Occupational Safety

OMV aims to adhere to the highest standards to provide its employees and contractors a safe workplace. Our Safety Management System is based on the OMV Group’s HSSE Policy, the HSSE Directive, and corporate regulations such as HSSE Risk Management, Process Safety Management, Occupational Safety Management, Contractor HSSE Management, Management of Hazardous Substances, and Personnel Transportation, as well as Reporting, Investigation, and Classification of Incidents, which provide the framework for safety management. A total of 48% of OMV sites, including all three refineries, have been certified to ISO 45001. This covers 39% of our employees. ¹ Excluding Borealis

Risk Assessments

We establish feasible and viable mitigation measures to prevent accidents and to minimize the negative impact on people and the environment when incidents occur. Our regulations stipulate mandatory risk assessments for non-routine work, any changes, and projects. They also require regular reviews of the risk assessments of existing installations and a Last-Minute Risk Analysis (e.g., in the course of toolbox meetings) prior to every job.

The Major Accident ² Major Accident refers to an incident involving an explosion, fire, loss of well control, release of oil, gas, or dangerous substances, serious damage to the installation or connected infrastructure, involving or with a significant potential to cause fatalities or serious personal injury or environmental damage within a large area outside the boundaries, as well as any other incident leading to fatalities or serious injury to five or more persons. Prevention Policy, which is part of the HSSE Directive, sets out the overall aims and guidelines for controlling the risk of a major accident as part of OMV Group operations. Acknowledging that the risks of major accidents in onshore or offshore operations related to oil and gas extraction, transportation, refining, and distribution activities are significant, and recognizing that such major accidents can have severe consequences for the environment and affected persons, OMV firmly believes that a strong safety culture is the foundation for all of its operations and relationships with contractors.

Major risks and the respective mitigation measures are evaluated and monitored within the Enterprise-Wide Risk Management (EWRM) process, documented in a Group-wide database (Active Risk Management System; ARMS) and reported to top management biannually or on an ad-hoc basis whenever issues arise. Senior management is directly involved in the review of risks identified as a top priority.

In 2020, our special focus was continuing to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the information on sites with the potential for Major Accident Events (MAEs) in this central database. Among such sites are OMV facilities operating under the Safety Case Regime in non-EU countries, facilities that are regulated by (or meet the criteria of) the Seveso-III Directive of the European Union – the Directive on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous chemical substances – as well as high-risk pipelines and flowlines, high-integrity risk wells, and offshore facilities. The goal is to prevent major accidents and limit the consequences of any accidents that may occur. The scenarios for MAEs, including the risk control barriers for these facilities, were introduced in ARMS in 2019. In 2020, onsite Operation Integrity Assessments were further carried out remotely, with desktop assessments being performed to confirm the risk control status.

Roles and Responsibilities

The health and safety of the people who work for us are key priorities at OMV. Our Executive Board exhibits strong leadership and commitment to these goals. In 2020, we again defined three focus areas related to safety, with an Executive Board member assigned as the owner of each. Biannual online sharing sessions were organized between the owners and Upstream and Downstream colleagues to establish a common basis of understanding and to exchange information about safety culture, contractor HSSE management, and process safety. A quarterly Petrom Safety Committee meeting was held regularly at OMV Petrom Board level to analyze safety-specific performance and projects, and define actions for continuous improvement.

In line with the HSSE Directive, clear roles and responsibilities are defined for all staff, line management, and senior management. Line management is responsible for ensuring that HSSE issues are integrated into all business decisions and activities. They are required to demonstrate commitment and leadership by acting as role models and taking appropriate measures to control and manage all HSSE risks in their spheres of responsibility.

All staff is required to be familiar with the HSSE Policy, internal HSSE regulations, and the relevant legislation. They actively contribute to and further develop HSSE awareness as part of the corporate culture, stop and report unsafe or irresponsible acts and conditions, and report any incidents and non-compliance. OMV employees at all levels are regularly trained on their roles and responsibilities. Moreover, our Life Saving Rules are presented and discussed regularly during awareness programs, workshops, management walk-arounds and safety walks, as well as during various meetings.

Incident Reporting and Investigation

All employees and contractors are encouraged to bring to the attention of line management unsafe conditions and behaviors in order to identify and resolve potential issues that might otherwise lead to future incidents or accidents. We acknowledge these suggestions for improvement submitted by employees and contractors locally in the Report of the Month and at corporate level in the Report of the Quarter, which are broadly communicated one-pagers to facilitate the sharing of lessons learned.

We launched a new central reporting tool (OMV Synergi) in 2020. All incidents, hazards, HSSE walks, audits, findings, and defined actions are reported and tracked in this tool. Regular online trainings are being organized via the My Learning platform to ensure effective use of the new tool by highlighting the importance of data input quality. Dashboards for the significant HSSE data and relevant KPIs (e.g., LTIs, TRIs, HiPos, process safety events, actions status, etc.) were set up and made available to different management levels throughout the Group. Our aim here was to increase awareness regarding OMV Synergi entries to boost their quality and transparency, and to improve data owner accountability. During 2020, 38,069 (2019: 106,231) unsafe condition and behavior reports were collected in our reporting tool.

Lost-Time Injury Rate ³ Lost-time injuries are any occupational injuries resulting in fatalities, permanent total disabilities, and lost workday cases, but excluding restricted work cases and medical treatment cases.

Per 1 mn hours worked

Total Recordable Injury Rate ⁴ Total recordable injuries are any injuries resulting in fatalities, permanent total disabilities, lost workday cases, restricted work cases, and medical treatment cases.

Per 1 mn hours worked

We continued to investigate incidents and accidents using the knowledge of our incident investigation skill pool members and other technical experts. Our aim was to find the root causes of incidents and carry out suitable and necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of more severe incidents. At the same time, we remained focused on verifying the effectiveness of actions implemented in the past years after severe incidents and High-Potential Incidents (HiPos), including process safety incidents. We also further developed the incident investigation process and established a subprocess to share HSSE information and promote our lessons learned as an organization. Our Incident Investigation Panel met on a quarterly basis to obtain a clear overview regarding the whole process and to implement practical actions for its improvement.

We maintained our central platform to ensure Group-wide sharing of knowledge and takeaways from incidents. Starting in 2020, however, new HSSE alerts and lessons learned were input directly in the OMV Synergi system. This provides a complete collection at Group level of case studies and information on incidents in Upstream and Downstream since 2013 for use and communication during safety moments, in toolbox talks, or in HSSE training.

Training, Awareness Raising, and Safety Promotion Activities

Even under difficult conditions in 2020, we continued to operate the Group-wide Safety Culture Program with the same goal of pushing for change and striving for the best in an environment where safe behavior is a prerequisite for good safety performance. Education and training are important for informing workers and managers about workplace hazards and controls so they can work more safely and be more productive.

Protect Your and Your Colleagues’ Lives

We believe that promoting open dialogue and establishing a culture in which health and safety are integrated into every employee’s role are effective ways to empower people to work safely. Workers are engaged in launching, implementing, evaluating, and improving health and safety programs. They work closely with their managers to find joint solutions to common problems, which helps managers pinpoint issues, while workers are motivated and encouraged to improve their own safety. In 2020,
28 formal joint health and safety committees comprising management and worker representatives were organized at OMV Group sites. ¹ Excluding Borealis

We continued to concentrate on quality over quantity in terms of reporting, management walk-arounds, safety walks, and action close-outs. In addition, we continued our efforts to make safety a top priority in the minds of employees. We are focusing more attention on improving our management walk-arounds and safety walks through the development of an open dialogue during these, which promotes understanding of the challenges in the operating fields and increases trust between the workforce and management.

In our operations, we recognized safe behavior and good safety practices to improve the relationship between the workforce and management, and to encourage safe behavior in a positive manner. For example, we acknowledged the safe behavior of individuals and teams on the spot during various site visits and the “stop work” actions in online forums or periodical management meetings. During the year, we held one open online session with more than 300 participants from throughout the Group to celebrate the UN’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Under the auspices of the Safety Culture Program, we rolled out a Life Saving Rules e-learning course to remind employees about simple rules to follow that can prevent accidents that could lead to serious injury or death.

Many training topics were defined based on an analysis of the root causes of incidents and contributing factors as well as findings from various HSSE assessments. During 2020, we organized online training sessions on awareness as well as HSSE roles and responsibilities, hazard identification, and controls in the workplace. E-learning sessions covered the Life Saving Rules, leadership safety skills, and HSSE walks. Work permits, gas testing, and hazards with the potential for serious consequences (such as work at height, excavations, transportation) were addressed in the Life Saving Rules e-learning course, in safety alerts, and during the toolbox talks before starting the activities. Awareness of process safety topics was enhanced through the use of computer-based training modules.

Safety During COVID-19

In an effort to remind people that safety continues to be important for them and their colleagues even in this difficult pandemic situation, we used the internal communication system MyNews to send out a series of short letters about the following topics: safety in critical times (risk assessment, asking, stopping work, complacency, and time pressure), shift handover and work permits, gas testing and hazardous substances, and work at height. All of these were sent out under the “Sign of life” initiative.

SDG targets: 3.3 By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases; 8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment.

We organized quarterly online sessions with the coordinators of the Safety Culture Program from throughout the OMV Group to share experiences and learn from each other. Various people from different corners of the world presented the stories of their efforts toward safety culture development, including what they have done at their sites to reduce risks associated with COVID-19.

OMV Petrom Downstream continued to hold regular Safety Committees meetings, which were introduced last year in each business unit, as well as safety awareness campaigns (“All accidents are preventable” and “Fight routine/complacency at the workplace”). In parallel, a short training session reminded people about the power of intervention in case of unsafe acts, something anyone can do. At OMV Petrom Upstream, dedicated workshops were organized to raise awareness of the five principles established and supported by the OMV Petrom Group Board: All accidents are preventable; Safety is number one because we care about people; Safety is above all other business objectives; Every job can be done safely; Open reporting is a means of learning and improvement.

The idea behind the workshops was to breathe life into these principles, to make people think about them, and to show our leaders’ commitment to the safety of their people – who are the most valuable resource in any organization.

We began a safety culture maturity level reassessment at various operational sites to see and truly understand how they have progressed in recent years. In 2020, the reassessments were completed for the following entities: OMV Petrom Upstream Workover and Drilling, Projects, Assets Muntenia West and Oltenia, OMV Petrom Downstream Retail, Burghausen refinery, and OMV Austria Exploration and Production. The reassessments represent the “consolidate change phase” of the Safety Culture Program in alignment with the continuous improvement cycle.

Dedicated e-learning training sessions were launched at OMV Petrom on improving managers’ safety leadership skills and on HSSE walk-arounds to remind them of the power of interaction and dialogue. Taking into account the global situation, we developed a short guide on remote HSSE walk-arounds, because continual contact between employees and managers is important, even if it cannot be face to face.

Sustainability Strategy 2025 Targets

• Achieve Zero work-related fatalities
• Stabilize Lost-Time Injury Rate at below 0.30 (per 1 million hours worked)

Status 2020

• Work-related fatalities: 0
• Lost-Time Injury Rate: 0.32

Action Plan to Achieve the Targets

Contractor Management

• Improve oversight of contractor activities by periodically reviewing the HSSE performance of key contractors and addressing the concerns during quarterly service quality meetings
• Perform contractor HSSE audits with focus on subcontractors
• Perform joint HSSE walk-arounds at contractor sites

Safety Culture

• Enhance dialogue in HSSE walk-arounds/safety walks
• Develop hazard-awareness activities linked to the HSSE Life Saving Rules to improve employee engagement in identifying hazards and managing risks
• Recognize good performance in HSSE reporting and reward safe behavior at business units and corporate level
• Organize HSSE trainings for employees and managers with focus on safety leadership and Life Saving Rules

For 2021, we agreed on and cascaded defined actions and targets related to the implementation of the Safety Culture Program into all local HSSE plans:

Empower Line Management

• Use OMV Synergi dashboards actively to manage HSSE and HSSE performance; strengthen risk awareness of the workforce, based on Life Saving Rules and locally identified risk areas; conduct local safety culture activities with defined additional actions, if needed

Incident Investigation

• Continue to improve the quality of our investigations
• Improve the “Share HSSE information and promote organizational learning” process
• Follow up on actions derived from incident investigations

SDG targets: 3.9 By 2030, substantially reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination; 8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment

Focus on Contractor Safety

The safety of our contractors is just as important as the safety of our own employees. For this reason, we have established processes that require contractors to work according to our standards. Our Contractor HSSE Management Process begins when we issue the scope of work with information about HSSE requirements and the HSSE Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The process continues through the tender stage with the HSSE prequalification and capability audit. Once the contract terms are agreed and the contract is awarded, but before work begins at the site, we reinforce our expectations and requirements during HSSE induction, site specific trainings, and joint meetings. The presence of contractors at our sites is monitored permanently using an electronic registration system (refineries) or paper sign system (e.g., presence sheet, permit to work, induction sheet, etc.). During the contract period, we monitor our contractors by way of audits, inspections, joint safety walks, service quality meetings, forums, and workshops, using the outcomes to share experience and encourage improvement of our HSSE performance as a team.

In 2020, we continued to integrate contractor organizations into our HSSE audit program mainly through remote audits. We also organized quarterly service quality meetings with key contractors, making HSSE an important part of the agenda. In addition, our strengths and weaknesses in HSSE management in our relationships with contractors and suppliers were discussed during the annual strategic suppliers’ meetings organized by Procurement and in various online forums and workshops.

In 2020, we rolled out a new Contractor HSSE Management Standard, organizing trainings for the main stakeholders, i.e., the Procurement department, contract holders, and contract owners. The standard defines the minimum requirements for integrating HSSE issues into all phases of the contract life cycle and into the contractor management process. The standard aims to define a standardized process for the HSSE management of contractors, from selection through contract close-out.