Workplace health and safety

The health and safety of employees is understood as an important success factor and promoted by targeted priority programmes and internal campaigns.

Only healthy and satisfied staff can be successful with their work for a company. Energie AG works to ensure awareness and personal responsibility around quality and occupational safety among its employees. An internal campaign under the motto “100% safe” was launched in the 2020/2021 fiscal year and is intended to alert employees to potential hazards in their work environment. The campaign also calls on employees to contribute their own ideas on how to additionally increase work safety.

Potential hazards are ascertained and assessed by the respective managerial staff (or the responsible commissioned staff member pursuant to § 9 Administrative Penal Act (VStG)) with the help from the relevant work safety and occupational health experts in accordance with § 4 of the Employee Protection Act. This forms the foundation for the determination of measures (the workplace evaluation). The “Safety Manual” of the Austrian lobby group “Österreichs Energie” includes an evaluation of individual activities. Shortcomings in the Austrian entities detected during the regular inspections pursuant to § 77a Work Safety Act (ASchG) are also assessed in accordance with a risk matrix pursuant to ISO 45001:2018 (excluding the Waste Management Segment). The employees also rate their work activities on a risk matrix provided by the safety management in the form of training templates.

Work accidents or incidents that almost resulted in an accident are investigated by the safety management in accordance with the Employee Protection Act insofar as an investigation appears expedient for the prevention of further accidents. This allows for the development of suitable measures, such as a change of work materials, work equipment, work processes, personal protective equipment, or more frequent inductions.

Hazards and risks are reported to the direct line manager. Other persons (employer, safety expert, occupational health specialist etc.) are involved as required to identify these hazards and minimise risks as far as possible. The employees have access to all services offered by an occupational health specialist in accordance with § 82 Employee Protection Act.

As required under the Employee Protection Act, the involvement of safety liaison staff or the relevant employee representatives assures that the employees are involved in issues concerning work safety.

The employer communicates safety-relevant issues to employees down the hierarchical levels in accordance with the organisational structure and in consultation with the safety liaison officer. The employees in Austria have access to a wide range of training options on work safety (e.g. e-learning modules on preventative fire protection, protection against falls, work in enclosed spaces; in-person events: construction site safety, working with electricity, and working with lifting equipment).

Preventive action and information are used to prevent work-related adverse health conditions and staff are directed to be more conscious in their approach to health through the “energy@work” project. If an individual has already fallen ill, the Company takes steps to promote their recovery. Energie AG’s company health management policy was awarded the “Betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung” (Workplace Health Promotion) seal of approval (except for the Czech Republic and Waste Management Segments), which is valid in its current form until 2022.

Numerous programmes contribute to safeguarding the employees' health (e.g. the webinar “Staying strong during the COVID-19 pandemic”, first aid courses, quit smoking seminars, workshop “Schichtfit basics”).

Topical issues are discussed and solutions are developed in regular health meetings including employee representatives, occupational health professionals and safety management specialists. Weekly exercise programmes at a number of work sites also promote health awareness. The range of occupational healthcare services includes extensive contact during consultation hours and vaccination campaigns. A “Mental Health at Work Service Line” is also available to all employees in Austria in order to provide support in the event of personal problems or conflicts. A Group-wide employee survey was conducted in the spring months of 2021. The questions on psychological stress and their effects on the employees' health that were included for the Austrian companies this time cover the legally required “evaluation of psychological stress factors”. The questionnaire also included questions to determine the HWO (“Human Work Index”) and specific questions related to projects and key issues.

The results of the evaluation of psychological stress factors show that all business and service areas in Austria as well as the holding units and ČEVAK a.s. from the Czech Republic Segment score above the benchmark for Austria in all four dimensions. The HWI of Energie AG (all business and service areas in Austria plus the holding units) exactly matches the benchmark for Austria. The biggest subsidiary in the Czech Republic, ČEVAK a.s., outperforms the benchmark in all categories. Measures will be developed and implemented in the next step.

Occupational health

Energie AG ensures that the specifications of the Employee Protection Act and the associated regulations are consistently observed throughout the Group, and that appropriate preventative measures are implemented. In the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the Group (excl. Czech Republic Segment) saw around 169 announced and unannounced workplace and construction site inspections carried out by safety experts and occupational health professionals together with those responsible on site and/or Energie AG Group management as part of due diligence measures. Office workplaces were reviewed to assure ergonomic design and, if necessary, adjusted to keep the number of musculoskeletal conditions among employees as low as possible.

A total of 70 reportable work accidents were registered (previous year: 80), which corresponds to an accident rate of 14.8 accidents per 1,000 employees (previous year: 16.20 accidents per 1,000 employees) ¹⁾. The accident severity amounted to an average of 29.2 days of sick leave per work accident (previous year: 32.40). Converted to an international indicator value, this corresponds to an LTIF (Lost Time Injury Frequency) of 9.70 per 1,000,000 working hours (previous year: 9.35). There were no fatal work accidents (previous year: 1).

A closer look at the work accidents reveals a picture that varies in national characteristics and, in particular, in the different areas of activity within the Energie AG Group. The Waste Management Segment has a much higher accident rate and higher accident severity than any other segment.

The legally required inductions with respect to hazards, health, safety and risk prevention steps are regularly held throughout the Energie AG Group. The short briefings were extended to include several new topics and are available for employees to access online.

In addition to the briefings, a large number of subject-specific training courses were conducted during the reporting period as part of due diligence measures. Employees of third-party contractors in the technical and electrical engineering sectors are also allowed to attend if they require additional training. In addition to training courses on working with live electrical equipment and operational use authorisation, training modules on low and high voltage electrical system operation and management authorisation were also offered, along with other safety-related topics such as working with lifting equipment.

While the natural objective of the safety experts is to bring the rate and severity of accidents down to zero, they place great emphasis on potential work accidents with a high likelihood of occurrence and high severity of the potential injury. Approaching this number requires employees to receive the best possible training and the responsible colleagues to receive maximum support in the induction of colleagues. Workplaces and activities must also be subjected to a continuous evaluation and the necessary measures must be adjusted as required.