Health, safety, security (HSSE) in our operations are vital values and an integral part of our commitment to responsibly conducting our business. Our “ZERO harm – NO losses” vision is key to all our actions.
Our Core Management and Due Diligence Processes
Our General HSSE framework defines targets, action plans, periodical monitoring, reporting and top management involvement.
OMV Petrom Group implements the HSSE Strategy through strategic focus areas and initiatives, transposed in an annual HSSE plan, which is approved by senior management. The implementation of the plan is monitored in dedicated quarterly campaigns and reports are delivered for analysis to the management.
Planning and Performance monitoring processes are performed in the Synergi HSSE reporting tool, which supports a user-friendly way for gathering of hazards, near-misses, incidents, and findings from HSSE walks and audits regarding health, safety, security and environment. It also enables the definition of required actions, follow-up on their status and supports an efficient and effective analysis of collected HSSE data.
In 2021, we continued to make Synergi reporting functionalities more familiar to employees, by conducting regular online trainings or via actively getting engaged in the bi-weekly 1-hour Synergi talks on current HSSE reporting issues or news on further developments of the tool. A particular focus was put on promoting the use of Synergi Dashboards among different management levels, to increase awareness on how to better manage their own records in their area of activity.
HSSE management system within OMV Petrom: Achieving performance with zero incidents brings complexity and the obvious need of managing Health, Safety, Security & Resilience, and Environment systematically. The Vision, Mission, Policies and Strategy are defining the main directions. Specific regulations and process descriptions are setting the rules and applicability of our management system. The OMV Petrom HSSE regulations include:
- OMV Group-wide (HSSE Policy, HSSE Directive, 14 HSSE Group Standards and a Group Procedure
- OMV Petrom Corporate (four HSSE Standards and two HSSE Procedures)
- OMV Petrom Business Division
- Business Unit/Site-specific.
The first two categories contain the high-level minimum requirements for managing health, safety, security, resilience, and environment in the company. Furthermore, HSSE processes are defined on the process map in the OMV Group Management System. The HSSE Directive provides a framework for how the HSSE aspects are managed within OMV Petrom Group in order to protect people, environment, assets and reputation in line with our HSSE Policy, the Major Accident Prevention Policy and in view of our HSSE Vision “ZERO Harm – NO Losses”. The HSSE Directive and its annexes set out the principles and rules for the management of HSSE throughout the lifecycle of business and activities, including capital projects, mergers and acquisitions, providing also a set of standardized HSSE terms and definitions used within OMV Petrom and aligned with definitions used internationally across the industry and in sustainability reporting and the life-saving rules. The HSSE Directive is underpinned by a set of HSSE regulations and processes fully integrated into the overall Management System, establishing how HSSE shall be integrated in all business activities.
Our HSSE Management System has been designed to be consistent with existing international models for HSSE management (e.g., ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001). The management process therefore reflects the cyclical ISO system of continuous improvement following the “plan, do, check, act” (PDCA) process. Moreover, auditing is one of our main tools for checking if HSSE is managed according to requirements and for identifying opportunities for improvement. The HSSE audit approach is defined within the “HSSE Audits” Group Standard and is consistent with ISO 19011:2018, Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems. The aim of this standard is to provide the general framework to be followed to plan, execute, track, close-out, and benefit from the conclusions of HSSE audits. Considering a risk-based approach, entities with higher HSSE-related risks have priority and are subject to audits more frequently than low-risk entities. Criteria for the risk assessment include, but are not limited to, occupational and process safety performance, environmental and carbon management, security risk, criticality of the operations for the business. The annual HSSE Audit Program, including the first-, second- and third-party audits, was established in 2021 by registering in the HSSE Group’s reporting tool. The group wide consolidated HSSE audit program enabled the early identification of potential redundancies, leveraging synergies and increasing efficiency.
We constantly focus on growing a genuine HSSE culture within our organization, by encouraging employees and contractors to speak up on any unsafe condition or action they observe. This can be done directly to line managers or through our Synergi tool, which facilitates the identification and sharing of lessons learned within the organization.
HSSE competencies management within OMV Petrom: People competencies in HSSE are an important development path towards the strategic goal of having empowered employees. Our learning catalogue is reviewed and updated yearly for an easy digital access through My Success Factors platform under the Learning module. In addition, within each business unit, local internal deliveries are carried out, depending on the local legal requirements in terms of frequencies and activities specifics. Our digitalization drive continued in the pandemic context of 2021.
By the end of the year, our Group Standard “HSSE Awareness and Competencies” had been majorly revised for ensuring the right approach to HSSE qualifications development. The initial focus will be on training middle management and roll out for building HSSE qualifications into employees’ development plans. A few examples of required or recommended trainings: HSSE Leadership, Process Safety awareness, GHG awareness, Biodiversity, Security Awareness and or specific competencies on Security Technology or Resilience, Stress Resilience – Health programs, First Aid training (qualifications and or refreshers), etc.
General Reporting Boundaries: our HSSE data boundaries are generally defined in the Group Standard “HSSE Reporting”, where reporting is based on the Operational Control Approach, meaning that the company reports data on a 100% basis, even where the Group’s interest is less than 100% but more than 50%, or less than 50% if the company is the operator of a joint venture, with the exception of ETS reporting. Therefore, the Group does not report data from joint ventures it does not control and from companies with more than 50% interest where legal regulations do not allow control.
Our Health, Safety and Security approach and actions contribute to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
- SDG 3 – target 3.3 and target 3.9 by taking action to ensure minimization of contagious disease spread (COVID 19), deaths or illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination
- SDG 8 – target 8.8 by having systems in place for labor rights and promotion of safe and secure working environments for all workers
- SDG 12 – target 12.4 by employing a safe oriented and environmentally sound approach to management of chemicals and waste
