Health and safety
The health and safety of its employees is the Company’s key strategic priority and Nornickel is focused on reducing its fatality rate to zero
Long-term goals
H&S main results
LTIFR by the end of 2019 — remains below the global mining industry average
H&S program approach
Main personnel protection measures –
Occupational safety
Nornickel has corporate health and safety standards that apply to both the Group’s employees and contractors’ at the Group’s production sites. The Company and its key subsidiaries have joint health and safety committees made up of management, employee and trade union representatives. Nornickel developed special standards for contractors as part of its selection process, which were implemented in 2018 to better monitor and promote contractor safety. The Group’s production units are regularly audited for compliance with applicable health and safety regulations.
The company carries out the following initiatives and programs aimed at continuous improvement of health and safety:
- Accident rate reduction programmes (the Technology Breakthrough and etc)
- Training programmes
- Personal safety
- Industrial safety compliance
- Prevention of occupational diseases
Elements of the health and safety monitoring system:
- Second-party health and safety management system audits
- Safety behaviour audits
- Multi-stage control
- Targeted and comprehensive inspections
Responsibility and accountability
The Audit and Sustainable Development Committee deals with health and safety matters. The Company’s Health, Safety and Environment Committee is led by the First Vice President — Chief Operating Officer and is focused on improving efficiency and accountability in health and safety. Nornickel’s First Vice President — Chief Operating Officer is directly responsible for the development of health and safety initiatives and ensuring compliance with the relevant requirements. All circumstances of any fatality are reported to the Board of Directors and thoroughly investigated to avoid similar injuries in the future.
Remuneration linked to H&S performance:
- The KPIs of the COO and heads of production units include safety targets with weightings between 5% and 36% of the overall KPI
- A failure to prevent a fatality blocks them from receiving a performance bonus
Risk Management
Technical, production, or natural hazards which, once present, could have a negative impact on production and cause equipment breakdown or reimbursable damage to third parties and the environment
To manage and mitigate risks the Company:
- Ensures proper and safe operation of its assets in line with the requirements of technical operating procedure, as well as technical rules and regulations as prescribed by local laws across Nornickel’s geographic footprint
- Replaces its fixed assets in a timely manner to achieve production safety targets
- Implements automated systems to control equipment process flows, uses state-of-the art engineering controls
- Trains and educates its employees both locally, on site, and centrally, through its corporate training centers
- Has developed a technical and production risk management system, including by engaging independent experts to assess the system’s performance and data
Please find more information in our AR 2019
Certificates
As at the end of 2019, all key production enterprises of the Group had health and safety certification:
- Kola MMC, OHSAS 18001
- Polar Division GOST R
54934-2012 (Russian standard identical to OHSAS 18001) - Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta, OHSAS 18001
- Norilsknickelremont, GOST
12.0.230-2007 (interstate standard identical to ILO-OSH 2001)