Health, Safety, and Security

In 2019, the combined Lost-Time Injury Rate (LTIR) for OMV employees and contractors was 0.34 (2018: 0.30), and our combined Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) was 0.95 (2018: 0.78). We had no work-related fatalities.

In Upstream, our combined efforts resulted in an LTIR of 0.43 (2018: 0.38). The Nawara project and our SapuraOMV Malaysian operations completed the year without a lost-time injury (LTI). However, we had 21 High Potential Incidents (HiPos) which could have resulted in serious or even fatal injuries under slightly different circumstances. We continued to focus on our safety culture program, including several detailed workshops in Romania and a safety culture baseline assessment in New Zealand. We conducted five global contractor performance meetings, which all had a significant HSSE component. At Hub level, contractor and supplier management continued to offer opportunities for HSSE improvement through auditing and review.

Downstream’s HSSE performance was outstanding in 2019 and further improved the LTIR to 0.22 (2018: 0.25). The severity of work accidents in terms of lost workdays was reduced significantly, by more than half, compared to 2018. Special emphasis was placed on contractor management, process safety assessments and improvement measures, and training on various emergency and crisis management scenarios.

Employees’ well-being and health are the foundation for successful company performance as they are core elements of ensuring the ability to work. In 2019, OMV continued its long tradition of offering healthcare and preventive health programs, such as cardiovascular disease prevention programs, cancer awareness sessions, vaccinations, first aid courses, work-life balance awareness sessions, and health hours, which go far beyond local legal requirements.

During 2019, a number of key safety-related activities took place:

• The life-saving rules titled ”Protect Your and Your Colleagues’ Lives” were rolled out Group-wide to all employees and contractors to help prevent severe workplace incidents. Trainings, booklets, videos, and info screens were provided for this purpose.
• The Group-wide Safety Culture Program was continued with a focus on hazard awareness workshops and employee engagement in identifying hazards and managing risks. More than 15,000 HSSE walk-arounds provided opportunities for dialog on site between the workforce and management.
• Contractor HSSE management is key to OMV Group’s safety performance. It starts in the early phases of procurement. For this reason, the internal regulations framework was reviewed, and HSSE requirements were formally integrated into the updated source-to-contract process and other business processes.
• A new HSSE reporting tool was set up and rolled out on time. The system will further support the sharing of lessons learned from safety reports and incident investigations, and will provide up-to-date analytical features.

A still unstable geopolitical environment combined with enduring regional conflicts resulted in the 2019 security emphasis remaining on the Middle East and North Africa. Notwithstanding the challenges of operating securely in Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia, the threat of terrorist attacks on mainland Europe and elsewhere further validate OMV’s travel security procedures governing all company travelers. In addition to the enduring terrorist threat, other threats such as political extremism, organized crime, and asymmetric cyber threats remain very credible.

The Resilience Standard on incident, emergency, crisis, and business continuity management was updated. Resilience capabilities were further improved in 2019, e.g., by training on various scenarios and reviewing the corresponding plans.