WHS Policy

TAURON Group’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) Policy is the overarching, binding for all entities present on TAURON Group’s sites, document describing the uniform system of occupational health and safety.

Each of the subsidiaries operating as part of TAURON Group has its own regulations with respect to work health and safety (WHS), which are compliant with the requirements and the applicable legal regulations. Depending on the profile and type of work performed within TAURON Group, the regulations applied include, among others, internal orders, work health and safety (WHS) instructions (manuals) as well as equipment operation manuals. At the subsidiaries whose operations profile involves generation and distribution, i.e. TAURON Wydobycie, TAURON Wytwarzanie, TAURON Ciepło, Kopalnia Wapienia “Czatkowice”, TAURON EKOENERGIA and TAURON Dystrybucja – the issues related to the protection of the health and life of the employees are of particular importance. It is expressed in the extensive safety systems, as well as inspections of the working conditions, compliance with the work health and safety (WHS) regulations and rules at the individual work stations.

TAURON Group’s most important documents regulating the work health and safety (WHS) issues at work place include the Work (Occupational) Safety System implemented at TAURON Wydobycie, TAURON Ciepło’s Work (Occupational) Health and Safety Management Procedures or TAURON Wytwarzanie’s Quality, Environment Protection and Work Safety Policy.

In addition, the subsidiaries, depending on the type of tasks they perform, have a number of compiled internal normative acts related to the emergency and accident situations. These include, among others, instructions (manuals) related to explosion protection, facility fire safety, safe operation of equipment and the procedures for proceeding in case of an occurrence of accidents at work. TAURON Group measures and compares the results of its work health and safety (WHS) activities, both internally and externally, and applies the best identified practices.

TAURON Group conducts internal and external health and safety inspections with the participation of the management, employees and their representatives, work health and safety (WHS) services and contractors. Particular emphasis is placed on the inspections carried out at the subsidiaries with a generation profile, where the internal audits are also conducted in order to assess the functioning of the internal safety management system. For example, at the TAURON Wydobycie (Mining) and TAURON Wytwarzanie (Generation) subsidiaries, the internal audits are conducted at least once a year as part of the safety management system. At TAURON Group’s other subsidiaries, the internal audits are mainly carried out by the Work Health and Safety (WHS) service and take place at least once a year, depending on the needs at the respective subsidiary. The results of these audits are included in the reports in the form of an analysis of the condition of the work health and safety (WHS) for the given year that are forwarded to the top management at each subsidiary. These reports are the basis for the development of the plans to improve the work conditions and for the setting of the work health and safety (WHS) goals within a specific time frame.

The monitoring of the safety condition of the contractors is carried out as part of the internal inspections conducted by the work health and safety (WHS) services and/or the supervisors of the external entities. In addition, the condition of the safety of the contractors is monitored in the form of the periodic accident reports that are sent by TAURON Group’s subsidiaries to TAURON Polska Energia.

At Tauron Wytwarzanie (Mining) the goals or tasks related to the contractor safety obligate the subsidiary to ensure greater supervision of these entities. In connection with the above 384 inspections were carried out, resulting in the issuing of as many as 500 recommendations on the work health and safety (WHS) issues related to the third party entities performing works on the subsidiary’s site.

At Tauron Ciepło, 71 audits were conducted among the external companies in 2022, and 2 195 persons were trained on the work place hazards. Some of TAURON Group’s subsidiaries (especially those with a generation and distribution profile), where particularly hazardous works occur, have introduced additional training as well as the work health and safety (WHS) standards for the external entities.

External entities that carry out work at the Group’s subsidiaries are obliged to comply with the applicable work health and safety (WHS) procedures and rules, in particular with respect to the required training, qualifications and medical examinations. The work health and safety (WHS) issues related to the third parties are also reflected in the contracts, which include provisions obliging the contractors to comply with the health and safety (WHS) regulations required at the given work place.

TAURON Group is additionally seeking to develop its own best practices aimed at strengthening the safety culture among the employees, customers, contractors, visitors and other stakeholders. In order to improve the labor safety of the workforce, the information and educational activities are intensified at TAURON Group’s subsidiaries. They include, among others, the following projects conducted in 2022:

• a health and safety quiz for TAURON Group’s employees related to the World Day for Safety and Health at Work,
• development of a list of locations of the AED devices at TAURON Group’s subsidiaries,
• „Prescription for Eyesight” webinar as part of the Health Week,
• an open Work Health and Safety (WHS) day, as part of which the employees were able to take part in a training course on the first premedical aid,
• a contest of knowledge on the work health and safety (WHS) and fire protection,
• training of the employees of the Company’s Rescue and Fire Fighting Unit at the Nowe Jaworzno Grupa TAURON subsidiary with respect to chemical rescue operations,
• periodic working meetings of the Social Labor Inspector with the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Service Officer,
• publishing of the informational posters promoting the work health and safety (WHS) and fire protection culture at Spółka Ciepłowniczo-Energetyczna Jaworzno III,
• information campaigns on the ergonomics at the individual work stations at TAURON Ciepło,
• conducting a quarterly analysis of the accident rates, containing a summary of accidents at TAURON Ciepło over the past 5 years,
• modular training for the employees’ managers, intended for the organizational units where the employees perform particularly hazardous work,
• a permanent belay system was installed at TAURON Ekoenergia to provide the protection against falls from height during the cleaning of the grates at the hydroelectric power plants,
• a newsletter related, among others, to such topics as: Accident and then what to do next, Fire safety every day and on special occasions (holidays) at TAURON Obsługa Klienta (Customer Service),
• drills and trainings for the members of Company’s Rescue and Fire Fighting Units at TAURON Wytwarzanie (Generation),
• inspections by the representative of the workforce of the work conditions at the Company’s Head Office and TAURON Wytwarzanie Branches
• continuation of the activities undertaken as part of the Minute for the Work Health and Safety (WHS) campaign, which is intended to popularize and raise the employee awareness of the work health and safety (WHS) issues,
• a series of the training sessions at TAURON Dystrybucja Pomiary for the employees driving the company cars on the safe and economic driving techniques,
• „We all have an impact on safety” campaign aimed at improving the ergonomics of working with the measurement systems and meters whose installation / operation requires taking a forced position,
• a quarterly work health and safety (WHS) magazine was launched, in which articles related to the current work health and safety (WHS) issues were published,
• posting on the bulletin board of a summary of the latest accident as part of the accident prevention activities at TAURON Dystrybucja Pomiary,
• VR training for the energy related vocational school students conducted by TAURON Dystrybucja,
• continuation of the „4Z” program, dedicated to the employees working with the belt conveyors installed in the underground workings at TAURON Wydobycie (Mining),
• training in the work health and safety (WHS) and fire protection for the employees operating a mobile road building material mixer at BIOEKO Group TAURON,
• expanding the scope of the trainings aimed at improving the professional competence of the employees at TAURON Serwis and sending the employees that use the Info Kiosks a newsletter related to the work health and safety (WHS) issues.