Health and safety

Russian Railways is a member of the Vision Zero global campaign, which has completely reshaped corporate approaches to health and safety management. This strategy requires actors at all levels, from executives to employees, to act with awareness in order to prevent any work-related accidents.

The core document that sets out the Company’s goals and objectives in this field is the Health, Environmental, Industrial and Fire Safety Policy of the Russian Railways Group, updated in 2020. Upon joining the Vision Zero global campaign, Russian Railways extended the Policy with a view to running occupational injuries and health impairment prevention activities, as well as introducing an occupational safety culture. In order to integrate the Vision Zero concept into its health and safety practices, Russian Railways developed the Vision Zero Implementation Programme for 2019–2021 Approved by Russian Railways’ Order No. 1179/r dated 13 June 2019. .

The reporting year saw the following reductions in workplace injuries across the Company vs 2019:

• overall injury rate (total number of injuries) down by 22% to 119 employees;
• fatal injury rate (number of fatal injuries) – by 30% to 14 employees;
• severe injury rate (number of severe injuries) – by 5% to 41 employees.

The workplace injury frequency rate dropped as follows:

• overall (number of injuries per 1,000 workers) – by 20%, to 0.172;
• fatal (number of fatal injuries per 1,000 workers) – by 29%, to 0.020.

Changes in workplace injury rates at Russian Railways

As at 31 December 2020, 91% units of Russian Railways’ branches most prone to injuries kept showing their commitment to ensuring occupational safety. No cases of occupational fatalities have been recorded there for over five years.

Non-occupational injuries in the traffic area

In 2020, Russian Railways reduced the y-o-y levels of non-occupational injuries:

• total injuries – by 305 persons, down 13.4% (from 2,254 to 1,949 persons);
• including fatal injuries – by 215 persons, down 13.9% (from 1,552 to 1,337 persons);
• injuries of non-adults – by 22 persons, down 15.5% (from 142 to 120 persons);
• including fatal injuries of non-adults – by 15 persons, down 16.7% (from 90 to 75 persons).

Primary causes of non-occupational injuries include:

• unauthorised walking along railway tracks with a train approaching – 87.9%;
• running the red lights at a pedestrian crossing – 6.8%;
• unauthorised attempts to climb (jump off) a platform – 3.4%.

Labour conditions and occupational safety improvement

In 2020, Russian Railways outlined occupational risk management activities and included them in the Comprehensive Health and Safety Improvement Programme for 2018–2020, based on the risk assessment results. The Company spent RUB 28.5 bn on its implementation in 2020. In 2020, the Company also adopted the Comprehensive Health and Safety Improvement Programme for 2021–2023.