Health and safety

The implementation of new instruments and measures to prevent workplace injuries within Russian Railways’ health and safety management system helps reducing the annual workplace injury frequency rates, regardless of severity.

In 2018, Russian Railways joined Vision Zero, a global campaign seeking to completely reshape corporate approaches to health and safety management. This strategy requires actors at all levels, from executives to employees, to act with awareness in order to prevent any work-related accidents.

The core document that sets out the Company’s goals and objectives in this field is the Health, Environmental, Industrial and Fire Safety Policy of the Russian Railways Group. The health and safety management system is based on a risk-oriented approach that provides for a shift from reactive (i.e. damage compensation) to proactive measures by minimising employee exposure to production risks, and harmful and hazardous factors.

In order to integrate the Vision Zero concept into its health and safety practices, Russian Railways has developed and approved the Vision Zero Implementation Programme for 2019–2021 that aims to create a uniform comprehensive approach to improving social and economic efficiency of health and safety management, and develop a corporate health and safety culture using synergies from the implementation of new health and safety management tools.

The reporting year saw the following reductions in workplace injuries across the Company vs the previous year:

• overall injury rate (total number of injuriesAmong Russian Railways employees only.) down by 10% (from 168 to 152 employees);
• fatal injury rate (number of fatal injuries) down by 5% (from 21 to 20 employeesAmong Russian Railways employees only.);
• severe injury rate (number of severe injuries) down by 16% (from 51 to 43 employeesAmong Russian Railways employees only.).

The workplace injury frequency rate dropped as follows:

• overall workplace injury frequency rate (number of injuries per 1,000 workers) down by 9% (from 0.234 to 0.214);
• fatal injury frequency rate (number of fatal injuries per 1,000 workers) down by 3% (from 0.029 to 0.028).

The Company has fully implemented its risk-oriented approach. Risk assessment is conducted at all management levels of the Company, at every branch with a breakdown by regional departments and business units and by type of hazardous occupations.

In 2019, production departments of the Company’s branches measured professional risks for the main types of hazardous occupations by conducting an integral assessment, defining the acceptable risk levels and making lists of unacceptable and undesirable risks.

The measurement results were then evaluated and rated by the regional business units and summarised in risk matrices for the main types of hazardous occupations.

The outcomes of the automated measurement of professional risks serve as a basis for managerial decision-making and health and safety improvements. For example, measures to eliminate injury factors were developed and included into the Comprehensive Health and Safety Improvement Programme for 2018–2020 based on the risk assessment results.

In 2019, the Company carried out a special assessment of working conditions at 67,400 workplaces and improved work environment at 40,600 workplaces of 187,000 employees.