Relevant GRI Indicators

NF7 Health and Safety

Management systems

Every non-administrative Sandvik location with more than 25 people is required to have external certification within two years of commencement or acquisition. At the end of 2022, 91 percent of sites in scope were certified.

Health and safety metrics

We utilize a wide range of leading and lagging indicators to measure health and safety performance in every Sandvik location, including Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) and Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR). Both of these indicators show long-term positive trends. In 2022, the LTIFR (LTIs per million hours worked) increased to 1.3 (1.2), and the TRIFR (total number of recordable injuries per million hours worked) increased to 3.1 (3.0). Acquisitions continue to negatively impact both TRIFR and LTIFR trends. We conducted a wide range of health and safety initiatives including, for example, targeted injury prevention campaigns and safety meetings and will continue our safety focus.

In November, Sandvik was issued a corporate fine of SEK 200,000 related to a fork-lift accident at Sandvik Rock Tools in Sandviken, Sweden, and in December, a corporate fine of SEK 300,000 related to a heavy-lift accident at Stationary Crushing and Screening in Svedala, Sweden. In both cases the operator’s leg was badly hurt. Both investigations concluded that Sandvik had not taken sufficient action to prevent the accidents. We take this seriously and have implemented measures to prevent similar accidents in the future.

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Training

We continually work to ensure that each employee has the relevant skills, knowledge and competencies to undertake their tasks safely and without occupational injury, illness and/or harm to the environment. For example, each Sandvik location identifies and documents the necessary qualifications and competencies required for each occupation and develops training needs analyses. Attendance at critical training sessions is mandatory and training records of attendance are documented.

Occupational health and well-being

Sandvik has health and well-being programs available to its employees at all locations. These programs can cover a wide range of topics such as work/life balance, healthy eating and managing stress.

Occupational risk management

All Sandvik locations are required to include occupational health risks (e.g. exposure to noise, dust, fumes and other hazardous materials) in their location risk assessments and manage these risks as part of their EHS Management Systems. We continually work to replace hazardous materials with less hazardous alternatives in our production or, where replacement is not an option, minimize the use of hazardous materials. We invest in new equipment and improve our processes to reduce employee exposure to hazards such as noise, dust and exposure to gases or other substances. Our products and solutions are designed with improved customer health and safety in focus, for example by reducing their exposure to chemical hazards. Our battery-driven underground mining equipment helps to alleviate the potential health impacts of diesel particulate matter and other engine emissions.

TRIFR by business area

TRIFR by business area for 2018-2022 (line chart)

LTIFR by business area

LTIFR by business area for 2018-2022 (line chart)

TRIFR and LTIFR, Group

TRIFR and LTIFR for the Group 2018-2022 (line and bar chart)

Reporting principles

Health and safety data is derived from our EHS reporting system from which a wide range of EHS performance indicators are reported on a monthly basis. The key figures compiled are based on information available at the date of the most recent year-end accounts, which may require that historical figures are adjusted. All EHS data refers to continuing operations and it has been adjusted to reflect the divestment of Sandvik Materials Technology/Alleima. Acquisitions are included in the data once they are merged with Sandvik and start reporting EHS data.

An LTI is an accident resulting in time a full shift away from work, an RWI (Restricted Work Injury) is an injury where you can be at work, but you can’t perform all of your ordinary work, and an MTI (Medical Treatment Injury) is when you need some kind of medical treatment but can still perform all of your normal work. Worked hours is defined as exposure hours, i.e. all hours exposed to risk by employees, contractors and sub-contractors. The exposure hours are collected and entered into the EHS database on a monthly basis.

The incidents classified as “high-consequence injury/illness” in GRI reports are incorporated in Sandvik’s data for Lost Time Injuries. In 2022, we had two incidents on record meeting the six months’ absence criteria. Our approach to mitigate these low frequency/high severity injuries/illnesses is a key part of our management system and is handled within the processes for fatality and serious potential incident management including, for example, in our work with critical controls.

Data regarding occupational illnesses and frequency rates is part of our EHS reporting processes. The illness data can be difficult to capture and can in some cases be surrounded by regulatory obligations including, for example, related to privacy of workers. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that occupational illness might not be detected until some time after an exposure occurs and/or the illness has some co-contributing non-work factors, which may contribute to the illness not being recognized as work-related. Consequently, the level of uncertainty is deemed higher for the illness data. Occupational illness is defined as an occurrence of physical or mental harm or disease that develops over time in the course of work and not as the result of a single instantaneous event. Establishing an illness as work-related can be a complicated process and could span over a long period of time.