HEALTH AND SAFETY

Workplace safety

The construction and building industry is vulnerable to accidents, where small mistakes on a construction site can have major consequences. Therefore, significant Group-wide efforts are being implemented to prevent occupational accidents through measures such as safeguards, reporting undesirable incidents, internal risk assessment requirements and safe-working analyses. In the past year, we were unfortunately affected by two very serious accidents, in which three people were killed. One accident occurred during tunnel work in Hydro's hydroelectric plants Tignes-Suldal in Hordaland, the other in a tunnel at Kjøsnesfjorden power plants.

Increase in number of injuries

Veidekke's injury rate (number of injuries per million hours worked) was in 5.7 in 2009, compared with 4.5 last year, an increase of 21 per cent, and we see this same increase in the industry as a whole. Our Norwegian operations had an injury rate of 5.2 compared with 2.9 last year. In our Swedish operations, the injury rate's positive development continued lower to 7.6 compared with 7.8 last year. Our Danish operations reported in an injury rate of 6.6 compared with 9.2 last year.

We will continue our systematic HSE work on our construction sites. Despite the fact that it is difficult to pinpoint any specific reasons why rates are increasing both in Veidekke and in the Norwegian industry in general, it well severs to remind us of the importance of being even better in this area. A survey conducted by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority shows that young craftsmen under 25 years are most prone to injury, which is consistent with our own experience. Inexperienced apprentices are often the most careless. The most common injuries include eye injuries, knife cuts or stabs.

Better reporting and more involvement

In addition to reporting on the standard injury rate, we also use a secondary injury rate, which includes injuries without absence, but with medical treatment. Examples of such injuries are minor cuts or sprained ankles, which are typical injuries that are not captured by ordinary measurements. By using both the ordinary injury rate as well as the secondary injury rate, we get a much better overview of the total scope of injuries, and a far better foundation for achieving even better HSE results. In 2010 we will increase the reporting of all incidents that could potentially become dangerous. We want to look behind the numbers to learn more about possible causes we may have overlooked.

In 2009, 19 063 undesirable incidents were reported, compared with 25 219 in 2008. In the year ahead we expect the figure will increase as a result of increased focus on reporting. Our goal is to increase the number of recorded undesirable incidents, as we know from experience that under reporting is significant.

In working with both injury rate measures and undesirable incidents, in 2010 we will seek to involve our subcontractors, who are important participants in creating a safe workplace. Injury statistics for Veidekke's Eastern Region show, for example, that subcontractors accounted for 24 per cent of lost-time injuries, while Veidekke's own employees accounted for four per cent. The most common cause of potentially hazardous situations is a lack of protective equipment, and the background for this is often a lack of motivation among employees. This is one of the reasons why we will focus even more on participative leadership and joint HSE meetings with our partners in the future. We believe that greater ownership of the processes off-site, helps everyone to be more aware of potential risks, thus improving accident prevention in everyday life. We will also demand that anyone with more than five employees on a construction site, have safety representatives who have completed a 40-hour HSE course.

Language challenges

According to an FAFO survey conducted in spring 2009 among 3700 managers in the construction industry, there are currently more major language problems at work than there were three years ago. In addition, 6 of 10 leaders believe that workers from new EU countries have poor HSE knowledge, even though rules and regulations are basically the same throughout the EEA. As much as 67 per cent of companies surveyed have employed East Europeans, as against only 37 per cent in 2006.

In Veidekke we have the same high standards for language competence and HSE knowledge for all our employees, regardless of where they come from. As we see it, language challenges were greater earlier when hired-in labour was higher. Today, foreign labourers are largely employed, and their motivation to learn the working language is high.