Health and safety

EVRAZ adopts a proactive and preventative approach to HS issues. This approach is firmly embedded in our corporate culture, as well as in our organisational setup, policies, and procedures. The Group is fully committed to meeting all applicable legislative requirements as well as internal corporate standards on health and safety protection.

The philosophy of the Group in relation to occupational health and safety is no harm. This involves taking all preventative measures to minimise the risk of injuries to people to zero, and applies to both our own employees and contractors.

The Group assess the effectiveness of HS strategic approaches and initiatives by collating data on key performance indicators (KPIs). In 2020, three KPIs relating to the implementation status of Risk Management projects were added to the strategic goal cards of EVRAZ divisions.

Read more about the Group’s Health and Safety management system in our Sustainability Report 2020

EVRAZ HSE management structure

To ensure that our HSE principles are implemented we perform the following actions, which form the core of our OHS management system:

Developing new initiatives to continually improve HSE performance.
Considering stakeholder opinions, submitting HSE claims to contractors, and promoting respective compliance.
Elaborating, measuring, and analysing HSE indicators and assessing how they meet both external and internal regulations.
Striving to ensure a free and transparent flow of information at all corporate levels, as well as with contractors and stakeholders.
Implementing industry international best practices to ensure an appropriate level of HS management.
Complying with domestic legislation as well as the laws of the regions where we operate.

HSE management process

An OHS management system has been adopted at all the Group’s production facilities. EVRAZ meets the requirements of international occupational health and safety standards: the Group’s facilities are certified under OHSAS18001:2007 and certain facilities under the ISO 45001:2018 standard. EVRAZ is committed to further enhancing its health and safety management system and safeguarding employee safety. In 2019 the Group began undertaking all preparations required to update the OHS management system at the Group’s enterprises and align it with the new international standard ISO 45001:2018. EVRAZ NTMK is currently preparing to be certified under the ISO 45001:2018 standard. All facilities already certified under ISO 45001:2018 need to regularly demonstrate compliance with the stringent requirements of the standard. Hence in 2020 a recertification audit was conducted at the EVRAZ ZSMK facility to confirm compliance with the ISO 45001:2018 international standard. The compliance assessment was performed by the reputable verification body Bureau Veritas Certification Rus. During the audit officials held interviews with staff, managers, and senior executives, and visited the test centre, laboratories, and industrial shops of the facility. Other Group facilities will be certified under ISO 45001 before the OHSAS18001:2007 certificate expires.

EVRAZ HS principles

The Group is committed to attaining in the long term a robust safety culture, transitioning from the full supervision of employees to their personal engagement in HS issues. The Group puts significant efforts into building a stringent safety culture and reliable and safe practices are implemented at each facility of the Group. EVRAZ understands that no operational activity can be successful without an appropriate safety culture level in place. The continued improvement of the safety culture involves thousands of EVRAZ employees: all staff, including managers and executives, are trained to improve safety performance and enhance their risk awareness.

In 2020 EVRAZ made further efforts to improve the safety culture programme, with a range of initiatives rolled out to boost employee engagement and introduce new safety tools and methods.

The Group seeks to promote safe behaviour among its contractors and has established a wide range of methods to ensure that operations at facilities are carried out in full compliance with domestic legislation and corporate rules and regulations.

In 2020 the Group introduced an initiative to create ratings for contractors with respect to HSE issues in order to encourage contractors to improve and bolster their efforts to provide safe working conditions by engaging managers and performing ongoing supervisions of the safety climate at industrial sites.

Only companies having passed the test are eligible to work. As a result, no fatalities were recorded among EVRAZ contractors in 2020.

See more in the Contractor engagement section of Sustainability Report 2020

Health and safety

EVRAZ HSE management structure

HSE management process

EVRAZ HS principles

HSE Contractor Management Standard