Safety Strategic Committee showed that 100% of the Group’s scope had carried out a self-assessment of its health and safety management system according to the BEST reference framework.
When safety conditions related to key rules are not met, a “NoGo” must be activated to correct the situation before starting. In the same way, when unforeseen circumstances no longer allow the safety rules to be respected, a “safety STOP” should be marked. In order to ensure the continuous improvement loop, and to maintain risk awareness, High-Potential Events (HPE) are collected, analysed, and shared throughout the Group. Nearly 70% of these HPEs are near-misses or dangerous situations. Particular emphasis is placed on those related to the Group’s 10 key rules. In 2021, the safety criterion of EDF’s profit-sharing agreement focused on reducing the number of injuries from HPEs and developing analyses of these events.
The updated policy reinforces the progress made with our providers. Four action sheets or “assets” have been developed for this purpose. (see section 3.3.1.3.3 “Occupational accidents”).
The Health and Safety Policy also sets a framework for progress on the subject of health. Progress is monitored through the evolution of the sickness absence indicator.
EDF is committed to improving the physical and psychological health of its employees at work: Both on-site and remotely. Making progress in this field requires the long-term involvement of medical teams, social workers, social partners, managers, prevention specialists and human resources managers in a multidisciplinary approach. This approach is illustrated by the social agreements that include a large part of health, such as the TAMA (Travailler Autrement, Manager Autrement) agreement, both for new forms of work and through the lessons learned from the health crisis. Managers are invited to be attentive to weak signals linked to isolation and remoteness for teams working remotely. Medical teams are encouraged to participate in vaccination campaigns (Covid, flu) launched by public authorities to protect our employees who wish to do so.
Awareness-raising activities are regularly organised to continue the prevention of cardiovascular risk, a major cause of death by heart attack, as well as the prevention of addictions, including the implementation of drug testing.
The operational departments’ risk assessments take into account musculoskeletal disorders and exposure to noise, hazardous chemicals, ionising and electromagnetic radiation, and biological agents, depending on the nature of their activities, and they implement local measures to prevent occupational illness.
The prevention of psycho-social and socio-organisational risks is based on the use of the employee perception survey (MyEDF) read at all levels of the organisation according to the Gollac grid, providing a precise risk assessment highlighting the strengths of the organisation and team, as well as its weaknesses. This makes it possible to establish local action plans adapted to the situations encountered.
A range of services covering different fields: diagnostic assistance, training and also the management of complex situations or even post-traumatic stress situations is made available to the entities to accompany them.
On the other hand, the development of trust and accountability in the work teams gives them the opportunity to discuss the subject of their safety and health.
The EDF group has drawn up a guide for its entities so that they can develop the retention and return to work of employees who may have experienced health problems. This approach, which is based on the implementation of pre-return visits with medical teams and the holding of return interviews between employees and managers, is aimed at preventing the risk of losing a sense of belonging at work.
The operational safety of nuclear facilities is taken into consideration from the initial design stage, and is regularly monitored, together with the implementation of an employee motivation policy and large-scale investment programmes. The Group’s nuclear safety policy is incorporated into training for both EDF employees and subcontractors. Nuclear safety is subject to internal controls (annual reviews, internal control plans and nuclear inspection audits in France) and external controls(peer reviews between corporate members of WANO and OSART audits conducted by experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)). In France, the safety of nuclear facilities is controlled by the ASN. In the UK, the Office for Nuclear regulation (ONR) is the independent safety regulator in the civil nuclear sector. It monitors compliance with safety rules, including for the transport of radioactive materials. The “EDF group Nuclear Safety” policy was redefined in 2021. For developments in nuclear safety, see in particular sections 1.4.1.2.2 “Environment, nuclear safety, radiation protection”, 1.4.5.1.2 “Activities of EDF Energy” and 2.2.5 “Specific risks related to nuclear activities”. Hydropower safety aims to limit risks of structural failure, risks relating to the operation of facilities during times off looding, as well as watercourse flow variations during operation The hydropower safety policy aims for a high level of safety and continuous improvement. For developments related to hydraulic safety, refer to section 1.4.1.3.1.3 “Hydropower safety”.
The Group is fulfilling its commitments by closing coal-fired power plants (see section 3.1.1.3.1 “Coal-fired power generation, currently representing 0.7% of the total power generation, to be reduced to 0 by 2030”). In parallel, the EDF group is continuing its process of modernising and improving the environmental performance of its thermal fleet, until it meets European best available techniques requirements. Regarding island systems, actions are taken to reduce NOx, on acase-by-case basis: optimising exhaust gas processing, or reducing the number of hours of operation for certain turbines. In Brazil, the emission levels of the Combined Gas Cycle power plant in Norte Fluminense are below its NOx limit of 25 ppm, mainly due to the high level of equipment maintenance. Using its future exhaust gas processing system, the Edison CGC project in Italy, Marghera Levante (780MW with 63% efficiency), which should be commissioned in 2022, will emit aquantity of NOx equivalent to 30% of the current facility’s limit. EDF has developed historical and unique expertise in this area and joins forces with partners to propose solutions to improve air quality (see section 3.3.1.5.2 “Improving air quality by supporting public initiatives in this area” and 3.3.1.5.3 “improving the indoor air quality of buildings”).
With regard to noise pollution in particular, acoustic studies are carried out at the design stage and are included in the environmental impact studies. Acoustic measurement campaigns are run in the area surrounding nuclear power plants, at a rate of two sites per year.
EDF Renewables performs acoustic studies from the initial development phase of the wind turbines and the noise levels of turbines form part of the selection criteria for machinery. The same level of attention is given to noise pollution in the Group’s international and French subsidiaries.
With regard to the action taken to prevent light pollution, Citelum has implemented a system of sensors to adjust the intensity of lighting on the road network based on traffic density and driving speeds, which also improves car safety.
The salient risks relating to the duty of vigilance concerning suppliers are identified on the basis of a risk map covering all of EDF’s purchasing categories within the scope of purchases covered by the Group Purchasing Department (DAG). The methodology factors in all the environment, working relations and working conditions, human rights, ethics and compliance aspects, and ultimately allows it to determine the level of residual risk and identify the action to be taken with the supplier (see section 3.4.2.3 “Contribution to development through purchasing”).
This risk analysis covers approximately 11,000 suppliers who have a contract with EDF. More than 97% of its purchases are made in France, and 98.5% in Europe.
Risks are assessed per purchasing categories. The evaluation and prioritisation of risks is based on the activities of suppliers, and their geographical location is also a major factor in the assessment of risk.
Major risks have been identified in the various sectors of purchasing, mainly concerning safety, ethics, waste, the use of rare materials and human rights. 15% of the purchasing segments analysed are classified as having a major residual risk, 50% are classified as having a material residual risk and 35% are classified as having a low residual risk.
