Millions Invested into Safety – the Safety 2010 Programme Reduces the Incidence of Injuries

OSTRAVA – Last year, OKD launched a programme to increase occupational and operational safety, known as “SAFETY 2010”, which comprises regular workforce trainings focusing on occupational safety and hygiene, as well as renovation of existing and purchases of new personal protection articles and aids, and which requires substantial outlays.

Thanks to the programme, there was a decline of the number of occupational injuries from 519 in 2007 to 416 in 2008, which translates into a year-on-year reduction of 19.85 percent. Similarly, there was a further drop by 10.13 percent in the first months of 2009.

Although 10,586 pairs of new and good work boots worth more than CZK 16.5 million were bought, among other things, in the framework of the “SAFETY 2010” programme, there was a 2.85 percent increase of the incidence of occupational injuries caused by stumbling and falling; this reason thus accounts for 26.76 percent of all registered occupational injuries. No less eloquent is an increase of the average number of cases of non-compliance with occupational safety rules and regulations identified during inspections and checks of relevant state and trade union authorities, from 1.9 in 2008 to 2.9 in the beginning of 2009.

In spite of the overall achievements in the field of occupational safety referred to above, we have not succeeded in reducing the number of injuries attributable to the human factor on the part of the injured. In 2008, incorrect or inadequate assessment of risk and violations of work discipline accounted for 36.47 percent and 18.12 percent, respectively, of all registered occupational injuries. The corresponding numbers this year are as high as 36.62 percent and 19.72 percent, respectively. This means that the human factor has caused more than 55 percent of all occupational injuries, although the “OKD Safety Principles” are based on strict compliance with all legal standards related to occupational safety and protection of health at work and personal responsibility of employees for their own health.

Let us thus approach every operation or action in a more responsible manner, no matter how trivial and safe it may seem – we will protect both our own health and that of our fellow workers.

(Ladislav Rožnai, Advisor of the Head of Occupational Safety and Protection of Health at Work Department)