any necessary changes, from both a risk mitigation and advocacy perspective.
In 2020, we configured and implemented a company-wide digital compliance assurance process. It includes a regulatory monitoring and alert system, along with a self-assessment tool which ensures we’re compliant with existing regulatory frameworks and up-to-date with the latest changes, as well as enabling proactive response to new requirements.
Responding to COVID-19
When COVID-19 first surfaced in China, we activated our North Asia regional crisis management, supported by the global organization, Integrated Supply Chain and the functional teams. As the pandemic began to spread worldwide, we set up a global crisis management team, as well as regional crisis teams.
COVID-19 guidance and requirements regarding employee health and safety – including emergency escalation and response plans – were developed and deployed globally. Strong cross-functional and global/regional collaboration and alignment enabled successful management of our response to the pandemic. Our global COVID-19 health and safety guidelines included:
- Workplace guidelines
- Guidelines for commercial teams, including customer visits
- Safe work from home
- SAQ (self-assessment questionnaire)
- Behavior-based safety (BBS) “adapted” to COVID-19
- Travel guidance
HSE&S audits are performed in three-year (high hazard sites) to five-year (other sites) cycles. Despite COVID-19, the complete 2020 audit plan was performed, with most of the 28 audits being carried out remotely due to travel restrictions.
People safety
In 2020, the total reportable rate (TRR) improved to 0.23 (2019: 0.24), slightly above the target level set for 2020 (0.20). In total, 81% of our locations and 72% of our manufacturing sites have been reportable injury-free for over a year. The most frequent causes of reportable injuries are “slips, trips and falls”, “struck by or caught in-between objects” and “manual handling”. The most frequent injuries are strains/sprains, cuts/lacerations and fractures.
Total reportable injury rate employees/temporary workers
The total reportable injury rate (TRR) is the number of injuries resulting in a medical treatment case, restricted work case, lost time case or fatality, per 200,000 hours worked. In line with OSHA guidelines, temporary workers are reported with employees, since day-to-day management is by AkzoNobel.
Although the TRR decreased, the severity of injuries increased slightly. This is reflected in the lost time injury rate for employees including temporary workers (LTIR), which was 0.09 (2019: 0.08). Although safety is paramount within our company, a significant safety incident occurred in Felling, UK, which triggered actions to further drive continuous improvement towards operational excellence.
Lost time injury rate employees/temporary workers
The lost time injury rate (LTlR) is the number of injuries resulting in a lost time injury per 200,000 hours worked. Temporary workers are reported together with employees, since day-to-day management is by AkzoNobel.
To help us achieve year-on-year improvement in safety performance, we’ve introduced a number of focused programs, in addition to our yearly HSE&S Common Platform program:
- Top three injuries safety program, which has driven a 30% and 45% injury reduction
- HSE&S dedicated country networks in the four countries that contributed 44% of the total reportable injuries (TRI) – achieved a 47% reduction in TRI compared with 2019
- Implementation of global and site specific leading performance indicators, moving the focus from lagging to leading KPIs. This has been critical in further driving visible leadership and employee involvement, leading to proactive injury prevention and a stronger commitment-based safety culture
- Reinforcement of our “Learning from incidents” program to include early warning alerts
- Tracking on-time action closure for critical HSE&S actions (as part of leading KPIs)
- Safe driver program, with a focus on those using two and four wheels
- Redesign of the self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ) – which assesses the maturity of HSE&S program implementation and specific requirements at sites – and a review of the framework for our global audit program. We’ve also invested in developing visible safety leadership and employee engagement initiatives
The number of contractor reportable injuries was slightly lower in 2020, resulting in a reportable injury rate of 0.17 (2019: 0.19). The contractors lost time injury rate increased to 0.11 (2019: 0.09).
Total reportable injury rate contractors
The total reportable injury rate contractors is the number of contractor injuries resulting in medical treatment cases, restricted work cases, lost time injuries or fatalities, per 200,000 hours worked.
Lost time injury rate contractors
The contractors lost time injury rate (LTlR) is the number of contractor injuries resulting in a lost time case, per 200,000 hours worked.
Analysis revealed that inadequate/poor adherence to procedures were the main cause of contractor incidents. To help counter this trend, a contractor safety procedure and self-assessment process were introduced to target the quality of (and adherence to) key procedures, with benefits for our own employees, as well as contractors.
Process safety
The number of losses of primary containment (LOPC incidents) decreased in 2020. However, based on an analysis of the 2020 process safety events, and considering the nature of the processes and materials we use, we initiated a dedicated Process Safety Management (PSM) improvement project, designed to strengthen our PSM program and processes to achieve leading standards in process safety.
|
2019 |
2020 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss of primary containment – Level 1 |
3 |
6 |
||
Loss of primary containment – Level 2 |
64 |
52 |
||
Process safety event – Level 3 |
970 |
1,250 |
||
|
||||
Process safety events (PSE) pyramid
Process safety performance indicators are aligned with international best practice. Loss of primary containment (LoPC) is the main process safety indicator at manufacturing sites, distinguishing between two levels of severity. As a leading indicator, sites also measure process safety events (PSEs), which are minor leaks or occurrences that could lead to more severe events.
Health
We continue to actively manage occupational illness-related absenteeism, as part of our commitment to providing a safe working environment and healthy work conditions for all our employees.
Based on the analysis of the Industrial Hygiene (IH) baseline survey launched in 2019, a harmonized, company-wide carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) chemical management guideline has been developed, to be launched in 2021. In order to continue building the IH competencies of our HSE&S professionals at local and regional level, a second edition of our IH awareness online training program was introduced.
We also launched a global physical and mental well-being health campaign for managers and employees to help prevent the risk of increased occupational illness due to COVID-19.
Employee health occupational illness rate
Occupational illness frequency rate (OIFR) is the total number of reportable occupational illness cases for the reporting period, per 1,000,000 hours worked. This parameter is reportable for employees.
We have defined three levels of safety incidents. The highest category – Level 3 – involves: any loss of life; more than five severe injuries; environmental, asset or business damage totaling more than €25 million; inability to maintain business; or serious reputational damage to AkzoNobel stakeholders.
Health, safety, environment and security.
Health, safety, environment and security.
Behavior-based safety. A global program run at all AkzoNobel locations.
The number of injuries per 200,000 hours worked. Full definitions are in the Sustainability statements.
The number of lost time injuries per 200,000 hours worked. Full definitions are in the Sustainability statements.
The number of lost time injuries per 200,000 hours worked. Full definitions are in the Sustainability statements.
A loss of primary containment is an unplanned release of material, product, raw material or energy to the environment (including those resulting from human error). Loss of primary containment incidents are divided into three categories, dependent on severity, from small, on-site spill/near misses up to Level 1 – a significant escape.