Lost Time Injury & Illness Rate
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LTIR |
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Novartis reports work related injuries or illnesses among its associates that have occurred during the year of reporting. The Novartis Lost Time Injury & Illness Rate (LTIR) is considered as a universal Key Performance Indicator enabling direct comparison between the performance our units and country organizations.
In 2008, the LTIR for continuing operations at Novartis was further reduced to 0.34 per 200'000 hours, from 0.42 the previous year.
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Basis of achievement
The main reason for progress in injury and illness reduction has been continuing management attention and rigorous application of safety systems and procedures, combined with ongoing training for associates.
This is supported by several measures to promote safety awareness. Among others, four key measures are in use by local management and reviewed by Division HSE. These are:
- Walkthrough inspections with senior managers on site
- HSE training targeted at 0.1-0.5% of total hours worked yearly, depending on work area
- Percentage of completed items on incident investigation related to total number of recommendations
- Near misses reported at least 5-10 to 1 versus actual incidents
A significant number of units have introduced safety culture initiatives (behavior based safety programs) to complement existing measures that provide the backbone for ongoing safety management at sites.
In-depth risk analysis – in accordance with the Zurich Hazard Analysis (ZHA) method – is fundamental to Novartis operations and contributes substantially to process safety, including the prevention of releases and spills.
Fatalities
There have been no fatalities during recent years at any of the Novartis manufacturing or office sites. However, there have been a number of fatalities among Novartis associates as a result of traffic accidents that occurred while traveling for business on public roads.
In 2008, we mourned the death of a sales representative in Pakistan. Over the past five years, there were a further six fatalities. In 2003, two fatalities occurred in Italy and Poland; in 2005, two fatalities occurred in Indonesia and Czech Republic; and in 2006 two fatalities occurred in Indonesia. All were the result of traffic accidents on public roads.
In 2004 and 2007 there were no work-related fatalities.
We recognize the importance of safety at work, even when the person is on the road for Novartis. A comprehensive driver safety campaign with clear guidance on how to reduce the total number of traffic related accidents was rolled-out in 2008.
