Hydro Annual Report 2011b

from a 10-year perspective, we reduced the number of injuries
per million hours worked from 9.5 in 2001 to 3.8 in 2011.
Risk awareness and management commitment are important to
improved safety performance. Internal investigations are routinely
initiated after fatal accidents and other serious incidents.
We have initiated several measures to improve our performance.
We have established a company-wide, harmonized high-risk
incident investigation and communication tool, which will be
implemented in 2012. We have defined the focus areas man/
machine interface, traffic and contractors for 2011 and 2012,
and we are updating our safety risk assessment handbook.
REACH
The EU regulation on chemicals, REACH, entered into force
on June 1, 2007. Aluminium is covered by the regulation.
Hydro is on track with our implementation of REACH, having
successfully completed the second stage in the legal process,
i.e. the registration of substances produced and/or
imported into the EU in volumes above 1,000 metric tons per
year. The next step in the implementation of REACH is the
registration of substances produced and/or imported in volumes
above 100 mt. The deadline for this registration is June
1, 2013. A further deadline for substances above 1 mt is June
1, 2018.
Classification, Labelling and
Packaging (CLP)
The Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging
(CLP) transposes in European law the Globally Harmonised
System (GHS) for classification and labeling adopted by the
United Nations. It covers substances and mixtures, and replaces
the previous EU Dangerous Substances Directive and Dangerous
Preparations Directive.
CLP is about the hazards of chemical substances and mixtures
and how to inform others about them. It is the task of industry
to identify the hazards of substances and mixtures before these
are placed on the market, and to classify them in accordance
with the identified hazards.
Importers and manufacturers must provide notification about
substances subject to registration under the REACH Regulation
and hazardous substances, irrespective of volumes, prior to placing
them on the market. The first notification deadline was
January 3, 2011, and was successfully met by Hydro.
Security
An increased presence in areas of risk, and the global volatile risk
picture in general, has led us to intensify our preventive efforts.
We are committed to the protection of people, environment and
physical assets, anticipating and preparing for potentially adverse
events in order to maintain business and operational continuity.
vIABIlItY perForMAnCe
Organization and work environment
67
To prepare for and respond to intentional, unintentional and/
or naturally caused disasters, as well as the protection of critical
assets, security measures are adapted and put in place based on
the evolving risk picture.
We are responsible for infrastructure and functions on local
and regional level that might be critical to society’s operability,
and we operate large-scale production sites where a catastrophe
could influence the safety of the community. We are
thereby subject to control and follow-up by national authorities.
These high-risk issues are core to our emergency planning,
and we maintain a high state of readiness, which is trained and
monitored through regular exercises. A central emergency
team is in place to support line management and ensure crisis
handling in accordance with Hydro’s requirements and
expectations.
A threat and vulnerability assessment forms the basis for preventive
measures in all business areas, including our new activities
in Brazil.
Secure information handling for ourselves and our customers
is vital in supporting Hydro’s business continuity. Employees
are trained in information security. Crucial computer systems
are subject to surveillance and regulations. Every person with
access to sensitive information is bound to secrecy, and
required to handle the information with due care.
Hydro has learning tools for risk management, travel safety
and security. Employees are safeguarded through our systems
for travel planning, risk assessment and emergency preparedness.
Our ability to respond quickly to incidents worldwide
has increased through risk monitoring, incident-monitoring
tools and competence development.
Innovation
In our industry, we must start developing today the technology
we will be using 10 or 20 years down the road. That’s why
we are working to maintain progress, unaffected by the fluctuations
of the business cycle. Smelter technology, alloys with
special properties and buildings that are energy-neutral during
operation are among the areas we are developing.
Our research and development costs recognized as an expense
amounted to NOK 508 million in 2011, compared to NOK
543 million in 2010.
The greater part of our R&D expenses goes to our in-house
research organization, while the remainder supports work carried
out at external institutions, see Note 14. Our main R&D
centers are in Årdal (smelter technology) and Sunndal (alloys
and casting) in Norway, Bonn in Germany (rolled products)
and Toulouse in france (building systems).