For goals and planned key actions for 2024 and beyond, please refer to the full Combined Annual Report 2023.
Chemical operations involve highly flammable, toxic and hazardous substances that could pose a significant risk to Borealis’ employees and neighbors, if not handled correctly. Health and safety is therefore one of the key focus areas in the Borealis Sustainability Strategy. In addition, process and occupational health and safety incidents have a direct link to lost working time and damage to valuable assets, both of which could affect the Group’s ability to supply its customers, and its profitability and performance.
Borealis lives by the slogan “If we can’t do it safely, we don’t do it at all!” Everyone at Borealis is expected to stop working, or not start working in the first place, if the situation is unsafe. This rule is embedded in Borealis’ Group HSE management system and the consequences for infringement by line management can include a written warning, an improvement plan or a ban from the site. The Group’s former goal zero journey roadmap has been replaced by the Borealis Group’s HSE plan. This plan covers actions related to HSE culture, contractor HSE management, the HSE management system, and occupational safety and health.
At Executive Board level, HSE is part of the Sustainability & Responsible Care® Committee remit. The Committee reviews performance, receives regular status updates, conducts twice-yearly deep dives into HSE trend focus areas and defines additional actions.
At Borealis Group level, the HSE managers’ network defines the HSE strategy, establishes improvement actions and shares lessons learned. The network includes local HSE managers and Group HSE.
At location level, the leadership and Health & Safety team meet each month to discuss health and safety performance. Every location also has an HSE Forum, which consults and informs employee representatives about the HSE management system and promotes worker participation in occupational health and safety. Several informal platforms and meetings ensure that all employees of operational sites are represented. These forums are organized at a location level and their frequency is decided by each location. The Group assesses the implementation of these forums during the Group HSE Blue Audit, which takes place every four years and includes an assessment of how HSE information is cascaded in the organization.
Every Borealis employee can report work-related hazards and has access to the Group’s incident management software, Synergi, where they can report near misses. These are reviewed by the local incident investigators and the number of near misses followed up is a performance indicator. Employees are also kept informed on HSE matters through the European Works council for OMV, OMV Petrom and Borealis. This is an important platform for dialogue between management and employee representatives.
Health & Safety network meetings are scheduled regularly to share lessons learned, report potential hazards and hazardous situations, and discuss improvement areas and best practices. Attendees include all health and safety specialists at the locations and Group health and safety experts.
The new 2030 HSSE (Health, Safety, Security and Environment) strategy has been developed and rolled out to make Borealis an industry leader in HSSE by 2030. The strategy focuses on key elements of HSSE and also considers new risks and opportunities in the industry including mental health and wellbeing, biodiversity and digitalization, among others.
In addition, using lessons learned from previous acquisitions, the approach to integrate newly acquired facilities has been reviewed, by establishing a strong HSE foundation from the start, combined with a 2-year integration plan
Borealis aims to develop its health and safety culture from a calculative level (where safety is based on having systems in place to manage hazards) via a more proactive level (where safety leadership and values drive continuous improvement), towards a generative level, where health and safety becomes “how we do business”.
The Group is therefore committed to eliminating hazards and reducing occupational health and safety risks, and to continuously improving through systematic learning. Borealis proactively prevents accidents by developing risk management tools, implementing controls, undertaking awareness campaigns and health and safety training, and conducting regular audits for both employees and contractors. Group HSE defines the key intervention areas and developments over the next five years, related to occupational health and safety, process safety, environment and energy.
The Group has an HSE management system, which is designed to reduce the possibility of incidents in the workplace by ensuring that hazards are systematically eliminated or controlled. The system covers occupational health and safety, process safety, environment and energy, as well as some aspects of security to fulfill legal requirements. It applies to all businesses where Borealis owns more than 50% or where the Group has operating responsibility with the exception of Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling GmbH, mtm plastics GmbH and mtm compact GmbH. For Polyolefins (PO) and Base Chemicals (BC), the Group has an ISO 45001 matrix certification.
64.6% of employees (3,617 FTEs) and 40.4% of non-employees (1,607 FTEs) whose work and/or workplace is controlled by the organization are covered by an ISO 45001 certification. 94.0% of employees (5,265 FTEs) and 99.6% of non-employees (3,961 FTEs) whose work and/or workplace is controlled by the organization are covered by the Borealis HSE management system, which is audited internally. Only the employees and non-employees of the recycling companies Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling GmbH, mtm plastics GmbH and mtm compact GmbH are not covered by an occupational health and safety management system. There are also the following exclusions because of recent acquisitions: Rialti S.p.A. and Renasci N.V. Fertilizer, Melamine and TEN is also excluded from the data due to the divestment.
Borealis uses risk assessments to identify hazards, determine the risk and take necessary measures to reduce it. These assessments are done before any work is carried out on a project or changes are made to an installation.
Major meetings and conferences in Borealis commonly start with awareness raising and sharing lessons learned on health and safety, which is a mandatory topic at many meetings. All levels of management, from front-line leaders to Executive Board members, carry out regular engagement walks. These are designed to spot safety risks, encourage positive changes in daily work routines and ensure dialogue occurs between management, employees and contractors. Everyone in Borealis must report hazards and hazardous situations and can do this via Synergi.
In addition to safety training for all employees and contractors, all visitors to Borealis’ locations must pass safety training before they can access the site. Some Borealis sites also organize an annual meeting with their neighbors, where they discuss safety performance and initiatives. Borealis also coordinates emergency planning with the emergency services.
Borealis promotes and protects its employees’ health and wellbeing in several ways. In addition to detailed chemical exposure monitoring, which is carried out in accordance with national laws, the Group offers physical examinations and subsequent check-ups, periodic screenings and evaluations. Employee health initiatives vary depending on local needs, but they typically include addressing issues such as back pain, blood pressure and weight management, as well as providing on-site flu vaccinations. Employees learn about stress prevention, find help to quit smoking and can consult a psychologist. They can also take part in voluntary health counseling programs, to identify and monitor health problems.
Basic medical services are provided to all employees, contractors and visitors, with employees also having access to advanced wellbeing services through local medical service centers. All information shared between patient and doctor is kept confidential, in compliance with national legal requirements.
In addition, Borealis has developed a wellbeing concept that sets common standards across all locations, enables sharing of best practices and builds on existing activities. It takes a holistic view of wellbeing and identifies four key areas for ensuring motivated and healthy employees. These are health, job engagement, competence and work-life balance.
Borealis conducts regular workplace health surveys, which cover every location in the Group every five years. These surveys identify, evaluate and document the working environment in both operations and offices, to establish a base for further improvement and prioritize actions. Their primary focus is to prevent occupational health risks, occupational illnesses and accidents. The health surveys also put a considerable focus on the psychosocial aspects of work and work-life balance.
In line with the “Committed to Zero Harm” principle, Borealis has implemented strong measures to improve Borealis safety performance. In 2023 the B-Safe program was rolled out across Borealis. It covers five topics:
Leaders were trained during a three-day session and the other Borealis employees went through a one-day session, with the goal of refreshing the Group’s basic health and safety focus areas and enhancing their effectiveness in the field. Thereby, more than 4,000 employees have already been trained. B-Safe coaches from each location were also extensively trained, to support their location with keeping the program alive once the training sessions are concluded.
During 2023, Borealis harmonized its Life Saving Rules and Process Safety Rules with the OMV Group Safety Rules, creating a common set of nine Life Saving Rules that are in line with the IOGP standard. This means that all employees and contractors follow the same rules in OMV, OMV Petrom and Borealis, and enables the entire OMV Group to share campaign and training material. The updated Life Saving Rules were rolled out top down, with each leader having to train their team. The roll-out was supported by posters and videos. Year to date, 95% of Borealis employees have gone through the leader-led training.
In 2023, a major contractor at each location was comprehensively audited on its HSE management system, based on the requirements of ISO 45001. In addition, Borealis established a new procedure covering working safely on roofs, which was rolled out across the organization. This procedure reflected learning from two fatal incidents in the recent past, including one in 2022 during repair works on a roof.
In 2023, Borealis held its sixth Group-wide Safety Day in all locations, with the theme of “Safe and healthy working environment”. For the second time, this Safety Day was held jointly with OMV. In addition to a webinar, the Group held safety workshops in some locations.
In the first half of the year, 20 people have been hurt by slips trips and falls. Therefor a campaign was launched to increase situational awareness during walking.
After several incidents with a potential severe consequence involving dropped objects, the Group launched an awareness campaign “Stop the drop”. Objects falling from height (e.g. accidental fall of an unsecured tool) can lead to a fatality if it hits a person. The campaign was supported via workshops, posters and a video.
Total recorded injuries (TRI) per million working hours has been a Borealis Group Scorecard KPI for many years. TRI are those that require medical treatment, restrict the work an employee can do or result in lost working days. All Borealis employees, contractors and subcontractors are covered by the indicators. Suppliers of raw materials, chemicals, additives and other commodities and haulers are excluded, unless Borealis caused the accident. The TRI criteria were changed in 2021 to bring them into line with OMV’s HSE incident classification and reporting, based on the IOGP standards.
In 2023, despite the intensive efforts, we have experienced a large number of low-impact (actual and potential) total recordable injuries (TRIs). One third of these TRIs (27 out of 83 TRIs in total) were experienced in the PDH2 project, where Borealis faces the challenge of managing a high number of low-tier suppliers. A strengthened safety training program has been launched to improve the project performance.
Locations identified with lower safety performance based on trending have also established a specific “get well” plan on top of their B-Safe improvement plan addressing specific local challenges, led and sponsored by Borealis’ top leaders.
2023 was an excellent year in process safety with only 4 Leak of primary containments (LOPC), without consequence to people and assets. Every LOPC is one too many so to continue to build on the PS journey focusing on leading indicators, TIER 3 and TIER 4 events and special attention to corrosion under insulation, a major challenge in aging facilities.
Data analysis showed that hands and fingers remain the main body parts harmed in accidents and that the most frequent incidents (BC and PO: 25 out of 72; Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN: 5 out of 11) are slips, trips and falls as they account for 36% of the incidents. In 59% of the incidents a contractor got hurt.
1) Analysis of 1,344 (314 for Fertilizer, Melamine and TEN) injuries between 2021 and 2023 // 2) Due to the divestment, only the first half of the year to June 30, 2023 is reported. The figures are, therefore, not fully comparable.
Analyzing the incidents based on severity and reoccurrence led to the following actions in 2023:
1) The increase of the TRI rate compared to last year was mainly due to several TRIs that happened in the PDH project in Kallo (27 out of 83 TRIs in total). // 2) Suppliers of raw materials, chemicals, additives and other commodities and hauliers are excluded from the TRI statistics. // 3) 2022 and 2023 shows BC/PO and Fertilizers, Melamine and TEN separately, whereas the date for prior years has been reported consolidated. // 4) Definitions were adjusted in 2021 to align with OMV definitions. A comparison to previous years is therefore not possible. // 5) All three high-consequence injuries were caused by unusual accidents and therefor no meaningful actions could be derived. However Borealis will continue to focus on high potential incidents in the future. // 6) DYM SOLUTION CO., LTD is excluded from the sick leave rate. // 7) Due to the divestment, only the first half of the year to June 30, 2023 is reported. The figures are, therefore, not fully comparable.
Definitions
Total Recordable Injuries (TRI): Accidents resulting in absence from work, the need to do a different type of work or any other case in which medical treatment is required. The TRI criteria have been aligned with OMV Group and have therefore become stricter from this year: this now also includes, for example, an accident which resulted in a single lost day of work without any medical treatment, or an incident which resulted in an employee requiring a single stitch. The rate is calculated as the number of accidents per million working hours. Borealis’ employees and contractors working on the Group’s premises are included in this calculation.
High-consequence work-related injuries: High-consequence work-related injuries are split between:
The definition of high-consequence work-related injury uses recovery time instead of lost time as the criterion for determining the severity of an injury. Lost time is an indicator of the loss of productivity for an organisation as a result of a work-related injury; it does not necessarily indicate the extent of harm suffered by a worker. Recovery time, in contrast, refers to the time needed for a worker to recover fully to pre-injury health status.
Sick leave rate: The sick leave rate indicates the amount of time employees were absent from work due to sickness or injury. The overall sick leave rate is calculated as a percentage of the total number of planned working days in the current year.
Occupational health and safety remains the number one priority for Borealis. For 2024, the Group has identified the following primary focus areas:
