Health and Personal Safety

In 2002, Borealis began a comprehensive, company-wide behavioural training programme called Step Change in Safety. Overall, the programme's focus on safety has led to a significant drop in total recordable injuries in the Group, to 1.7 per million working hours in 2006. We are now a leader in safety.

What is the source of our high level of safety?

The difference is made by the individuals, their commitment and culture. With a safety culture of caring for not only ourselves, but also caring for colleagues, Borealis promotes a self-perpetuating performance cycle. 

Our high level of safety is achieved through:

• Knowledge
• Experience
• Continuous training on risk awareness
• Consistent application of our short risk "Take 2" analysis

Near miss and incident reporting system

Near misses are systematically recorded as they act as indicators for potential high-severity events. Like an iceberg where the greatest part is hidden beneath the surface, the underlying causes of a major incident may not be obvious. By keeping track and recording  near misses ,  Borealis brings them into the spotlight so that we may address them and avoid potential safety incidents.

Accident learning is shared throughout the company. Major incidents are discussed at various levels in the organisation and a central database, Synergi®, is used as a reporting / analysing tool throughout the company. Over 10 000 cases are handled every year.

Observation Tours - Commitment and Visibility

Observation Tours within our plants and office areas are regularly organized to focus on how well we are performing on a safety level.  The tours are designed to open a dialogue with our people about their safety behaviour and to encourage changes in their daily work routine.

Managing Health and Personal safety issues with our contractors

We involve our contractors in every aspect of our safety programme. This ensures the same level of HSE commitment and performance throughout Borealis' entire operations. Regular safety meetings and joint incident investigation and observation tours ensure a good alignment with our contractors.

It doesn't stop at the gate - an eye on 24 hour care

HSE doesn’t stop at the gate; it is an around-the-clock topic for everyone. We are convinced that the different actions that we take have a positive impact in the personal lives of our employees at home.

We want to keep our employees healthy and an important element in employee health is a balanced work-life routine. To achieve this balance, we have set in place an employee health programme. Some of the focus areas are:

• Physical condition
• Healthy eating habits
• Reduction of addictions