Total recordable injuries per million hours (TRI) went down by 7 percent in 2008, including acquisitions done during 2008. Excluding these acquisitions, Hydro’s TRI improvement was 15 percent. We did not reach our target of a 20 percent improvement, and we had three fatal accidents. In addition, we had one fatal accident in February 2009. Our ambition to improve TRI by 20 percent per year remains unchanged, and we are working on appropriate measures to make this possible.
The prevention and follow-up of work-related illnesses are important to us. A new reporting tool for work-related illnesses is under implementation. Registered sick leave was 3.4 percent in 2008, up from 2.8 percent in 2007. The rules for sick-leave registration differ from country to country. Our sick leave in Norway is significantly higher than in Hydro on average, but relatively low compared to the Norwegian industry average. In Norway, sick leave was 5.6 percent compared to 5.2 percent in the previous year. Men’s sick leave was 5.1 percent, up from 4.9 percent in 2006, while women’s sick leave increased from 6.4 percent in 2007 to 7.5 percent in 2008.
Risk awareness and management commitment are important to improve our safety performance. Internal investigations are routinely initiated after fatal accidents and other serious incidents. Special emphasis is made on work permits, energy control, traffic at site and on public roads, contractor safety, cranes and lifting equipment and work at heights. An important initiative in 2008 was the work-at-height training in the Qatalum project. In total, 6,000 contractor employees have already been through or are signed up for the program. Management awareness training was performed in our Aluminium Metal organization in 2008 and will continue in throughout our operations in 2009.
 |
|
 |
