Of course, it is not enough to simply talk about safety. This is why Framatome has also established a health and safety policy and set itself the ambitious objective of zero accidents. To achieve this, safety has become an integral part of what we do on a daily basis and guides us in all the actions we take whether at the level of processes or operations. Twelve safety standards are applicable right across the company. These standards have been implemented to ensure we have a common set of rules which are shared by everyone. They are founded on industry best practices and have been adapted to our accident research data. Framatome is taken action to ensure that this policy is shared by all its employees worldwide and its partner companies.
Our capacity to operate on all types of reactor safely and reliably is the cornerstone of our operational excellence and performance. Occupational safety, just like nuclear safety, is not a matter for negotiation. To achieve our goals in terms of economic performance, we must start by protecting the health and safety of the company's employees and those of its sub-contractors. In 2017, several customers recognized our performance in this area with a number of awards: Framatome was selected as the Safety Supplier of the Year by Duke Energy in the USA and it was singled out for an award by EDF Energy in the UK for services provided on the Sizewell site.
The company has also launched two flagship initiatives:
- The 5 top killers program which seeks to eradicate 5 activities with a very high level of risk on all its sites in France and abroad
- And an addiction prevention program
Framatome has in addition developed a course of training in the risks of working in confined spaces, which combines theory and practical exercises with an emergency evacuation scenario. This is the first module of its type in France, which had until now previously only existed in the field of drinking water and sanitation.