JANUARY 2014

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND
SAFETY1

DNV GL © 201322 January, 2014

SAFER, SMARTER, GREENER

Methodology and Survey Sample

2

DNV GL © 201322 January, 2014

Methodology
 The questionnaire was administered using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) methodology.
 The survey was conducted in October 2013, on a sample of about 3.860 professionals who work at prominentcompanies from the primary, secondary and tertiary sector across different industries in Europe, North
America, Central & South America and Asia.

North America
10.1%

Europe
45.6%
Italy
14.8%

CenterSouth America
5.5%

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Asia
36.1%
China
8.0%

Oceania
1.8%

Japan
13.8%

Survey sample
The sample is qualitative and not statistically representative

 23% of the firms involved
employ less than 50 people,
32% from 50 to 249 and
45% 250 and more

 Most of the companies involved
belong to the secondary sector,
particularly food (5%), chemicals(6%), metals (11%), machinery(9%) and electrical (4%)
 67% of survey respondents are
directly involved in technicalmanagement
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Occupational Health & Safety
Management

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Occupational H&S Management - 1

 Managing Health and Safety at work is nowadays partof corporate strategy.
 More thanof people surveyed confirm it.

 The highest commitment comes frommining and quarrying sector where
proportions grow to 98%.

Q1. To what extent are (Occupational) Health & Safety topics
part of your company’s overall strategy ?

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Total

EuropeNorth
America

CentralSouthAmerica

Asia

3,860

1,759

389

214

1,394

887

1,224

1,719

92.3%

92.8%

94.3%

92.5%

90.5%

89.1%

90.8%

94.8%

Up to 49 50 to 249

250 andmoreOccupational H&S Management - 2of professionals state they even
implement an ad hoc policy, going
beyond what is required by law
and regulations.
 The bigger the corporations, the higher theapplication rates but, surprisingly, 70% of small
firms adopt specific approaches too.
 Together with Centre South Americans (81%), Europeans (82%) are
the most dynamic. Best in class are Italians (94%) and Dutch (92%).

Q2. Do you have an ad-hoc policy or approach related to Health& Safety in your company?

Total

EuropeNorth
America

CentralSouthAmerica

Asia

3,860

1,759

389

214

1,394

887

1,224

1,719

76,4%

81.8%

70.4%

80.8%

72.1%

69.6%

75.2%

80.8%

%Yes: Italy

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93.9%; Netherlands 91.9%

Up to 49 50 to 249

250 andmoreOccupational H&S Management - 3
 Policies are not just window-dressing,in fact about 7 in 10 declare toeffectively implement them.
 Percentages are higher for Italy(88%).

Worth noticing that 81% of firms
belonging to agricultural sector follow
specific procedures and they all claim to
adopt them effectively.

Q3. To what extent is this strategy or approach to Health &Safety effectively implemented in your company?

Total

EuropeNorth
America

CentralSouthAmerica

Asia

3,860

1,759

389

214

1,394

887

1,224

1,719

70,7%

76.4%

66.3%

73.8%

65.6%

63.2%

69.2%

75.6%

Top 2 Boxes: Italy

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Up to 49 50 to 249

87.9%; Netherlands 87.3%; China 81.8%

250 andmoreMain Risk Areas and initiatives

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Main Risk Areas
Questioned on what the main risk areas are,participants principally identify operational
aspects, with some interesting differences amongworld areas.
North Americans (66%) andSwedish (55%), for example, arethose caring most for theergonomic factors,
while the structural deficiencies
of machines and equipment are amain risk area especially to Asians(54%).
Chinese seem to be particularly worriedby the working environment:
proportions above average are recorded
for dangers coming from the presence ofphysical agents like noise and vibrations(55%), fire and explosions (50%) or
poor electrical safety (38%).

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Q.4 Please select the main risk
areas in your company related to
Health & Safety:
Risks from…
ergonomic factors (e.g. repetitive
work, work patterns, etc.)

TOTAL
3,860

41.3%

structural deficiencies of machineryand equipment

41.2%

organization of work (e.g. exhausting
jobs, manual load handling, etc.)

40.7%

the presence of physical agents (e.g.
noise, vibrations, etc.)

38.7%

fire / explosion

36.7%

handling hazardous materials

35.8%

chemical agents

33.2%

structural deficiencies in the working
environment

32.7%

poor electrical safety

24.7%

psychological factors (e.g. monotony,working alone, etc.)

22.0%

difficult working conditions (e.g.
extreme weather conditions, etc.)

17.3%

the presence of carcinogens

9.5%

the presence of biological agents

7.5%

Main Mitigation Actions - 1
Consequently, rather than working on prevention,companies find operational initiatives to be the mosteffective.
The top most effective actions are those concerned with: the regular maintenance ofpremises (48%),
 emergency measures (46%)
 training (42%)
 and medical surveillance of
employees (40%).
Organizational issues such as theassessment of all risks related to H&S(37%), preventive measures (35%) andmanagement systems or prevention
programs (34%) are down on the list
demonstrating that, although the focus on
operational aspects nowadays is high, there
is still a lot to do in terms of organizational
culture of occupational H&S.

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Q5. Please select the actions undertaken thus
TOTAL
far to mitigate the above identified risks; forthose implemented evaluate their
if at least one «yes» at q4 3,860
effectiveness:
0%

20%

40%

The regular maintenance of premises,
equipment, facilities, particularly withregard to safety devices in conformity with
manufacturers' instructions
The emergency measures to be taken incase of first aid, fire-fighting and evacuationof workers and serious and immediate
danger

60%

47.8%

45.5%

Information and training for workers,
managers, supervisors and employee
representatives

41.6%

The medical surveillance of workers, thewithdrawal of workers from jobs exposed torisk due to health reasons and theirassignment to another job where possible

39.6%

The assessment of all risks to Health and
Safety36.6%

Giving priority to preventive and collective
protection measures compared to personal
protective equipment and correction
measures
A management system or a prevention
program that covers all the organization’s
technical and production requirements andaims to achieve continuous improvement

35.3%

33.7%

The participation and consultation ofworkers

31.1%

The issuance of procedures aimed atensuring Health & Safety starting from theproduct design phase (safely designed
products)

29.2%

Minimizing the number of workers who areor who may be exposed to risk

28.9%

The transfer of risks (e.g. outsourcing)

11.3%

80%

100%

Main Mitigation Actions - 2
The most advanced are North Americans with percentages well above average not
only for the effective implementation of actions aiming to control operative features butof actions aiming to address organizational issues too:− almost 1 in 2 undertake with success initiatives to minimize thenumber of workforces exposed to peril,− 44% implement management systems− and 43% issue procedures aimed to ensure H&S of products
from the design phase.

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The Scandinavian, instead, stand out for the attention they pay
to participation and consultation of personnel on thissubject (Norway 46%; Sweden 43%).

Moreover, they are among the most active supporters all over
the world either of emergency measures (Swedish 64%) andof preventive and collective protection measures(Norwegians 50%) rather than of personal protective
equipment.

Main Mitigation Actions - 313

In this context Italians are remarkable for medical surveillance ofworkers (57%) and for the assessment of all risks related to H&S atwork (49%).

DNV GL © 201322 January, 2014

Chemical businesses, comprehensibly, arenoticeable for the adoption of emergency
measures (58%) and for the issuance ofprocedures aimed to ensure Health & Safety asfrom the design phase of a product (40%).



Mining and quarrying businesses, instead, areparticularly committed to the assessment of allrisks related to Health & Safety, to the medical
surveillance of workforces (50%) and stand out
for their consultation (43%).

Main drivers, benefits and obstacles

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Main Drivers - 1Compliance with laws andregulations (87%) is the top reason
leading firms to develop actions tosafeguard H&S at work, especially inEurope (91%).
Internal policies, mentioned by 73%
of professionals, come next after.
 All other reasons, among which themaintenance of good relations with
employees (43%), business continuity(38%) and safeguarding the company
assets(38%), play a secondary role.
 Occupational H&S is a concern to global
corporations independently from externalmarket signals. Actually, brand protection(24%), public opinion sensitivity (19%) andcompetition (19%) turn out to be minor
drivers.

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Q6. In general, what were the reasonsthat led your company to undertake
TOTAL
the mitigation actions identified
before?
if at least one «yes» at q5 3,860

87.1%

Laws and regulations
Internal policy

73.3%

Relations with employees/unions

43.2%

Business continuity

38.4%

Safeguarding the company assets(e.g. buildings, etc.)

38.4%

Needs/requests from customers

33.6%

Safeguarding property and top
management

27.3%

Brand protection

23.5%

Public opinion sensitivity

19.0%

Competition

18.9%

Requests from private/public
insurance companies

16.0%

Relations with sub-contractors

13.7%

Finance10.1%

Main Drivers - 2Nevertheless, different regions show different attitudes.



Although being the main driver, the pressure coming from law andregulations is below average (77%) for North Americans. In addition tosatisfying an external request, preserving H&S at work is crucial tothem to preserve the business too: 1 in 2 see these actions as away to safeguard company assets and about 1 in 3 to protect
property and top management or fulfil requests from insurancecompanies.
Safeguarding company assets is an important reason
for Indians (64%) and Chinese (50%) too. In China
also competition (39%), brand protection (40%) andsatisfaction of requests from customers (55%) are
key motivations, highlighting how safety of workers is
considered a discriminating element for successful
businesses.



55% of Norwegians and 72% of Swedish, instead,were motivated by the relations with employees andunions.
Reasons for undertaking mitigations actions in different industries roughly
mirror overall rankings, with laws and regulations - followed by internal
policies - ruling the roost for all sectors.

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Overall Cost/Benefit

57% of people surveyed
retain that benefits comingfrom H&S related actions
surpass costs.
Norwegians (79%) and Chinese (80%) are themost satisfied.
North Americans (76%) and Center SouthAmericans (72%) record percentages
well above average too.

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EuropeNorth
America

1,759

389

Benefit outweigh costs

52.7%

Benefit equal to costs
Benefit lower than costs

22 January, 2014

CentralSouthAmerica

Q.8 How would you rate the overall
cost/benefit ratio of the mitigation
actions undertaken?

TOTAL
3,860

if at least one «yes» at q5

Benefits outweigh costs

Benefits equal to costs

56.8%

31.7%

Benefits lower than costs 11.5%

Asia

214

1,394

75.8%

71.6%

53.7%

34.7%

19.2%

2.9%

33.4%

12.6%

5.1%

6.5%

12.9%

Norway 79.2%; India 73.2% ; China 80.1%

Italy 18.0%; Japan 18.0%

Main Benefits - 1
 At a general level, companies obtained tangible
paybacks, mostly in terms of decrease of
accidents (75%) and improvement ofrelations with personnel (67%).
 39% improved therelationship with authorities
and only 24% with otherstakeholders.
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Safeguarding Health and Safety isn’t
perceived as an asset in terms if
improving business performance:
those who claimed to have profited
in terms of economic savings (36%),
competitive advantage (34%) andreturns for brand equity (26%) were
not many.

Q7. What benefits did your company gain fromthe mitigation actions undertaken?

TOTAL
if at least one «yes» at q5

3,860

Decrease of
accidents/injuries

75.0%

Improved relations with
employees

66.8%

Improved relations withauthorities

39.3%

Economic/savings

35.9%

Competitive advantage

34.3%

Brand equity

26.3%

Improved relations withother stakeholders

23.5%

Shareholders’ satisfaction

21.9%

Improved relations with
unions21.0%

Market (e.g. increase inmarket share)

10.2%

Main Benefits - 2

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

North Americans make an exception just for what concerns
savings (pointed out by 1out of 2)

and Chinese professionals for considering competitive
advantage (49%) and brand equity (37%) significant benefits.

Chemical companies stand out for benefiting considerably morethan average in terms of decrease of accidents (87%) and
improvement of relations with authorities (55%) and withstakeholders (35%).



Mining and quarrying sector, instead, sticks out for profiting
more than average most of all for what concerns parameters suchas competitive advantage (51%) and improvement ofrelationship with authorities (50%).

22 January, 2014

Main Obstacles Toward Progress
Lack of financial resources (31%) and focus on shortterm results (26%) are the main factors preventing
businesses from making more progress in managing H&S
all over the world.



In Asia, moreover, the burden of factors such as thedecrease in efficiency (23%), lack of return on
investment (19%) and lack of involvement of subcontractors (15%) is heavier than average, highlightingthat the way operations are structured is perceived as an
obstacle in this region.







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A similar scenario is registered forthe construction sector where
decrease in efficiency (21%),
reduced competitiveness (13%)
and most of all lack of involvementof sub-contractors (26%)
considerably influence the capabilityof firms to improve H&S conditions.
The way operations are organizedcompromise the possibility to control
and improve them.

Q9. What factors prevent yourcompany from making moreprogress in managing Health &Safety?
if at least one «yes» at q5

TOTAL
3,860

Lack of financial
resources

30.7%

Focus on short term
results

26.1%

Lack of return on
investment

14.9%

Decrease in efficiency

14.1%

Reducedcompetiveness(compared to…

6.3%

Lack of involvement of
sub-contractors

9.8%

No barriers perceived
that prevent progress

35.1%

Future developments

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Future Risk Areas

Q.4 Please select the main risk areas in your company related to Health & Safety:
For the future
TOTAL
Q10. What will be the main risk areas in your company related to(Occupational) Health & Safety in the next 3 years?
N= 3,860
professionals all
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
% CURRENT% FUTURE
over the world[NET] RISKS RELATED TO THE OBJECTIVE CONDITIONS
75.7%
85.7%
expect a reduction OF WORK (STRUCTURES, AGENTS, WORK CONDITIONS)
the presence of biological agents 5.2% 7.5%
in all kinds ofoperational
9.5%
the presence of carcinogens 6.2%
hazards.
28.6%
32.7%
structural deficiencies in the work environmentConfident inprogress forproviding practicalissues withsolutions,companies expect
to maintain samelevel of attention
only onpsychologicalfactors (22%currently and in
the future).

structural deficiencies of machinery and equipment

33.8%

poor electrical safety 15.5%

41.2%
24.7%

the presence of physical agents (e.g. noise, vibration, artificial
optical radiation, electromagnetic fields

28.6%

38.7%

fire / explosion

26.3%

36.7%

handling hazardous materials

24.8%

35.8%

chemical agents

22.0%

33.2%

[NET] RISKS ARE MOST INFLUENCED BY THE BEHAVIOR
OF THE WORKER
psychological factors (e.g. monotony, working alone, etc.)

59.8%
21.9%

difficult working conditions (e.g. working in extreme weather 13.4%
conditions, at high altitudes or underwater

67.8%

22.0%
17.3%

organization of work (e.g. exhausting jobs, manual load
handling, etc.)

34.6%

40.7%

ergonomic factors (e.g. repetitive work, work patterns, etc.)

34.2%

41.3%

 There will be regional differences. North Americans (54%) and Center SouthAmericans (53%), for example, will keep focus on ergonomic elements, while Asians
expect above average risks from structural deficiencies of machines (43%) and working
environment (43%).
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Future Mitigation Actions

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Training for employees(63%),

assessment of all risks
(63%)



and adoption ofmanagement systems or
prevention programs(59%) will be top of the list.

23

Although predicting adecrease in risks, businesses
won’t renounce to initiatives
for safeguarding H&S at work
and will go through animportant change in theirattitude.

Efforts will move fromoperational aspects toorganizational ones, marking
a relevant step for thedevelopment of a corporate
culture of occupational H&S.

22 January, 2014

Q11. In general, what mitigation actions do you think will beeffective against the above identified future risks?
TOTAL

% Yes

if at least one «yes» at q10
0%

20%

3,829
40%

60%

80%

Information and training for workers,
managers, supervisors and employee
representatives

63.0%

The assessment of all risks to Health and
Safety63.0%

A manag. system or a prevention prog. thatcovers all the organization’s tech. andproduction requirements and aims to achieve
continuous improvement
The regular maintenance of premises,
equipment, facilities, particularly with regard tosafety devices in conformity with
manufacturers’ instruction

59.1%
50.2%

Giving priority to preventive and collective
protection measures compared to personal
protective equipment and correction measures

48.5%
45.3%

The participation and consultation of workers
The issuance of procedures designed to ensure
Health & Safety starting from the productdesign phase (safely designed products)

36.0%

The medical surveillance of workers, thewithdrawal of workers from jobs exposed torisk due to health reasons

34.3%

The emergency measures to be taken in caseof first aid, fire-fighting and evacuation ofworkers and serious and immediate danger

30.6%

Minimizing the number of workers who are or
who may be exposed to risk

The transfer of risks (e.g. outsourcing)

26.1%
9.6%

100%

Future Investment Intentions
Q.12 Is your company going toinvest in Health & Safety in the next
three years?

What is certain is that thefocus on the topic will be
kept high in the coming
years.
Actually, more than 90% of people
surveyed expect to maintain or
increase investments for occupational
H&S in the next 3 years.
Center South Americans are the mostdetermined, 53% state to be willing toincrease funds.
Central-24

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EuropeNorth
America

1,759

389

More than today

28.8%

Same as today
Less than today
No investment at all

22 January, 2014

South
America

TOTAL
3,860

More than today

37.3%

Same as today

58.5%

Less than today

2.7%

No investments at all

1.5%

Asia

214

1,394

46.5%

53.2%

42.6%

India 72.9%; China 57.7%

66.3%

50.8%

44.1%

53.4%

Norway 71.6%; Sweden 69.1%; Japan 81.4%

3.3%

1.2%

2.2%

2.4%

1.6%

1.5%

0.5%

1.6%

Summary25

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What the study
confirms

Managing Health and Safety at work is
nowadays part of the corporate strategy
of big and small companies

Main risk areas related to Health and
Safety at work are identified byrespondents with operational aspects

Survey findingsMore than 90% of respondents confirm this

76% state they even implement an ad hoc
policy

Unexpectedly, 70% of small firms adopt specificapproaches tooMain risk areas are− Ergonomic factors (41%)− Structural deficiencies of machinery andequipment (41%)− Organization of work (41%)− Presence of physical agents like noise andvibration (39%)

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What the study
confirms

Operational initiatives are most effective
for managing occupational Health and
Safety, according to world companies

Survey findingsThe most effective actions are− Regular maintenance of premises (48%)− Emergency measures (46%)− Training (42%)− Medical surveillance of employees (40%)

Organizational issues are considered bycompanies worldwide only as a secondstep

Actions designed to address organizational
aspects are retained efficient by fewer
companies− Assessment of all risks related to H&S(37%)− Preventive measures (35%)− Management systems (34%)

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What the study
confirms

Managing occupational Health and Safety
is felt to be a duty by companies

Survey findingsThe top reasons leading companies toundertake Health and Safety related actions are− Compliance
(87%)

with

laws

and

regulations− Internal policies (73%)
Occupational H&S is a concern to global
corporations independently of external
repercussions that could affect market
performance

Factors linked to external repercussions/market
performance are minor drivers for undertaking
H&S related activities− Brand protection (24%)− Public opinion sensitivity (19%)− Competition (19%)

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What the study
confirms

Benefits fromoutweigh costs



57% of respondents
outweigh costs

Paybacks are mainly tangible

Decrease of accidents (75%)
Improvement of relations with personnel (67%)

Progress in H&S management is hinderedby economic factorsAll over the world, the main obstacles
preventing businesses from making moreprogress in occupational H&S are− lack of financial resources (31%)− focus on short term results (26%)

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H&S

22 January, 2014

relatedSurvey findings

actions

retainthat

benefits

What the study
confirms

Survey findings

Professionals all over the world expect a
reduction in all kinds of operational
hazards for the future- 10% operational hazards- 8% risks related to the behaviour of workers

In the future, attention will shift fromoperative aspects to organizational ones






Companies will opt most of all forTraining for employees (63%)
Assessment of all risks (63%)
Adoption of management systems (59%)

The focus on Health & Safety at work will
be high in the coming yearsMore than 90% of respondents expect tomaintainorincrease
investmentsforoccupational H&S in the next 3 years

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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

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