Transport safety
EVRAZ operations require various modes of transport, including trains, tracks, and crew buses. Transport vehicles are used extensively in production processes and when transporting employees to Group facilities. EVRAZ pays significant attention to improving transport safety among employees, and has implemented various transport safety initiatives at all enterprises. One of the measures implemented after the tragic fatal incident at the Raspadskiy Open Pit was to implement additional safety requirements for crew buses. These limit the maximum service life of a vehicle to five years, and their maximum mileage to 500,000 kilometres. Crew buses also now require reinforced cabin, additional fog lights and signal lightning, and must be equipped with three-point seatbelts in order to ensure passenger safety in the event of an accident.
Case study
EVRAZ began testing and installing the Driver Fatigue Control System for crew buses.
Using a video camera the system monitors the position of a driver’s head, eyes, and body. When signs of fatigue are detected, the system alerts the driver through a sound or vibration signal, which helps avoid emergency situations.
Monitoring safety performance
Keeping track of and reporting on health and safety data provides EVRAZ with indicators of health and safety performance and offers insights into where improvements can be made. EVRAZ employs a corporate software system to record and classify OHS‑related incidents, including work-related injuries and illnesses. In order to prevent potential misrepresentations of data related to incidents, and to ensure reporting accuracy, each reported incident is double-checked. All EVRAZ employees are involved in the monitoring process by reporting information on work-related incidents and safety, applying the EVRAZ Hotline, as well through dialogues with line-mangers and HSE managers. In 2019, 144 Health and Safety cases were reported by EVRAZ employees. The incident investigation process is set out in the EVRAZ Instruction on Emergency Procedures, which was updated in the reporting period.
EVRAZ also initiated an upgrade to the transport dispatch system; the improved system will help monitor the movement of crew buses. A particular route will be assigned to a vehicle, and in case of any deviation an alarm will sound and the dispatch service will be duly informed.
In 2019, we also rolled out a safe driving campaign for all passenger transport drivers, which includes the Defensive Driving training. The goals of this advanced training are to motivate drivers to hold their own lives in high esteem, reduce the likelihood of accidents, and alter general driver attitudes towards road traffic safety. The training was developed with support from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
Safety monitoring is also conducted by applying various state-of-the-art technical solutions. In 2019, EVRAZ began installing an underground CCTV surveillance system. Prior to the system’s installation we conducted a study and identified areas with high incident rates; all the identified areas are equipped with video cameras that record both in infrared and in normal mode – this allows us to promptly recognise and react to dangerous situations.
The safety performance monitoring system enables EVRAZ to keep employees informed about incidents and hence to raise awareness as well as personal engagement levels. EVRAZ monthly distributes to all personnel HSE reports, containing data on any injuries and incidents that occurred in the past month, and also publishes related articles in the corporate EVRAZ News newspaper.