Safety and Environmental Protection Policy

Responsibility for safety and environmental protection policy

The ČEZ Board is fully aware and without reservations accepts responsibility by course of valid legislation and the international commitment of the Czech Republic to ensure and safety and protection of:

• production resources,
• individuals and the company,
• the environment,
• critical infrastructure.

To fulfil this responsibility, the ČEZ Board undertakes to create and develop appropriate conditions and adequate human and financial resources, effective management structures and control mechanisms.

We comprehend safety as an integral part of all activities related to the management system, technologies and human resources.

Safety and environmental protection policy

1. We rank protection of life and health above all other interests.
2. We uphold safety and environmental protection as an integral part of the management system.
3. We fulfil laws and public contracts and take accepted practice into consideration.
4. We continuously develop our approach to safety and protection of the environment.
5. We regularly assess the risks, prevent them, eliminate them, or reduce them to an acceptable level.
6. We ensure that the technology fulfils the safety, environmental, economic and technical requirements on a long-term basis.
7. In the selection and evaluation of the suppliers, we consider their approach to safety and the environment.
8. We openly communicate safety topics and the impacts of our activities on the company and the environment.
9. We ensure adequate qualified and responsible employees.
10. We manage key knowledge.

1.  We rank protection of life and health above all other interests.

1.1.  Every employee is personally responsible for safety.
1.2.  Compliance with safety regulations is mandatory for all employees.
1.3.  Ensuring the safety of the nuclear power plants has the highest priority.
1.4.  We create a safe and healthy working environment and working conditions.
1.5.  The executive staff shall lead by personal example in terms of correct behaviour in the application of the principles of corporate culture and safety.
1.6.  In all activities we adopt such measures as to protect human health and the environment and not create unacceptable burdens for future generations.

2. We uphold safety and environmental protection as an integral part of the management system.

2.1.  Safety and environmental protection is an integral part of the thinking, behaviour and working habits of the employees of contractors.
2.2.  For the required level of safety and environmental protection, the essential financial, material and human resources have been secured.
2.3.  The basic instrument of the management system is the cycle of planning, implementation, controlling and improvement.
2.4.  We apply a phased and conservative approach.
2.5.  We perform each organisational, procedural or technical change in a controlled manner with minimisation of negative impacts.
2.6.  Activities and functions that impact safety, relevant roles, responsibilities and powers have been defined.
2.7.  We all understand how to contribute to safety and environmental protection.
2.8.  We have defined clear and measurable objectives, which we regularly review and communicate.
2.9.  We use regulations and control documentation, which are comprehensible, up-to-date and easily available.
2.10. Plans for the recovery of significant safety activities and functions have been defined.

3.   We fulfil laws and public contracts and take accepted practice into consideration.

3.1.  We know the stakeholders and their justified requirements.
3.2.  We actively monitor the legislation under preparation.
3.3.  We ensure compliance with legal regulations and the requirements of state administration authorities and take the relevant requirements of the stakeholders into consideration.
3.4.  We focus on internationally accepted practice.
3.5.  Controlled conditions for compliance with the internal standards, regulations, licence conditions, etc. are created and applied.
3.6.  We compare applied practice to the best verified techniques and valid technical standards.
3.7.  We prove and document the quality of the fulfilment of the safety and environmental protection requirements.
3.8.  We practice zero tolerance to alcohol and other habit-forming substances.

4. We continuously develop the safety and environmental protection standard.

4.1.  We identify all the relevant resources for management and improvement of the safety and environmental protection standard.
4.2.  We assess the safety standard in a demonstrable manner in three stages: self-assessment, independent assessment and assessment by the management or an external organisation.
4.3.  We do internal and external safety benchmarking.
4.4.  We continuously improve our knowledge and experience, which we use to review the performed activities and procedures and their improvement.
4.5.  We have defined a uniform system for handling of safety discrepancies and events.
4.6.  We have an established system for coping with safety incidents, their investigation and analysis focused on identification and elimination of causes.
4.7.  We consistently plan, implement and control activities that impact safety and environmental protection; we verify the efficiency of adopted remedial measures.
4.8.  We support team efforts to achieve good results.
4.9.  We develop safety culture as a subconscious component of our behaviour and decision-making
4.10. We implement measures in the area of energy, raw material and material savings.
4.11. We prevent environmental pollution by minimisation of waste generation and prefer recycling.

5. We regularly assess the safety risks, prevent them, eliminate them, or reduce their impact to an acceptable level.

5.1.  An effective risk management system has been established in which the risks are identified, evaluated and categorised.
5.2.  When assessing the risks, we consider the probability of their occurrence and gravity of their impact.
5.3.  We release the resources according to the significance of the risks.
5.4.  We eliminate risks and where this is not possible, we reduce them to a reasonable possible level.
5.5.  We review the risks periodically or in the event of changes.
5.6.  We ensure protection against undesirable failure through independent technical and organisational measures.
5.7.  We maintain the up-to-date lists of safety and environmental risks.
5.8.  The employees are acquainted with the relevant safety and environmental risks, incidents and adopted measures.
5.9.  In case of danger to life and health, environment or assets, we have an established effective system of emergency readiness, response and crisis management.
5.10. We set and implement programmes containing goals for increasing the level of environmental protection. 

6. We ensure that the technology fulfils the safety, environmental, economic and technical requirements on a long-term basis.

6.1.  We approach nuclear technology with the knowledge that it is unique and requires extraordinary attention.
6.2.  We use safe and environmentally friendly technology.
6.3.  At all stages of the life cycle of our technologies (design, project implementation and changes, commissioning, operation, maintenance, decommissioning), we adhere to the safety, quality and sustainability requirements.
6.4.  We operate and maintain the technology in accordance with the design and operational documentation.
6.5.  We apply proven processes and technologies and seek and utilise recognised practices in the field.
6.6.  Technology reliability and configuration management, including continuous monitoring, is an integral part of risk management.
6.7.  We monitor and promote scientific knowledge and research.
6.8.  We maintain knowledge on project bases to enable us to make technical changes responsibly.

7. In the selection and evaluation of the suppliers, we consider their approach to safety and the environment.

7.1.  We ensure that the safety and environmental protection policy requirements addressed to the employees and their involvement in the safety system are also fulfilled by the employees of supplier organisations.
7.2.  Relationships with our suppliers and other business partners are based on mutual partnerships and respect for the high demands on safety, environmental protection and quality.
7.3.  For the selection of contractors, safety criteria have been defined focused mainly on their competence, the ability to ensure systemic risk management and ensure quality delivery.
7.4.  We acquaint the suppliers with the safety and environmental requirements and risks.
7.5.  An integral part of the evaluation of co-operation with suppliers is evaluation of compliance with safety, environmental and quality requirements.
7.6.  We create the conditions for fulfilment of the quality and safety requirements of deliveries.
7.7.  We require that the suppliers should have a management system meeting the quality and safety requirements.
7.8.  We require, check and evaluate the safe performance of supplier activities and the quality of the deliveries.

8. We openly communicate safety topics and the impacts of our activities on the company and the environment.

8.1.  We maintain an environment of open communication as a basis for raising the level of corporate culture and appreciate the good examples in this area.
8.2.  Managers hold discussions with the employees on important decisions and the reasons for them so that the employees can identify with them.  
8.3.  We are building an environment of respect and trust, where constructive criticism is understood as a tool to finding the right solutions.
8.4.  We have set up a system for collecting, analysing and sharing safety-related information.
8.5.  We evaluate the effectiveness of communication and monitoring the performance of tasks.
8.6.  We inform employees about safety and environmental solutions to major disagreements and incidents.
8.7.  When coping with incidents, we create an environment of trust, promoting cooperation between the stakeholders in order to determine all the circumstances, proper evaluation and identification of the causes (no blame policy).
8.8.  Channels of communication with external stakeholders are established.

9. We ensure adequate qualified and motivated employees and suppliers.

9.1.  We plan and provide a sufficient number of qualified employees and contractors as a condition for the safe performance of activities and risk prevention.
9.2.  We provide long-term support of education, recruitment and selection of future employees.
9.3.  Employees are professionally, emotionally and medically fit to perform their duties.
9.4.  For each position, we have established qualification requirements and an established system of education and ensure their fulfilment.
9.5.  For our employees, we strengthen awareness of personal responsibility.
9.6.  A system of employee motivation has been established.
9.7.  We provide training and staff development in safety and environmental protection.
9.8.  Senior employees are systematically involved in raising the professional level of employees as well as compliance with safety criteria for the performance of their duties.

10. We manage key knowledge.

10.1.  In a controlled manner, we identify, capture and share crucial knowledge and experience.
10.2.  We apply succession programmes.
10.3.  We have developed an efficient system for transmission of information for prevention of incidents or their recurrence.
10.4.  We continuously identify and take all the safety relations into account.
10.5.  We motivate the carriers of key knowledge and experience to share and transfer their know-how.
10.6.  We support our employees' willingness to learn.