We work continuously to avoid work-related illnesses and injuries, and track the development through a corporate reporting tool. Guidelines for assessing work environment risks are actively used by the business areas to help map and evaluate Hydro's work environment.
Registered sick leave was 3.7 percent in 2009, up from 3.4 percent in 2008. 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 average rate in Norwegian industry. In Norway, sick leave was 5.1 percent in 2009, compared to 5.6 percent in the previous year. Sick leave among male employees was 4.9 percent, down from 5.1 percent in 2008, while sick leave among females decreased significantly from 7.5 percent in 2008 to 6.0 percent in 2009.
We achieved our 2009 target of a 20 percent reduction in total recordable injuries per million hours worked (TRI) with an actual decrease of 26 percent. Even though Hydro's TRI rate has been steadily decreasing for many years, we have experienced that the fatality rate has not shown the same improvement. We had three fatalities in 2009. As a consequence, we intensify follow-up - including thorough analysis and risk evaluation of all high-risk incidents - to find out how fatalities can be further prevented. We will reinforce our high-risk incident and fatality-prevention activities, emphasizing incident analysis and risk management.
