Control of compliance with H&S requirements and prevention of violations
Nornickel regularly implements measures to prevent work‑related injuries through systematic H&S compliance monitoring and proactive prevention of safety violations.
Compliance and certification audits as part of the ISO 45001:2018‑based health and safety management system
Key activities aimed at controlling H&S compliance and preventing violations
Second‑party H&S management audits (cross‑audits of Group companies involving H&S heads and specialists from other Group companies)
H&S monitoring at each facility, including multilevel operational control and ad hoc, targeted, and integrated H&S audits
| Indicators | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audits conducted | |||||
| By health and safety committees (thousand) | >48.5 | >50.3 | >47.7 | >49.7 | >45.6 |
| Target audits conducted by managers, senior specialists, and committees of the Group’s facilities and units (thousand) | 10.6 | 11.1 | 11.4 | 15.2 | 20.6 |
| Ad hoc audits (thousand) | 27.0 | 23.0 | 21.9 | 30.4 | 21.2 |
| Integrated audits of health and safety and relevant management systems | 164 | 182 | 174 | 183 | — |
| Number of safety warning slips withdrawn from employees for H&S violations (thousand) | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 |
| Employees disciplined for H&S violations (thousand) | 5 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Employees whose bonus payments were reduced (thousand) | >10.0 | >8.0 | >6.5 | >6.0 | >3.9 |
| >59.0 | >66.0 | >61.5 | >88.6 | >47.1 |
| Employees incentivised for active involvement in health and safety and for contributing to injury reduction efforts recognised during audits (thousand) | >5.0 | >5.0 | >4.0 | >1.82 | >2.8 |
| >59 | >69 | >58 | >19.7 | >30.8 |
The Company has established a set of Golden Rules of Safety that apply to all employees. Failure to comply with these rules results in termination of the employment contract. In 2024, 25 employees were dismissed for violating the Golden Rules of Safety.
All improvement notices issued to the Polar Division by the Federal Environmental, Industrial, and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor) for 2024 were analysed (for the number of improvement notices and the amount of fines, please see GRI quantitative indicators disclosure of this Report).
Starting in 2025, a new systematic approach has been adopted, which includes the following elements:
- maintaining a unified register of improvement notices and tracking their implementation
- analysing the non‑compliance cases outlined in the notices (criticality, recurrence, root causes, etc.)
- conducting regular reviews of performance outcomes by the heads of Group enterprises, the Senior Vice President – Chief Operating Officer of the Company, and the Head of the Polar Division.
Introduction of a new approach to internal audits
In the reporting year, Nornickel fundamentally revised its approach to conducting internal audits. Previously, audit results were compiled into a detailed report with numerous comments, and an effectiveness score was calculated. Under the new format, auditors prepare a list of ten key questions in advance. Effectiveness scores have been removed, reports are limited to no more than two pages, and point‑by‑point comments are no longer included. The primary focus has shifted to identifying systemic gaps in processes rather than recording isolated deficiencies (such as missing signatures in documents, etc.). Audits now include joint round‑table discussions, which help uncover issues that may go unnoticed by managers and operations specialists, who are encouraged to openly share their insights and experiences. The new format is aimed at improving internal processes.
In 2024, the new audit methodology was successfully piloted at nine of the Group’s production enterprises, receiving positive feedback from the audited entities. This approach was developed in‑house, directly on the shop floor, through close collaboration with operations teams.
Health and safety competitions
Nornickel has a corporate standard in place for organising team and individual H&S competitions, open to representatives from all Group enterprises.
Team competitions are held among the production facilities of the Nornickel Group, divided into seven groups.
In individual competitions, candidates are assessed based on their achievements in implementing initiatives and innovations, maintaining zero accident and injury rates, contributing to production processes, engaging colleagues in H&S activities, and effectively communicating safety information.
Based on the results of the 2024 individual competitions, winners were selected and awarded honorary titles.
Health and safety communication
Nornickel runs an ongoing Safe Labour communications programme.
Key focus areas of the Safe Labour programme
Media support for key H&S initiatives
Posting up‑to‑date H&S information on the intranet portal
Informing employees about the Company’s H&S status, including updates on incidents, investigation outcomes, and corrective actions
Demonstrating leadership’s commitment to safety requirements (through media publications and direct meetings with employees)
Summarising and publicising the results of competitions for the best H&S manager, specialist, and worker
In 2024, the Company launched a new communications programme to foster safety culture, dubbed Life and Safety – Work Environment. It serves as a unified internal communication system to keep employees informed. The Supernika corporate mobile app and the Telegram channel At Least Comply with Something are used to regularly publish H&S‑related content, including safety reminders, descriptions of workplace scenarios, statistics, process flowcharts, interviews with H&S personnel as well as trainings and quizzes to test knowledge retention.
