Occupational health and safety
We are committed to ensuring that each and every day all our employees return home from work safe and sound.
We are committed to ensuring that each and every day all our employees return home from work safe and sound. The complete safety of our staff is our topmost priority – the prohibition against working without adequate protective equipment is strictly observed across the Grupa Azoty Group.
Everyday workplace safety is based on procedures and enforcement of full compliance with their provisions. At the Grupa Azoty Group, we follow the highest OHS standards, requiring our employees to undergo mandatory training and take regular exams to check their knowledge of OHS-related issues. Apart from Group-wide solutions, each of our companies implements industry-specific policies to ensure the highest standard of safety.
No work-related fatal accidents at the Grupa Azoty Group in 2018
And no cases of occupational diseases at the Grupa Azoty
Group in 2016–2017 OHS monitoring is a multi-level process based on:
- Continuous monitoring of process parameters relevant to safety,
- Assignment of OHS oversight responsibilities to OHS management personnel of all levels,
- Periodic inspections,
- Periodic OHS assessments by OHS Committees.
Number of people injured on the job by gender
| F | M | |
|---|---|---|
Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn | 1 | 7 |
Grupa Azoty Police | 4 | 28 |
Grupa Azoty Puławy | 9 | 18 |
Grupa Azoty | 2 | 10 |
All accidents reported by Grupa Azoty Puławy in 2018 were minor accidents except for one serious incident.
The collective bargaining agreement at our Puławy plant was amended in 2018 by expanding the list of people eligible for additional remuneration and by modifying the employee remuneration rules.
Employees at all of our largest companies are represented by OHS committees. The compositions and remits of individual committees are similar. They include representatives of the employer (delegates from HR and OHS units and occupational physicians providing preventive care to employees) and of the employees (trade union delegates and social labour inspectors). OHS-related issues are comprehensively provided for in the Group’s formal agreements with trade unions. At Grupa Azoty, safety-at-work issues are regulated in the Work Rules, and are regularly consulted with the company's social labour inspector and, once a quarter, discussed at meetings of the OHS committee. In the case of Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn, relevant provisions are incorporated into the integrated management system. The Management Board holds regular monthly consultations with trade unions, while its individual members consult specific matters with labour organisations. At Grupa Azoty Puławy, OHS matters are addressed by the OHS committee and discussed at monthly meetings between trade unions and the Management Board. At Grupa Azoty Police, general OHS rules are covered by its collective bargaining agreement, while specific provisions are contained in internal regulations. Consultations are held during the OHS committees' meetings at least once a quarter.
BEST PRACTICE
Grupa Azoty ZAK has implemented a 5S system, which helps to create and maintain an ergonomic, clean and safe workplace. Also, the STOP Safe Behaviour Watch Programme has been launched, integrating safe behaviours into the company’s organisational culture. ‘Own’ ambulance with a rescue team on board is available 24/7 to employees and visitors staying on the premises controlled by Grupa Azoty ZAK.
Twenty-six portable external defibrillators were purchased in 2017 and 2018, and selected employees were trained to operate the equipment. A general obligation to wear eye protection has been introduced for all employees and visitors at the production facilities.
Percentage of workforce represented in formal OHS committees
| 2017 | 2018 | |
|---|---|---|
| Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn | 100% | 100% |
| Grupa Azoty Police | 100% | 100% |
| Grupa Azoty Puławy | 100% | 100% |
| Grupa Azoty | 100% | 100% |
All of the largest Grupa Azoty Group companies have in place CCTV, safeguards and procedures dedicated to preventing accidents which could put staff at risk of death or serious injury. They also maintain well-trained fire services capable of effective rescue operations, with additional support from supernumerary chemical rescue and technical rescue teams working in a continuous system.
Our commitment to OHS has been recognised by independent experts. The Grupa Azoty Group companies were distinguished with the ‘Gold Card of Safe Work Leader’, which is awarded to businesses that operate effective OHS management systems and have effective OHS prevention programmes in place.
BEST PRACTICE
Employee safety, both on the production floor and throughout the plant premises, is a key priority at the Grupa Azoty Group. At Grupa Azoty Puławy, we recorded a few serious accidents involving the collision of a bicycle with a car joining a main road from an internal access road. In order to prevent similar accidents in the future, we have changed the traffic control system by installing vertical stop signs at junctions with main roads and by marking the junctions with stop lines and stop signs pained on the road surface. So far the markings have been placed at the junctions where most accidents occur.
BEST PRACTICE
Nearly 200 firefighters from four provinces took part in two-day rescue exercises held on the premises of Grupa Azoty Police. The purpose was to check whether the firefighters are prepared to respond to large-scale incidents like industrial fires. The Company Fire Brigade of Grupa Azoty Police also participated in the drill (codename “Azoty-18”), which was prepared and executed by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the State Fire Service. Firefighters from the provinces of Zielona Góra, Poznań, Wrocław and Szczecin rehearsed mock emergency scenarios using some 30 vehicles, including special rescue-from-height vehicles and chemical and environmental emergency response vehicles. The drill covered evacuation of employees at risk of electric shock from a tower with a height of approximately 50 metres, response to a leak from the ammonia unit, and rescue of a person trapped under phosphogypsum landfill.
The Company Fire Brigade counts over 50 firefighters
BEST PRACTICE
Grupa Azoty Police has the ‘STOP Accidents’ programme in place, which seeks to prevent risks by observing whether work is performed in safe conditions. Rewards were given to those employees who were particularly observant and demonstrated commitment to the project. With employee safety in mind, the ‘5 Minutes for Safety’ project was run, consisting of short lessons dedicated to a selected OHS issue.
BEST PRACTICE
A health promotion campaign including employee health checks was run as part of the annual Safety Days in 2018. The event also featured competitions for chemical emergency response teams and the presentation of awards to staff engaged in OHS prevention projects run under the ‘STOP Accidents’ programme.
