How our engagement in Occupational Health and Safety is appreciated?

It defines a framework for actions and the setting of objectives for all companies in the Group. This is because the area of occupational health and safety is recognised as a key value for the organisation’s development. The policy also defines long-term strategic projects and the rules of their implementation. It was developed in cooperation with representatives of all companies and consulted with all PGE Group companies. The Management Boards of the subsidiaries were allocated proactive and reactive OHS objectives covering both the implementation of OHS improvement activities in the particular PGE Group companies as well as issues related to OHS incidents. The top management are strongly involved in occupational health and safety issues and, therefore, such issues are discussed at meetings of the PGE SA Management Board. In 2020, an IT tool was implemented to collect information on occupational health and safety incidents across the PGE Capital Group, including accidents at work and serious near misses. The knowledge gained in this way is translated into actions in the area of OHS, for example in the form of alerts addressed to other locations to take preventive measures.

Each newly hired employee undergoes training in occupational health and safety, appropriate to the duties and hazards of a particular job. Before starting work, the qualifications required for a given position are confirmed. Employees undergo regular periodic occupational health and safety training at a frequency depending on the nature of their work and occupational hazards. Each employee is allowed to leave their workstation when they believe that there is a direct threat to their life or health, in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Code. Employees are encouraged to report situations that they believe may pose a potential health risk to themselves and others to their immediate superiors or OHS specialists. In special cases, they may do this through the system dedicated to the reporting of non-compliance incidents. In such situations, they are treated as whistleblowers and are covered by the same protection rules as those applicable to  the procedure: “The reporting and handling of non-compliance incidents in the PGE Group and the protection of whistleblowers”.

The PGE Group may also boast about number of awards in the area of occupational health and safety, which testifies to its extraordinary efforts to promote safe work. In a competition organised by the Central Institute for Labour Protection and called The Forum of Safe Work Leaders, PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna, Turów Power Plant Branch received the Golden Card of the Safe Work Leader for the years 2021-2022. Among the Company’s branches, the Dolna Odra Power Plant Complex and the Bełchatów Power Plant are also the holders of the Golden Cards of the Safe Work Leader. The Bełchatów Power Plant Branch won the third place at the regional stage of the 27th edition of “The Employer-Organiser of Safe Work” competition organised in 2020 by the Regional Labour Inspector in Łódź, in the category of industrial plants employing more than 249 people.

In 2020, PGE Dystrybucja was awarded the Silver Card of the Safe Work Leader by the Central Institute for Labour Protection at the National Research Institute in Warsaw.

In 2020, PGE Energia Ciepła’s commitment to improving occupational health and safety was also recognised. The company received distinctions in the Chief Labour Inspector’s competition called “The Employer – a safe work organiser”. The Company was second at the Mazowieckie province stage of the competition (PGE Energia Ciepła), second at the Kujawsko-Pomorskie province stage of the competition (PGE Energia Ciepła Bydgoszcz Cogeneration Plant) and fourth at the Małopolskie province stage of the competition (PGE Energia Ciepła Branch no. 1 in Kraków). It is worth noting that the OHS specialist in Lublin Wrotków Cogeneration Plant Branch won first place in the regional stage of the competition called “The OHS specialist – the employer’s best advisor” and organised by the National Association of OHS Employees – Branch in Lublin and the Regional Labour Inspectorate of the State Labour Authority in Lublin. The Social Labour Inspector from EC Zielona Góra received the main award in the national competition for “The Most Active Social Labour Inspector in 2020” organised by the National Labour Authority.