Chemical operations involve highly flammable, toxic and hazardous substances that could pose a significant risk to people and the environment, if not handled correctly. Health and safety is therefore the number one priority in Borealis. In addition, 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 has achieved a world-class health and safety record for many years. However, the Group must stay vigilant and therefore adopted a Goal Zero journey in 2014, which aims to develop a zero-accidents mindset among everyone in Borealis. To keep its safety culture at the top of people’s minds, Borealis constantly promotes the motto “If we can’t do it safely, we won’t do it at all.” In addition, for its second safety day Borealis used the motto “There’s always time for safety.”
Health & Safety is one of the key sustainability focus areas in Borealis and the number one priority in the organisation. Borealis had the following occupational health and safety goals for 2019:
To continue to reduce Total Recordable Injuries (TRI), with the ultimate aim of achieving zero accidents;
In 2019, Borealis:
The Borealis Responsible Care Committee comprises all the Executive Board members and is chaired by the Chief Executive. The committee oversees the implementation of the Group’s Responsible Care Policy and programmes and monitors overall HSE performance against key performance indicators (KPIs). The committee also assesses any serious HSE incidents to help avoid future risks to people and the environment.
At a location level, the local leadership and HSE team meet each month to discuss HSE performance. A number of informal platforms and meetings ensure that all employees of operational sites are represented.
Director Health, Safety, Environment & Quality
Occupational health and safety is part of our commitment to Responsible Care:
To improve our safety performance, we opened Borealis Safety Centres at all our major production locations, to better train our employees and contractors.
“The Safety Centres are designed to be engaging and highly interactive,” explains Pål Theie, Senior Advisor Smart Manufacturing. “Their main objective is to prevent severe accidents, by making sure everyone fully understands our five lifesaving rules.”
Five locations have each developed a training package linked to one of the lifesaving rules. These packages, which will be shared across all locations, describe best practices and provide demonstrations and videos. Our aim is to train all employees and contractors during the next year and we have begun with colleagues who are most exposed to safety risks in their daily work.
Following a successful session in 2018, all Borealis employees and contractors were invited to our second Borealis safety day in October 2019.
The session focused on the challenges and expectations of our Goal Zero Journey, starting with a message from our CEO Alfred Stern, followed by feedback from the 2018 safety day. The location leaders then emphasised the importance of the lifesaving rules and the role of our safety centres in driving improvements. This was followed by an interactive session on subjects including using ear protection and breathing apparatus, the risk of high-pressure cleaning and the dangers of dead spots when driving. During these sessions, the participants actively experienced using protective devices or the risks of daily activities in our industry.
