Definitions

Occupational health

Solvay monitors cases of recordable occupational diseases in order to identify unsatisfactory working conditions, and tracks an Occupational Illness Frequency Rate according to the reporting requirements set out by the GRI Standards. An indicator measures progress in deploying a robust process for risk-based medical surveillance at sites by checking whether every site:

• Ensures that the medical teams in charge of medical surveillance have access to individual risk data;
• Has medical surveillance in place;
• Carries out a robust and systematic industrial hygiene assessment.

Regarding exposure to chemicals, in addition to the industrial hygiene assessment, Solvay will use, when applicable, human biomonitoring as an efficient complementary tool for checking exposure to specific chemicals, and one that integrates all routes of exposure of the person concerned.

Industrial hygiene

Systematically assessing and managing workers’ potential exposure to hazardous chemical agents and to ergonomic and physical risks are key to Solvay’s approach to protecting health. The number of sites that have an active industrial hygiene assessment program reflects progress in risk management. In order to optimize risk data management and the subsequent deployment of corrective measures, Solvay is deploying a dedicated database and monitoring the sites which are using the tool. A key component of Solvay’s industrial hygiene program is the availability of exposure limits for all chemicals handled in the Group. The number of Solvay Acceptable Exposure Limits (SAELs) is also monitored.

Occupational safety

One of Solvay’s five 2025 priority targets is a continuous improvement in Solvay employee safety. A focus is put not only on the number of accidents but also on the severity of their outcomes as measured by the Medical Treatment Accident Rate (MTAR). This indicator is independent of national legislations which may influence the Lost Time Accident Rate (LTAR) indicator.

• Medical Treatment Accident Rate: number of work accidents leading to medical treatment other than first aid per million working hours;
• Lost Time Accident Rate: number of work accidents with lost time (away from work) of more than one day per million working hours.

Management approach

Occupational health

Solvay monitors the occupational Health of its employees in order to:

• Ensure a medical surveillance of the personnel that is risk-based;
• Complement industrial hygiene risk assessments;
• Define additional preventive actions accordingly.

Every case of occupational disease is investigated: the occurrence of an occupational disease case may reflect historical, recent, or current inadequate working conditions that need to be improved. A network of occupational physicians at Group level supports the sites and the Global Business Units and guides local medical teams. Advanced risk-based medical surveillance is promoted and monitored throughout the Group. To do so, Solvay adapts each employee’s periodic medical surveillance to their individual health risk profile. Risk profiles are created as part of Solvay’s industrial hygiene program.

Industrial hygiene

The Industrial Hygiene program encompasses:

• Comprehensive chemicals inventories carried out at site level, with a special focus on SVHCs with potentially detrimental health impacts;
• The definition of occupational exposure limits for all chemicals handled in operations;
• Solvay Acceptable Exposure Limits developed in case of insufficient or outdated official limits. In general, for chemicals the occupational exposure banding approach is used to determine acceptable exposure levels when there are no established national or International Occupational Exposure Limits. This occupational exposure banding approach gives a simple, quick, and easy-to-understand hazard ranking;
• Critical Tasks Exposure Screening: this screening helps sites quickly identify situations where exposure to chemicals may require special attention and additional control measures. If needed, it triggers a more detailed risk assessment to characterize potentially critical situations. A key feature of Critical Tasks Exposure Screening is empowering participation by shop-floor staff, resulting in better final “appropriation” of corrective measures by these employees;
• Deployment of the Global tool for industrial hygiene management (SOCRATES), giving widespread, easy access to all methods, tools, and databases.

Occupational safety

Within the framework of the management systems in place for Health, Safety and Environment (93% of sites have a management system encompassing safety management, in line with Group requirements), several courses of action are being pursued with the goal of further reducing the MTAR and LTAR and preventing any high-severity accident:

• Strict compliance with the Solvay Life Saving Rules introduced in 2016:  a set of eight rules specific to dangerous activities, which apply to everybody in the Group;
• Risk analysis of critical tasks in the workplace;
• Sharing of good practices and lessons drawn from accidents and near misses;
• Involvement of personnel in improvement actions and achievement of individual safety objectives;
• Continuous reinforcement of the Solvay Safety Culture and safety leadership by managers.

Indicators and objectives

Health indicators

Monitoring occupational diseases is key to improving employee health. But the reported figures do not accurately reflect the measures in place in the field in terms of health protection and occupational disease prevention because most recognized cases are long-latency diseases. The number of recorded occupational diseases varies significantly between regions and countries, depending on the process defined in national systems: some countries have a longer list of reportable diseases, in others the official health bodies recognize illnesses at a higher rate or provide compensation (which encourages claims); in others, employers are less systematically informed of cases. These differences explain why most of the cases reported here are in European countries (e.g. France).

35 sites are currently performing human biomonitoring of exposure. Human biomonitoring of exposure involves measuring the concentration of a substance or its metabolites in human fluids (such as urine or blood). Human biomonitoring of exposure can be used to assess exposure to specific chemicals. Unlike monitoring the atmospheric presence of certain contaminants in work spaces, human biomonitoring of exposure detects what has really been absorbed by the human body via all exposure pathways (inhalation, skin penetration, etc.) and under different working conditions (physical effort, etc.). Human biomonitoring of exposure helps to verify whether protective measures are effective. It is particularly useful for substances that penetrate the skin, have a systemic effect, or accumulate in the body.

Occupational safety indicators

Thanks to the adoption of Group minimum requirements relating to each of the eight Solvay Life Saving Rules, to lessons drawn in the area of contractor management after the fatal accidents in 2017 in Devnya, and to safety leadership training sessions, the number of Medical Treatment Accidents decreased significantly from 50 in 2017 to 42 in 2018, resulting in an MTAR of 0.65 in 2017 and 0.54 in 2018. Moreover, no fatal accident occurred in 2018.

The results with respect to lost time accidents are stable, with 50 accidents resulting in an LTAR of 0.65, on a par with 2017. The main reason that there were more Lost Time Accidents than Medical Treatment Accidents was the number of low severity accidents that required no medical treatment, but which led to lost time.

40% of the injuries that occurred involved hands or fingers. In 2018, Solvay focused on actions to prevent such injuries by sharing best practices and raising awareness through training. As a result, the number of such injuries was 20% lower in 2018 than in the previous two years.

2018 Key achievements

Solvay has made progress on its journey towards “Creating Safety”, an innovative approach introduced in 2017 at top management level. 17 sites have already carried out “Safety Climate” or similar assessments to understand the status of their safety culture. Sites have been training employees and contractors on risk awareness and safety leadership. Several Global Business Unit and Function leadership teams have held training sessions with consultants Paul Balmert and Andrew Sharman. These types of sessions help create a common vision for what the company wants to achieve in terms of creating safety, as opposed to merely striving to prevent accidents.