Safe working practices
Our ambition at Alliander is ‘everyone safely home’. That is why safety is a permanent priority throughout our organisation, from the Board of Management to the shop floor. We do everything to control risks as far as possible in areas varying from technology and work processes to behaviour. Our aim at Alliander is to make safety integral to our thinking and acting. 'Everyone safely home' is a pledge that is not confined to Alliander employees, but also extends to colleagues of the external parties we work with. Safe working practices are vital to prevent incidents, as well as to ensure that colleagues responsible for the next step in the process chain can do their work safely.
Number of registered accidents
with absenteeism
without absenteeism
Safety audit
Last year we conducted a large-scale audit to establish whether safety has been well structured and embedded in our organisation. The audit provides an opportunity to make fundamental safety improvements at all levels of the organisation. For instance, by looking at the way processes and generic frameworks are set up. An action plan was formulated and will be implemented step-by-step as part of the Safety programme in 2018.
Exposure to hazardous substances
In some activities, employees are exposed to the risk of coming into contact with hazardous substances. In 2017, various initiatives were taken to investigate such exposures. Examples are the continuation of an extensive measurement programme for fumes released during certain activities and an investigation into the prevention of benzene from natural gas. We also initiated the development of a closed pump system for removing benzene-contaminated water from the gas mains. In addition, Alliander started to draw up an asbestos policy last year. This policy describes how we deal with asbestos in installations.
Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF)
Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF) expresses the number of accidents resulting in absenteeism per one million worked hours. Partly thanks to a long period in which accidents did not result in absenteeism, the LTIF in 2017 came to 1.4, Alliander's lowest LTIF score ever.
LTIF
Safety ladder
Within various units of Liander and Liandon, we measure the level of safety in our organisation at regular intervals. The tool we use for this purpose is the safety ladder. It helps us to improve the safety awareness and behaviour within our company. In the year under review, 25% of our operations scored 3 or higher on the safety ladder (2016: 34%). The expiry of Liandon's safety certificate last year explains the lower score. Recertification is expected to be obtained early in 2018.