There is a high degree of overlap between the Environment material topic (including all its material sub-topics, waste management, and process safety) and the material topic Health, Safety & Well-Being, meaning they are both governed centrally by Group HSSE.
The HSSE Strategy and its implementation are aligned with and fully embedded in the corporate strategy and the corporate governance structure. Leadership responsibility is assigned to the members of the Executive Board and senior leaders. The Executive Board’s remuneration is subject to a Health & Safety Malus (read more on this in Sustainability Governance). An Executive Board member is assigned as the owner of a certain HSSE topic. Group HSSE is led by the VP HSSE, who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. The department is organized into specialized teams with experienced experts in various areas of HSSE to ensure comprehensive management and oversight of health, safety, security, and environmental (HSSE) aspects. This includes the development and implementation of OMV’s HSSE Strategy, regulations, and processes, conducting HSSE risk assessments, incident investigation, HSSE data analysis and reporting, health management, occupational safety management, process safety management, security and resilience management, and environmental management. Each team is specialized in its respective area and strong collaboration ensures the maintenance and enhancement of the overall HSSE performance of the organization.
This is supplemented by local HSSE officers at each site, along with local subject matter experts. There are also corporate HSSE departments at OMV Petrom and Borealis which ensure compliance with health, safety, and environmental regulations, promote a safe work environment, mitigate risks to employees and the environment, and coordinate their local HSSE officers and experts. The OMV Petrom and Borealis HSSE departments report functionally to the VP HSSE at Group level. In line with the HSSE Directive, clear roles and responsibilities are defined for all staff, line management, and senior management. Line management is responsible for ensuring that HSSE issues are integrated into all business decisions and activities. They are required to demonstrate commitment and leadership by acting as role models and taking appropriate measures to control and manage all HSSE risks in their spheres of responsibility.
OMV’s HSSE management involves interaction with employees or their representatives (works councils, trade unions) as a channel of engagement regarding issues that are particularly important and necessary for improvement. Health, safety, well-being, and environmental awareness is promoted across the Group through various activities. For instance, regular exchanges on environmental management are held, during which environmental experts and interested colleagues from the whole Group can learn about the best practices being implemented at other sites and gain inspiration. All business divisions and the subsidiaries have HSSE Forums, where employee representatives are consulted regularly and informed about the HSSE management system. Group HSSE also organizes HSSE Days for OMV’s various units to inform employees about HSSE topics.