Safety culture and business stability go hand in hand
Boliden's operations entail risks such as handling substantial material flows, high temperatures and, from time to time, substances that are hazardous to health. A safe and healthy work environment is a top priority for Boliden, and the Group has adopted a zero tolerance vision for accidents at work.
Boliden works to promote a common safety culture built on mutual trust and preventive measures. This approach includes an individual responsibility to follow the applicable safety procedures and good risk awareness. Consistent and committed leadership at all levels, committed employees and strong peer pressure that does not tolerate risky behaviour are important cornerstones, and a continuous ongoing dialogue on the subjects of attitudes and behaviour is vital.
Boliden's safety culture and performance are vital for business stability and prosperity. Accident prevention avoids delays that affect production. A strong safety culture helps to secure current and future talent, and reassures investors. In addition, an accident may not just involve personal injury, but could even jeopardise Boliden's overall right to operate.
Safety performance
A 2013 Metals & Mining Outlook by Deutsche Bank, which rated metals and mining companies according to their fatality ratio between 2006 and 2011 ranked Boliden as one of the best in terms of fatality prevention as it had the lowest fatality rate in the industry over the period. There have been no fatal accidents during the period 2011-2017 on any of Boliden's site operations.
Safety culture survey
Boliden conducted a safety culture survey in 2015 and again in 2017, which were answered by approximately 4,400 employees. One of the key conclusions was that production is sometimes prioritised over safety, which highlights the need to better involve both employees and contractors in safety work. Each unit is developing common improvement actions that are followed up during annual Group Safety Walks and audits. There are clear signs of improvements on most units and as a result, proactive risk reporting is increasing, and accidents are starting to drop to lower levels. During the period Dec 2017-March 2018 there were no accidents with absence ( LTIs) among Boliden's 5,700 employees. A number of units have reached record low LTI rates with zero accidents over a 12 month period.
Ongoing safety culture work
Boliden's Safety Strategy pursues continual safety performance improvements and establishes a systematic safety road map structure to move all units to best in class. Annual safety network meetings are held that provide a forum for the exchange of information and best practice between Boliden's production units. Focus areas for 2018 are leadership training, development of a proactivity index, a fair and just matrix, and social and organisational work environment matters.
Manager development programme
Management development programmes are continuously held to improve awareness of how leadership impacts Boliden's safety culture. The programme increases knowledge among managers of how their attitudes and behaviour have a direct impact on health and safety in the workplace.
Employee involvement activities
As a strong safety culture requires involvement by all daily pulse meetings has been introduced in dedicated places updating both employees and contractors on the most urgent safety matters.