We work continuously to avoid new work-related illnesses, and track the development through a corporate reporting tool. Guidelines for assessing work-environment risks are actively used by the business areas to help map and evaluate Hydro's work environment.
To ensure focus on the physical and chemical work environment and encourage further improvements, we have established a performance indicator linked to risk assessment in the work environment. It is a proactive indicator, describing the potential for possible future damage to health. The indicator has been implemented at most of our sites. Local targets for 2011 have been based on identified risk-reducing measures, and may be followed up through a corporate reporting tool. We are working on further implementation including evaluation of introduction of the indicator in our new bauxite and alumina business.
The occupational-illness rate in 2010 was 1.2 cases per million hours worked, up from 1.1 in 2009. We believe the increase was caused mainly by improved reporting, and we expect a further increase in 2011. Most of the occupational-illness cases are related to noise.
Hydro Monitor (see Organization) is another tool we use to track the organizational work environment, and results are implemented in local action plans.
Through our new activities in Brazil, we now have significant activities in areas where tropical diseases are present. Existing programs will be evaluated, and necessary precautions and relevant training identified.
Registered sick leave in Hydro was 3.3 percent in 2010, down from 3.7 percent in 2009. The rules for sick-leave registration differ from country to country. Hydro's sick leave in Norway is significantly higher than in the rest of the company, on average, but relatively low compared to the average rate in Norwegian industry. Sick leave in Norway was 4.4 percent in 2010, compared with 5.1 percent in the previous year. Men's sick leave was 4.2 percent, down from 4.9 percent in 2009, while women's sick leave decreased from 6.0 percent in 2009 to 5.5 percent in 2010.
President's HSE Award 2010
Hydro's extrusion plant in Argentina won the President's HSE Award 2010. The plant received the award for its strong management commitment to safety and ability to involve the entire organization. The jury also highlighted the plant's risk management, excellent housekeeping, its ability to visualize safety in a good way, and its implementation of best practices throughout the organization. The plant has 80 employees.
The other nominees for the award were:
Class 1 (fewer than 200 employees)
Metal Markets, Azuqueca, Spain
Building Systems, Gerstungen, Germany
Precision Tubing, Itu, Brazil
Extrusion Eurasia, La Roca, Spain
Class 2 (more than 200 employees)
Primary Metal, Høyanger, Norway
Rolled Products, Karmøy, Norway
Precision Tubing, Tønder, Denmark
HSE in leadership development
Our extruded products business had too many injuries in 2010, which is disappointing, because the people, the knowledge and the necessary tools are in place such that all injuries can be avoided. All sectors have initiated actions to reverse the trend and reduce the number of safety incidents. Special emphasis has been placed on leadership training and development, risk assessment, and communication. As an example, the Eurasia sector introduced in 2010 the HSE Excellence Academy, which is mandatory for all unit management teams and which also gathers other leaders at all levels of various sites. The program concentrates on the technical and people sides of leading HSE. Its emphasis is to develop the ability of leaders to identify risks, understand why people are taking risks and how to influence employees to avoid taking risks. Two sessions were carried out in 2010 and four more are planned in 2011.
Safety
Our ambition is to avoid all serious accidents. We work continuously to avoid damage to property and loss of production. This applies to all our activities.
Our TRI rate (total recordable injuries per million hours worked) increased by 27 percent in 2010. Our target was a 20 percent decrease. We had no fatal accidents in our consolidated operations, but the German company Alunorf, in which Hydro owns 50 percent, and MRN in Brazil, in which Hydro owns 5 percent, each suffered one fatal accident. Both companies, with the support of Hydro, initiated investigations to identify the causes and reduce risk for recurrences.
In January 2011, a contractor employee died from electrical shock during installation work at a new plant in France. Consequently, we will not reach our main target of no fatal accidents in 2011.
In 2009, we improved our TRI rate by 26 percent. Our target for 2011 will be a TRI rate of 2.7, or a 28 percent decrease from the actual level in 2010. This target, together with no fatal accidents, is part of the President & CEO's personal KPIs and bonus scheme.
In a 10-year perspective, we reduced the number of injuries per million hours worked from 13.7 in 2000 to 3.7 in 2010.
We continue using thorough analyses and risk evaluations of all high-risk incidents to determine how fatalities can be avoided. To further systematize our efforts, we started a fatality-prevention program in 2010. The program is rooted in risk assessments throughout the company, improved sharing of lessons learned, and systematic audits - in addition to the aforementioned investigation of high-risk incidents.
Risk awareness and management commitment are important to improved safety performance. Internal investigations are routinely initiated after fatal accidents and other serious incidents. We place special emphasis on work permits, energy control, on-site and off-site traffic, contractor safety, cranes and lifting equipment, and work at heights.
Safety musketeers
To be able to deliver safety support with strong expertise across the organization, our building systems' safety network is made up of four specialists, each in charge of a geographical area and specific projects. We call them safety musketeers. Each person gives advice within his respective geographical area, and across borders when it comes to specific competence areas like machines risks, loading and unloading, traffic segregation, audits and training. The four work closely together and help implement the sector's key ambitions within safety.
REACH
The EU regulation on chemicals, REACH, entered into force on June 1, 2007. Aluminium is covered by the regulation.
Hydro is on track with our implementation of REACH, having successfully completed the second stage in the legal process, i.e. the registration of substances produced and/or imported into the EU in volumes above 1,000 metric tons per year. The work was coordinated at corporate level through a cross-sector group, chaired by the HSE function, with additional support from the European Aluminium Association. The next step in the implementation of REACH is the registration of substances produced and/or imported in volumes above 100 mt. The deadline for this registration is June 1, 2013. A further deadline, for substances above 1 mt, is June 1, 2018.
Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP)
The Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) transposes in European law the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) for classification and labeling adopted by the United Nations. It covers substances and mixtures and replaces the previous EU Dangerous Substances Directive and Dangerous Preparations Directive.
CLP is about the hazards of chemical substances and mixtures and how to inform others about them. It is the task of industry to identify the hazards of substances and mixtures before these are placed on the market, and to classify them in line with the identified hazards.
Importers and manufacturers must provide notification about substances subject to registration under the REACH Regulation and hazardous substances, irrespective of volumes, prior to placing them on the market. The first notification deadline was January 3, 2011, and was successfully met by Hydro.
