Health and safety
Business strategy, business model and core values
“Responsible” is one of Hafslund’s core values. This means that Hafslund takes its social mission seriously and that the Group does what it can to fulfil the responsibility it has been assigned. This also includes taking care of anyone directly impacted by Hafslund’s facilities and doing what is best to ensure that business activities do not have an adverse impact on health and safety.
In order for Hafslund to meet the objectives set out in the Group’s strategic focus areas up until 2035, the Group will need to ensure, among other things, that the workplace does not adversely impact employee h ealth and safety. Without good routines and systems, Hafslund will neither be able to operate the current energy system nor develop more renewable energy. “The best people are the key” is one of these focus areas. In order for Hafslund to recruit good new people and, not least, retain existing employees, it is crucial that Hafslund is perceived as being a safe workplace, both physically and mentally.
Hafslund’s own employees and others working at Hafslund’s locations are the most important stakeholders under the topic of “Health and safety”. Hafslund also has facilities in areas where the general public lives or travels. Health, safety and the environment must be protected in all the Group’s activities and assigned the highest priority. In order for Hafslund to achieve this, the Group needs to have good communication with and training for employees to ensure that near-misses, accidents and other undesirable incidents do not occur.
Hafslund considers transparency to be particularly valuable and believes this contributes to learning and improvement. The Group registers all non-compliance, undesirable incidents, hazardous conditions and proposed improvements. The reporting portal is located on the front page of the Group’s intranet and is easily accessible for Hafslund’s employees. Hafslund also has an externally managed whistleblowing channel where both internal and external people can report incidents that could potentially involve danger to life or health.
Health, safety and the environment must be protected in all the Group’s activities and assigned the highest priority. In order for Hafslund to achieve this, the Group needs to have good communication with and training for employees to ensure that near-misses, accidents and other undesirable incidents do not occur.
Impact, risks and opportunities
Hafslund owns and operates facilities and infrastructure that involve risk and high potential for causing injury or damage. The work in the Group’s projects, operations and maintenance involves the risk of injury and undesirable incidents for both our own employees and hired personnel. Hafslund has just over 800 employees, as well as many suppliers, subcontractors and hired personnel. It is particularly the people who are at or in the immediate vicinity of Hafslund’s facilities who have an increased risk of injury or other undesirable incidents.
For Hafslund Eco Vannkraft, the greatest physical risks are considered to be work operations on the mountain under shifting weather conditions, working with live electric systems, working at heights, heavy lifting, heavy equipment and during transport. For Hafslund Oslo Celsio, the greatest physical risk is associated with exposure to very hot water under high pressure. For Hafslund Vekst, the greatest risk is associated with physical injury when working in electrical facilities and working at heights.
In the worst case, HSE incidents can result in serious injury or death. Hafslund is responsible for ensuring that all work operations and movement in and around facilities are at such safe levels that there is a very low probability of incidents occurring. Harm to life and health is the most serious consequence in connection with “Health and safety”. Hafslund depends on its employees and suppliers to always act in a responsible manner and to be perceived as such, and that the business culture promotes safety being prioritised.
The Group currently has no major hydropower developments in the construction phase, but is carrying out several major dam rehabilitations. There are ongoing rehabilitations of power plants and regular maintenance work is carried out at the waste incineration and district heating plants. The development of large-scale carbon capture at Klemetsrud is also underway. This development project will run over several years in parallel with the operation of the plant. Several of the Group’s smaller initiatives within new business activities will commence operations in the field in coming years. In all of these projects, many of Hafslund’s own employees and the employees of Hafslund’s suppliers will operate in areas that have the potential for causing harm. This increases the complexity of Hafslund’s HSE work and can increase the risk of undesirable incidents.
Many of Hafslund’s facilities are located close to where people travel or live. Hafslund makes every effort to prevent unauthorised persons from entering its facilities. Water reservoirs may contain unsafe ice, there may be a risk of falls at hydropower plants, and there are electrical installations connected to Hafslund’s facilities that could potentially cause harm to life or health.
Significant risks and opportunities related to “Health and safety”:
| Risks | Opportunities | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Death related to operations or serious injury to own employees or suppliers | Training and raising awareness | ||
| Culture of incident reporting |
Policy/Guidelines
Hafslund has a Group sustainability policy that is underpinned by Hafslund’s principles relating to sustainability.
Principles in the Group sustainability policy that are directly related to the important sustainability topic of “Health and safety”:
- Health, safety and the environment (HSE) shall be prioritised in all of Hafslund’s activities.
- All activities must continually work to minimise the risk of injury or accident to the general public.
Hafslund also has a Group policy for HSE. The policy was prepared in cooperation with the heads of Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) in the three business areas. The Executive Vice President Corporate Development owns the policy and it is revised at least once year. The Group’s guiding principles for HSE form the basis for the HSE work at Hafslund. The most important principle in this policy document is that:
- All activities at Hafslund must be carried out without harm to human life, health or well-being.
Among other things, the principles also affirm that HSE shall be fundamental to the planning, implementation and evaluation of all activities, and that everyone should work to continuously improve safety and report non-conformities. The same HSE requirements in our own activities also apply to contractors.
In order for Hafslund to further develop and continuously reduce the risk of undesirable incidents, Hafslund has laid down the following principles in the policy:
- Employee expertise shall be improved through training and good cooperation on preventive health, safety and environment work between managers and employees.
- All undesirable incidents and proposed improvements must be reported and processed in the company’s reporting system.
- We will promote transparency and latitude that involve learning after incidents and proposed improvements to achieve best practice.
- Arenas will be established for good collaboration across departments and companies.
Actions
The probability of serious incidents occurring can be reduced through systematic work with HSE and the HSE culture over time.
Work on preventive HSE measures has intensified in recent years, and documentation is followed up to ensure that progress is being made. This work will continue going forward, while active efforts will be made to ensure that managers at all levels of the organisation lead the way in terms of safety work, both at strategic and operational levels.
The Group has ongoing work with the aim of standardising processes and increasing the use of risk assessments in planning of work processes. All incidents or precursor incidents must be reported so that necessary measures can be implemented and the organisation can derive learning from the incident.
There are a number of measures that have either been implemented, are still being implemented or are planned to be implemented.
Death or serious injury related to operations are included as part of the Group’s top risk landscape. For the Group as a whole, Hafslund is working on measures that reduce the probability component of the risk. The most important measures for mitigating risk are:
- Internal audits and projects for physically securing facilities
- Making managers accountable
- Greater degree of compliance control
- Processes for learning from incidents and near misses across the organisation
- Emergency preparedness plans with Group exercises
Hafslund Eco Vannkraft
Hafslund Eco Vannkraft owns and is responsible for facilities and infrastructure with major potential for causing harm. It is the company’s own employees, as well as external suppliers, who operate the hydropower plants on a daily basis. To reduce risk, emphasis is placed on:
- Improving the current management system.
- Increasing expertise and resources within condition monitoring.
- Establishing clear processes and a culture for learning from incidents and near misses.
A number of actions were implemented to support this work, and some of these are described below.
Understanding of risk
In 2023, work continued on strengthening individual understanding of risk in order to improve the quality of risk assessments in the planning phase and implementation of safe job analysis (SJA) in connection with work processes. Among other things, this is achieved through the use of digital e-learning courses.
HSE Safety Course
In 2023, Hafslund Eco Vannkraft launched an HSE Safety Course to be completed by own employees and suppliers. The course is an introduction to the company’s HSE work, safety rules, and requirements relating to alerts and emergency response. The course has currently been launched in Norwegian, English and Polish.
Training and exercises
- HSE days, safety courses and other statutory training are held in all power plant areas. This includes HSE courses, training in first aid and use of defibrillators, fire extinguisher exercises and emergency drills.
- Hafslund Eco Vannkraft continually works to ensure that the watercourse facilities are safe for the public and to reduce the risk of accidents and incidents taking place near the watercourses. Risk and vulnerability analyses of public safety are regularly carried out.
- Hafslund assigns particular attention to safety measures in and around the hydropower plants. The most common safety measures are permanent fences, barriers and signs. Every year, temporary fences and warning signs are erected in areas with weakened ice. Information is also provided online, advertisements are placed in local newspapers, and notice is given via other channels that the ice may be unsafe on regulated watercourses.
Hafslund Oslo Celsio
To reduce risk, emphasis is placed on:
- Managers continually following-up compliance with HSE instructions and procedures. This includes the HSE work of contractors.
- The integration of the HSE management system into Hafslund Oslo Celsio’s overarching risk management framework.
- Annual mandatory HSE e-learning courses.
During the year, a number of actions were implemented to support this work, and some of these are described below:
HSE Day
In September 2023, Hafslund Oslo Celsio arranged a successful HSE day for all employees in the company. The day consisted of a mixture of theoretical and practical stations providing instruction in various types of first aid, fire extinguishing and evacuation of smoke-filled rooms. The event contributed to increased employee awareness of some of the risk factors that exist at the company’s facilities. Employees also gained increased knowledge with regard to first aid and control at the scene of an accident. Hafslund plans for this to become an annual event.
First aid courses
First aid courses were held for all employees during 2023. This is an acknowledgement that knowledge of first aid can be crucial to saving lives, both at work and privately. The courses were a combination of both theory and practical exercises which enabled the participants to test themselves in various realistic scenarios.
Locking equipment and access system at the Klemetsrud plant
In order to protect personnel who will work on systems that are in operation, new methods and equipment for locking components are being established. This will initially take place at Klemetsrud. This is to enable maintenance to be carried out without risk to life and health. Good systems for locking and draining energy are essential for avoiding the accidental switching on of energy with the subsequent risk of serious injury or death. Hafslund Oslo Celsio has installed the Lenel OnGuard access control system at the Klemetsrud plan, which provides the company with a common electronic access control system.
Emergency response exercises
Hafslund Oslo Celsio conducts exercises and training to maintain emergency preparedness in the event of incidents. A total of 25 exercises were carried out in 2023. The topics of these exercises were fire at energy centres, emissions for oil tanks into the ground and water, defined emergency response incidents for industrial protection at Klemetsrud and crisis exercise involving discharge of hot water from accumulator tank at Haraldrud
Hafslund Vekst
Hafslund Vekst develops and carries out projects and commercial development in various parts of the business which involve both own and external employees performing work in offices or at facilities. The activity level will grow in coming years. In order to reduce the present risk and ensure adequate control during the growth phase, particular emphasis is placed on the following risk mitigation measures:
- Development of management system for HSE/QA.
- Responsibility for HSE/QA clarified in job descriptions.
- Overarching risk management in all planning of projects/start-ups.
Metrics and targets
The status for 2023 indicates that Hafslund still has work to do and that the Group is some way from achieving these metrics and targets. In order to better measure how the group is doing while also reducing the risk of accidents and near-misses not being reported, Hafslund has set specific development goals linked to H1 and H2 for 2025 and 2030. The Group management team reviews the HSE report at the start of each Group management meeting.
Hafslund’s overarching metrics and targets for “Health and safety” are:
- No harm to the life, health or well-being of our own employees or contractors’ employees.
- No injuries or accidents to third parties as a result of the Group’s activities.
| Metrics and targets | Result 2023 | Result 2022 | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1* < 1.0 in 2025 and < 0.8 in 2030 | 4.6 | 1.2 | The Group unfortunately experienced an increase in injuries resulting in absence from work in 2023. The Group takes this seriously and looks for commonalities in order to learn from these incidents and initiate actions. |
| H2** < 5.0 in 2025 and < 3.0 in 2030 | 7.6 | 2.9 | The Group unfortunately experienced an increase in injuries resulting in both absence from work and no absence from work in 2023. The Group takes this seriously and looks for commonalities in order to learn from these incidents and initiate actions. |
*H1-injury is defined as work-related injury that results in absence beyond the day the injury occurred per million working hours.
**H2-injury is defined as the total number of injuries per million working hours.
Indicator table
| Unit | 2023 | 2022 | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absence due to injury per million working hours | h1-value | 4.6 | 1.2 | |
| Injuries per million working hours | h2-value | 7.6 | 2.9 | |
| Days of absence per million working hours | f-value | 66.2 | 3.5 | |
| Registered undesirable incidents and proposed improvements | Number | 1,222 | 1,325 | |
| Safety talks at Celsio (min. 150 pcs.) | Number | 111 | 126 | |
| Share of own workforce (including employees and non-employees (hired labour)) that is covered by the HSE system | Share (%) | 100 | - | New indicator |
| Number of deaths as a result of work-related injuries and work-related ill health | Number | 0 | - | New indicator |
| Number of registered work-related accidents | Number | 8 | - | New indicator |
| Number of incidents reported through the notification channel related to the risk of damage to life and health | Number | 125 | - | New indicator |
| Number of days lost (absence days) due to work-related injuries and deaths as a result of work-related accidents, work-related ill-health and deaths as a result of ill-health | Number | 8 | - | New indicator |
| Unit | 2023 | 2022 | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Injuries to third-parties as a result of the company's activities | Number | 5 | 0 | Third parties include suppliers |
| Incidents reported to NVE - The Norwegian Energy Regulatory Authority (accidents and incidents), cf. NVE reporting form, Section 7-11 of the Dam Safety Regulations | Number | 3 | 1 | |
| Completed risk and vulnerability assessments (RVAs) for public safety according to plan, cf. Section 7-6 in the Dam Safety Regulations | Number | 27 | 4 | Hafslund Vekst carries out risk assessments to various degrees, which are not RVAs, but which are aimed at/include risk assessments and measures for safeguarding third parties |
| Incidents with notification to the public of flood alleviation according to established procedure | Number | 0 | 0 | |
| Emergency response exercises to ensure a high standard of internal preparedness and flood management* | Number | 15 | 31 | Emergency organisation exercises. Excluding IT exercises and practical crew exercises. |
| Applications to NVE for deviations from regulation schedules or conditions to reduce the risk of flood damage in time | Number | 0 | 1 | |
| Incidents reported to The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) (accidents and incidents), cf. form for reporting accidents and incidents, Section 8 of the Norwegian Safety regulations relating to the maintenance and operation of electrical installations | Number | 0 | 0 |
*There have been fewer planned exercises than usual in 2023, the flood “Hans” produced a learning effect that far exceeds the value of the ordinary exercise programme.
